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Hi students, and welcome to Module 2.3
on excerpts from Walter Ong’s book, "Orality and Literacy."
My name is Zahra Punja,
and I will be your guide and lead through this module.
In this module, like other modules
for the Culture and Digital Technologies course,
I will infuse examples
from my cultural and religious background
to support Ong’s theories and explanations
on orality and literacy.
[tap tap]
Analysis Questions.
As we begin our journey into this module,
[clears throat] I would like you to discuss
in your tutorial groups and online in Pe- in Pepper
the following analysis questions.
One. How is verbatim mor- memorization used
in your cultural and religious traditions?
Two. How do texts and written scriptures
support your religious and cultural traditions?
Three. Do tools like writing and technology weaken the mind?
Four. List some ways the word is technologized.
Verbatim Memorization.
In this slide, Ong is talking about the difference
between verification of memorized verses from written text
and those from an oral tradition.
Specifically, he argues that in written text,
memorized passages could easily be verified
by returning to the text as often as necessary
to perfect and test it.
However, in oral traditions,
it was the simultaneous re- recitation of passages by two or more people.
In my culture, ginans,
Ismaili devotional p- poetry from Southeast Asia,
have been memorized by many in the community.
As Asani summarizes,
quote, “The interaction of these religious poems
with the people who memorize, recite and listen to them....
In the final analysis, the ability of the Nizari Ismaili Khojas
to draw inspiration from a ginan
is based largely on the validation of these poems
by communal consensus and usage.” Page 94.
How text supports orality in religious traditions.
In this slide, Ong talks about the ways in which religious scripture
across the Judeo-Christian cultures
supports the primis- primacy of oral- orality in many ways.
For example, he argues that in Christianity,
the Bible is read aloud in liturgic- gical services.
In the Jewish synagogue,
the word "dabar" which means "spoken word"
also implies that it is read from the text.
In the Ismaili Islam, since the translation of the ginans
from Khojki script to Gujerati, and now transliterated into English,
many youth and young professionals in the Ismaili community
rely on the transliterations into English
to learn the correct pronunciation of the religious lyrics of the poetry.
We also have audio recordings of ginans from Southeast Asia,
and qasidas from Central Asia,
so that the young children and young adults,
who do not speak or understand Gujerati or Persian,
can learn the distinctive ragas, or tunes, of the Ismaili hymns.
There is- here is an example of a ginan.
I will play it in the next slide.
Do writing and calculators weaken the mind?
When exploring this slide, a critical question to ask yourself is,
quote, "Does this tech- does technology, like writing, weaken the mind,
or does it free up the mind,
allowing the mind to do more complex processing?" Unquote.
According to Plato, he felt that Socrates was correct
in saying that writing destroys memory.
Specifically, in Plato’s book, he felt that through writing,
people become forgetful, and dependent on external resources.
These days, parents think that calculators weaken the mind,
and make it dependant on technology.
Think of other technologies
like the GPS, Geographic Positioning System,
used in the car when navigating the planet.
Does that weaken the mind or enhance it?
Ways of Technologizing the Word.
Ong ar- argues that writing and print are ways of technologizing the word.
In other words, what he means is that writing is a technology
and print is also a means of technologizing the word.
Synthesis Questions.
In conclusion, I would like you to discuss in your tutorial groups
and online in Pepper
the following synthesis questions.
One. How is verbatim memorization preserved
in your cultural and religious traditions?
Two. How does text or written scriptures
advance your religious or cultural traditions
and keep them alive?
Three. Do you agree with Socrates
that tools like writing and technology weaken the mind?
Why or why not?
Thank you.
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