No Class: September 30

Writing, the first technology to make the spoken word permanent, changed the human condition. No longer did experts have to be present for their knowledge to be shared. Histories could be preserved beyond the traditional oral re-telling, when the people who once recounted them were long gone.

Unlike spoken language, which involves both biological and cultural evolution to develop, writing is almost entirely a product of human ingenuity. Sometimes the major advances were made by single individuals.

The effects of this earlier revolution are still being felt as even the world’s most remote peoples are learning to read and write. At the same time, our new information technology era could lead to another major change in human communication.

This anthropology course will address the typical questions of how, what, when, where and why did writing develop. We will examine topics such as: How did we get our alphabet? How many times was writing invented? Was writing invented for prosaic or sacred purposes? How many writing systems have disappeared and why? Where did the idea of representing the sounds of speech in written symbols first occur?

The class will include visually stimulating PowerPoint presentations, supplemental reading, and class discussions. Expect our time together to be lively and enlightening.