Cult A: Orality and Social Knowledge
Block 1
Tuesday & Thursday, 9:00-10:20 am (NY)
(4:00-5:20 pm, Kyiv/St. P)
This seminar examines orality as a unique, complex mode of communication, memory and recall, and knowledge production that shapes social life, rather than just as the lack of writing. This course explores how spoken language, along with gestures, vocal inflections, and situational context, functions as a primary epistemological tool in communities around the world, going beyond the great divide theories. The mechanics of oral traditions, the formulaic nature of oral thought, and the ‘orality-literacy interface’ in modern, digital, and decolonial contexts will all be examined through the prism of critical cultural studies. In order to analyze case studies from various cultures and investigate how oral knowledge is maintained, altered, and resisted in the contemporary world, students will interact with foundational texts on orality and take part in interactive, live discussions