Inventing Writing

Prophets, Shamans, and the Transmission of Ritual Discourse in North American Indigenous Cultures, 1600–1900

Häftad, Engelska, 2025

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Beskrivning

Why is it that, throughout their history, humans have repeatedly taken on the task of developing writing systems? Inventing Writing offers an array of conceptual tools for answering this question. In it, Pierre Déléage explores a series of cases involving the invention and use of writing systems by indigenous North American societies. Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, a number of prophetic and shamanic movements developed original inscription techniques to ensure the transmission of ceremonial discourses. Examining these sources, the author formulates an innovative hypothesis: All of these invented writing systems can be defined as intended to transcribe specific ritual discourses within the institutional frameworks that governed their transmission and recitation. By focusing on the pragmatic functions of these North American scripts in their ritual contexts, Déléage allows us to rethink the problem of the invention of writing beyond the confines of evolutionary approaches that have classically focused on the great phonographic scripts of human history (Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Chinese, and Maya) and have never been able deal with selective writing systems on their own terms. Déléage’s approach offers a novel and promising argument for uncoupling the origin of writing from the genesis of the state, an association that many specialists in the field have long made.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2025-12-31
Mått:9 x 15 x 6 mm
Vikt:666 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:150
Förlag:HAU Society Of Ethnographic Theory
ISBN:9781912808298
Översättare:Victoria Bergstrom, Matthew H. Evans

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Mer om författaren

Pierre Deleage is a researcher at the Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Sociale at the the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris. Catherine Howard is an anthropologist and translator.

Innehållsförteckning

Figures Acknowledgments A Note on Terminology Introduction Writing Systems and Ritual Discourses Selective Writing Systems and Total Writing Systems Bound Writing Systems Five Indigenous American Rituals Prophetic Writing Systems and Shamanic Writing Systems Chapter 1 The Writing System of Charles Meiaskaouat, Montagnais Preacher Meiaskaouat’s Vision The Ritual Calendar The Book of Superstitions The Propagation of Charles Meiaskaouat’s Selective Writing System Chapter 2 The Great Book of Neolin, Delaware Visionary July 5, 1754—The Susquehanna River—An Indian Book July 24, 1754—Onondaga—A Nanticoke Letter June 2, 1760—The Susquehanna River—An Old Delaware Priest’s Book of Images October 15, 1762—The Ohio River—The Great Book of Neolin, Delaware Prophet October 22, 1767—The Ohio River—The Preachers’ Bible Chapter 3 Kenekuk’s Bible: The Kickapoo Prophet An Eschatological Map Kenekuk’s Selective Writing System After the Death of the Prophet Chapter 4 The Charts of Abishabis and Wasiteck, Cree Prophets Two Cree Prophets Two Printed Hymns and an Eschatological Chart Chapter 5 Prophetic Scripts Two Aspects of Ritual Invention Mapping Vision Narratives and Transcribing Songs The Prophetic Invention of Writing Chapter 6 The Midewiwin: The Writing System and Charts of an Ojibwe Shamanic Society Two Accounts Separated by More Than a Century An Ojibwe Shamanic Society Ojibwe Graphic Repertories The Origin of the Midewiwin Selective Script Midewiwin Shamanic Songs An Example The Selective Script of the Songs The Charts The Institutional Context of the Midewiwin Charts and Writing System The Midewiwin and Christianity The Midewiwin and the JaasakidsChapter 7 The Writing Systems of Shamans and Prophets Epistemology and Liturgy Stability and Distribution Institutional Conditions for the Invention of Writing Conclusion Bound Writing Systems Selective Writing Systems Secondary Writing Systems Total Writing Systems Afterword to the English Edition The Problem of the Origin of Writing Standardized Graphic Systems Selective Writing Systems Bound Writing Systems Bibliography Index