The Elite Nature of Folk Knowledge: Final Paper

Oral, written, and printed knowledge all have an element of divisiveness to them.  You must know someone else’s language in order to communicate effectively with them and those who can’t read or write are unable to use books to gain knowledge.  If you are a professor whose articles have been published, you are held in higher regard than a professor who has not.  Folk knowledge seems like it would represent an easily entered community, one that does not require a skill that is difficult to learn.  However, knowledge that one person possesses and another does not is divisive in nature.  Although folk knowledge can create a small community of people who share a certain type of knowledge or skill, the passing down of specific kinds of folk knowledge deters the existence of a large, open community.  One must have a specific skill to be a part of it.

The end of the end: The FINAL PAPER

The Final Paper.

Can you believe it? We finally got to the end. Oh, but remember—it’s never really the end because it’s all about the process. And the process never ends. =]

Because we are on the brink of the digital knowledge revolution, I was interested in the transition between each of these types of knowledge. This idea in combination with the discussions we had today in class prompted me to write this subsequent essay. Enjoy.

       Knowledge from antiquity to modern times has been a slave to the institutions and mediums of each era. As folk knowledge, oral knowledge, written knowledge, print knowledge, and now digital knowledge have revolutionized the development and dissemination of information, there have been dynamic changes altering the very fabric of society.  Although each new medium of knowledge brings unalterable change, societies never truly abandon past mediums of knowledge because of their necessity and utility.

Salon Notes: Final Exam Review

As I created this blog post, I thought back on all the different assignments and blog posts we had written. It made me realize that even though this class has been difficult, we have all learned a lot about the history and transmission of knowledge as defined by different institutions in power. I think we have also learned a lot about ourselves: how fast we can whip out a blog post, how we work with others, and how (through self-directed learning) we can make any topic interesting and relevant to ourselves. Most importantly, we've learned 

IT IS ALL ABOUT THE PROCESS.

Voice Into Text

When I did my research for oral knowledge in ancient Greece, I checked out a big stack of books. When I got home, I dismissed the book Voice Into Text: Orality and Literacy in Ancient Greece because it didn’t deal strictly with oral culture. But with the admonition to participate in self-directed learning, I decided to explore. I soon found a pertinent chapter entitled “Greek Oratory and the Oral/Literate Division” by Ian Worthington. It discussed the transition from a mainly oral society into a mainly text-based society, and the importance behind these mediums. Sound familiar?

Gurcharan Gill, PhD, and the Aryans

First off, this is some music of ancient India I found for reading a blog and listening enjoyment.  Enjoy!

Expert Findings--Excavations of Ancient Greek Orality

NEEDED: An authority on ancient Greek oral traditions, preferably Minoan culture with a specialty in mnemonics.

The reigning expert? William Brockliss, professor of Classics 110 and Greek 301 (Classic Greek Poetry). His education comprises of degrees at both Oxford and Yale, and his research encompasses the interaction between Homeric epics and the environment.

Like I mentioned in my post last week, little is known about Minoan culture. What we do know of the civilization is seen through the lens of the Greeks because the Minoans do not have surviving artifacts or stories to represent themselves. And so I will broaden my topic to that of the ancient Greeks. Even then, Professor Brockliss said that Homeric poetry was composed in a specific dialect, making it like an archaeological dig to find the meanings and nuances of the text. And so we will dig! To better reflect the style of my oral interview with Professor Brockliss, I will reflect my findings in question and answer format, touching on a few of the subjects we discussed.

Group 7's Video Blog Post

This is Group 7's video blog post on mnemonics and what types of memorizing are really valuable in our time, and were valuable in ancient civilizations.  Enjoy! :)

<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/n0EUBfwm8HE?hl=en&fs=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen> - 

The Upanishads, translated by Michael N. Nagler

    You may be asking yourself right at this very moment, "What is 'Upanishad?'" and "How do I pronounce that strange-looking word?" and those would be good questions.  The second question is simpler, so let's start with that.  If you were to ask google translate how to pronounce it with a Spanish accent, it would sound a little like oo-PAWN-ee-Shawd.

    This little exercise we just did, in itself, was interesting - just because the name is written doesn't mean I know how to communicate how it sounds to you without depending on our oral skills. 

                                                                            

This is my attempt at recitation 

   This video is a recording of my recitation of part of one of the Upanishads, which can be found in Michael Nagler's translation of ancient Hindu scripture.  Through reading some of the Upanishads, I learned that this ancient Aryan civilization believed wealth would not lead to happiness, and that eternal happiness comes through recognizing that we are all part of a Self.  As Yajnavalkya tells his wife, Maitreyi, in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, "Everything is loved not for its own sake, but because the Self lives in it."

Dr Seuss v. Homer: A comparison in mnemonics

I was nervous, my palms sweating as I swallowed the knot in my throat. You can do this, I told myself. Just keep calm. But it‘s hard to keep your cool when your entire 5^th grade class is staring at you. I closed my eyes, opened my mouth, and the words just started to flow.

Can you say Shibboleth for me?

watch from 2:58 to 6:42

First off, I really had to put this movie clip from the movie "Wit" with Emma Thompson, about an English professor undergoing chemotheraphy because it is just so great!  Also, the main character describes why, to her, language has such power, and why she loves it.