In this paper I will argue the different ways in which literacy and writing restructures consciousness, thought, and orality. I will begin by explaining the history of literacy, and the transition from orality to literacy and move fourth to explain how this transition has continued to restructure consciousness, and bring to light different thought processes that aren't as evident in purely oral cultures.
Sources:
Denny, J. Peter. Rational Thought in Oral Culture and Literate Decontextualization. London, Ont., Canada: University of Western Ontario, Centre for Cognitive Science, 1989. GoogleBooks. Web. 1 Dec. 2010. <http:/http://books.google.com/books?>.
This author focuses mostly on decontextualization and how it is the only thing that separates western thought from agricultural and hunter-gatherer societies. This author was helpful in explaining the two psychological dimensions in which thinking varies cross-culturally, and how self contained messages were enhanced by literacy.
Neuman, Susan B., and David K. Dickinson. Handbook of Early Literacy Research. Vol. 1. New York: Guilford, 2001. GoogleBooks. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http:/http://books.google.com/books?>.
Chapter 4, "Literacy and Oral Language: Implications for Early Literacy Acquisition" by Rita Watson is particularly helpful in her explanation of 'metalanguage'. She takes quotes from Olson, Ong, Halliday, to explain it in a way I can understand. Her section on 'Oral transmission' was helpful in my understanding as well.
Olson, David R. The World on Paper: the Conceptual and Cognitive Implications of Writing and Reading. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1994. GoogleBooks. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http:/http://books.google.com/books?>
This author is interesting and uses a lot of good examples in his writing. Chapter 2 is helpful because it describes the role that writing may have played in developing distinctive modes of thought. Chapter 4,5,6 are helpful because he explains the central claims of literacy by examining the relationship between speech and writing. Chapter 11 examines a philosophy point of view of how the reader's interpretation of a text provided a model for the mind.
Ong, Walter J. Orality and Literacy: the Technologizing of the Word. London: Routledge, 2002. PDF.
This book was obviously given to us as material for this class, it covers the history, transition from orality to literacy, among many other subjects within orality and literacy. He has an entire chapter on how writing restructures consciousness.
Street, Brian V. Cross-cultural Approaches to Literacy. Cambridge [England: Cambridge UP, 1993.GoogleBooks. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. <http://http://books.google.com/books?>.
This author contradicts and disagrees with some of the research and writings of Ong, Goody, and Olson. He takes the reader through all suggested models of literacy from different writers, and applies them to certain examples, while arguing the truth in each model, or the falseness of the model. This author is helpful because he organizes all or most research on the topic into his introduction.
