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Hot Literacy in Cold Societies: A Comparative Study of the Sacred Value of Writing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

R. W. Niezen
R. W. Niezen
Affiliation:
Harvard University
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Extract

The argument that the presence or absence of widespread literacy constitutes the central criterion to distinguish “savage” from “domesticated” society, presented by Goody in a number of works (1968, 1977, 1986, 1987), makes close associations between alphabetic literacy and the growth of knowledge and between restricted literacy and traditional societies. In this essay, I will challenge these associations by presenting material from medieval Europe, in which the milieu of restricted literacy is creative, and from Muslim Africa, in which widespread literacy does not lead to criticism or the revision of basic religious tenets. Second, I will deal with some of the reasons for the vitality of Islamic reform in West Africa, concerning myself principally with the impact of Western education on village society and the response of reformers through the promotion of Arabic literacy. A consideration of Western education and acculturation is vital for an understanding of scriptural reformed Islam's appeal. The latter issue will emerge from the material to be presented, but I will deal exclusively with the literacy debate for the moment.

Type
The Powers of the Written Word
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , April 1991 , pp. 225 - 254
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1991

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