Writing Systems & Scribal Traditions (ANTH 153a) Fall 2014 Schwartz 103 M and W 5 6:20 pm

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1 ANTH 153a Writing systems and Scribal Traditions Writing Systems & Scribal Traditions (ANTH 153a) Fall 2014 Schwartz 103 M and W 5 6:20 pm Professor Javier Urcid Office: Brown 226 Office hours Tuesdays 1-3 pm (and by appointment) Extension: urcid@brandeis.edu Course description This course explores the ways in which writing has been conceptualized in social anthropology, anthropological linguistics and anthropological archaeology. The overall theme is to demonstrate that there is no natural tendency for writing systems to ultimately develop into alphabetic scripts. A comparative study of various forms of graphic communication, encompassing both non-glottic and glottic sign systems, is undertaken to better understand the nature of pristine and contemporary scripts around the world and to consider alternative models to explain the origins, the spread, and the obsolescence of scripts. The study of diverse scribal traditions from archaeological and ethnographic perspectives will allow us to explore the relations between writing, language, cognition, literacy, power, and the production of social memory. The course is library intensive and students are expected to conduct original research. It also fosters teamwork by engaging students in a group project, separate from their individual research paper, aimed at designing themes for the script for a documentary on writing. Learning goals The aims of the course are for students to realize the significance of writing as a cultural practice, and the societal implications that such specialized knowledge and its underlying technologies entail. In additions, the course helps students develop their synthesizing reading skills, their critical thinking, visual perception and analytical approaches, and in furthering their writing skills by building an argument and supporting it with empirical evidence.

2 Course outline Date Topic Readings Sept W 3 Why writing? None Sept M 8 What is writing? Sampson 1985: 26-43; De Francis 1989: 20-64; Boone 1994: 3-36; Harris 2000 Preface and Foreword; Nelson 2006 Sept W 10 Semiotics and Writing Harris 1995: Parts 1 and 2; Ingold 2007; Harris 2000, chapters 1-3 Sept M 15 Semasiography Harris 2000: chapter 6; Salomon 2001; Boone 2004; Jackson 2013 Sept W 17 Does writing require graphs? Dixon 1990; Urton 1998; Fossa 2000 The Andean Khipu and the Braille System. Salomon 2013 Sept M 22 Writing as visible speech: Holenstein 1983; Coulmas 1989:37- Possibilities and constraints 54; Houston 2004a; Basso 1974 Sept W 24 Modeling the origins of phonetic writing: Schmandt-Besserat 1992: 1-13 and A debate ; Smith 2013; Smalley et al. 1990: 1-39 and ; Scancarelli 1996; Dalby Sept M 29 Cuneiform technologies of writing Walker 1987 Oct W 1 Writing for the dead: Egyptian scripts Baines 2004; Quirke and Andrews Oct M 6 The art of writing in ancient China Keightley 1996; Bagley 2004 Midterm take-home available on Latte Oct W 8 Early phonetic scripts in Mesoamerica Justeson 1986; Rodríguez Martínez et al 2006; Houston 2004b; Burns & Midterm take-home due Kelker 2009 Oct W 15 Inscribing practices at Teotihuacan Kubler 1967, Langley 1991, Taube Outline of course paper due 1999 Oct M 20 (Film Breaking the Maya Code) Coe 1976, 1991 (1999 optional) Stuart and Houston 1989; Oct W 22 Divine kings; divine scribes: Lounsbury 1991; Houston 2000 Social dimensions of the Maya scribal tradition Lecture by Charles Golden 2

3 Oct M 27 Screenfolds and Lienzos from Mesoamerica Pohl and Byland 1990; Jansen 1988; Troike 1990; León Portilla 1992 Oct W 29 Writing and empire: The Aztec case Nicholson 1973; Dibble 1971; Film Tlacuilo Boone 1996; Lacadena 2008 Nov M 3 Aegean scripts and the invention Kober 1948; Nakassis 2010 of alphabetic writing (Chadwick 1958, optional) Nov W 5 The tyranny of the alphabet. Ong 1986; Goody 2000; Harris 2000: chapters 4-5. Nov M 10 Workshop: working with undeciphered scripts Urcid 2001 Chapter 3; Moser 1983 Nov W 12 Workshop: working with undeciphered scripts Chinchilla 2011 Nov M 17 Workshop: working with undeciphered scripts None Nov W 19 Script obsolescence Houston, Baines, and Cooper 2003 Nov M 24 Group project Film Sign, Symbol, and Script: Origins of written Martin 1994; Trigger 2004 Communication and the birth of the alphabet Dec M 1 Group project presentation None Dec W 3 Group project presentation None Dec M 8 Writing, Power, and Social Resistance Smith 1994; Silberman 2001; Driscoll 1988; Clement 2007 Epilogue: A unilinear evolutionary model Justeson and Stephens 1993; of writing: How useful is it? Harris 2000: chapters 7-9 Dec F 12 Final paper due no later than 5:00 pm Students with extra challenges If you are a student with a documented disability at Brandeis University and if you wish to request a reasonable accommodation for this class, please see me immediately. Keep in mind that reasonable accommodations are not provided retroactively. Course credit This course can count towards a major or minor in Latin American and Latino Studies if the student writes the research paper on any topic dealing with the intersection of writing and Latin America (past or present) or the Latin American diaspora in the USA. Attendance policy Regular attendance to class is expected. Absence from classes will only be accepted in cases of medical or extreme emergencies, and should be timely notified in person or by . No more 3

4 than one unexcused missed class will be accepted; otherwise the final grade goes down a third of a letter for each additional missed class. Reading assignments Reading assignments from the textbook and additional sources posted on Latte should be completed by the dates indicated above. Reading of these materials is essential for your participation in class. Participation in class counts for 10% of the final grade. Written and Oral Assignments There will be four assignments throughout the course: Monday September 22: submit a sentence in English written in rebus writing (5% of final grade). Wednesday October 15: submit an outline of your course paper. Monday November 24 through Wednesday December 3 (three classes) are sessions devoted to a class project. Attendance is obligatory so that the entire class, divided into groups, discusses and presents the themes for the documentary s script. Friday December 12: Course paper is due no later than 5:00 pm. The final paper should have between pages of text (excluding the bibliography). Illustrations, diagrams, maps, and visual examples of inscriptions are encouraged, but should be limited to 5 or 6 additional pages. The term paper contributes 40% of the final grade, with 5% of the grade subtracted each subsequent day if the paper is submitted after the deadline. Papers are not accepted after Saturday December 15 at 9am. Class project The goal of the project is to develop themes for a script of a documentary on writing (25% of the final grade). Students work in groups and deliver in class a Power Point presentation Exam A take-home midterm is due Wednesday October 8 (20% of the final grade). The exam will involve writing one essay from two alternative questions aimed at fostering critical thinking by comparing and contrasting assumptions, statements, or theoretical issues discussed in class and based on the readings. Summary of grading Participation in class - 10% Sentence in rebus - 5% Midterm - 20% Term paper - 40% Class project - 25% 4

5 Use of laptops, tablets, and phones Students are welcomed to use a laptop computer or a tablet in class provided it is used for note taking or for web searches specifically related to the topic being discussed. If a student is found using the devise for other purposes, his/her right to use it will be immediately suspended for the rest of the semester. The use of mobile phones is not allowed. Academic Integrity Academic integrity is central to the mission of educational excellence at Brandeis University. Each student is expected to be familiar with, and to follow, the University s policies on academic integrity. Please consult Brandeis University Rights and Responsibilities ( for all policies and procedures. All policies related to academic integrity apply to in-class and take home projects, assignments, exams, and quizzes. Students may only collaborate on assignments with express permission. Allegations of alleged academic dishonesty will be forwarded to the Director of Academic Integrity. Sanctions for academic dishonesty can include failing grades and/or suspension from the university. Textbook (online access available through Brandeis OneSearch) Harris, Roy 2000 Rethinking Writing. Indiana University Press, Bloomington. (Hard copy P211.H3515) Class readings in alphabetical order (available on Latte) Bagley, Robert, W Anyang writing and the origin of the Chinese Writing System. In The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process, edited by Stephen Houston, pp Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Baines, John 2004 The earliest Egyptian writing: development, context, purpose. In The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process, edited by Stephen Houston, pp Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Basso, Keith 1974 The Ethnography of Writing. In Explorations in the Ethnography of Speaking, edited by Richard Bauman and Joel Sherzer. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Boone, H. Elizabeth and Walter D. Mignolo (editors) 1994 Writing and Recording Knowledge. In Writing Without Words: Alternative Literacies in Mesoamerica and the Andes, edited by Elizabeth H. Boone and Walter D. Mignolo, pp Duke University Press, Durham. Boone, H. Elizabeth 1996 Manuscript Painting in Service of Imperial Ideology. In Aztec Imperial Strategies, edited by Frances Berdan and Michael E. Smith, pp Dumbarton Oaks, 5

6 Washington D.C Beyond Writing. In The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process, edited by Stephen Houston, pp Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Bruhns, Karen, and Nancy Kelker 2009 Did the Olmec know how to write? Science vol. 315: Clement, Victoria 2007 Alphabet Changes in Turkmenistan, In Everyday Life in Central Asia, edited by Jeff Sahadeo and Russell Zanca, pp Indiana University Press, Bloomington. Chinchilla Mazariegos, Oswaldo 2011 The Flowering Glyphs: Animation in Cotzumalhuapa Writing. In Their Way of Writing: Scripts, Signs, and Notational Systems in Pre-Columbian America, edited by Elizabeth Boone and Gary Urton. Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington D.C Coe, Michael 1976 Early Steps in the Evolution of Maya Writing. In Origins of Religious Art and Iconography in Preclassic Mesoamerica. UCLA Latin American Studies Series, vol. 31. California A Triumph of Spirit. How Yuri Knorosov cracked the Maya hieroglyphic code from far-off Leningrad. Archaeology 44 (5): Coulmas, Florian 1989 Units of Speech and Units of Writing. In The Writing Systems of the World, pp Blackwell, Oxford. Dalby, David 1970 The Historical Problem of the Indigenous Scripts of West Africa and Surinam. In Language and History in Africa., David Dalby ed., pp De Francis, John 1989 Visible Speech. The Diverse Oneness of Writing Systems. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu. Dibble, Charles E Writing in Central Mexico. Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 10: University of Texas Press, Austin. Dixon, Judith 1990 World Braille Usage. National Library Service for the Blind and Physically 6

7 Handicapped. UNESCO, Library of Congress, Washington D.C. Driscoll, Stephen 1988 Power and authority in Early Historic Scotland: Pictish symbol stones and other documents. In State and Society: The emergence and development of social hierarchy and political centralization, edited by John Gledhill, Barbara Bender, and Mogens Trolle Larsen, pp Unwin Hyman, London. Fossa, Lydia 2000 Two Khipu, One narrative: Answering Urton s Questions. Ethnohistory 47 (2): Goody, Jack The Power of the Written Tradition. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. Harris, Roy 1995 Signs of Writing. Routledge, London. Holenstein, Elmar 1983 Double Articulation in Writing. In Writing in Focus, edited by Florian Coulmas and Konrad Ehlich, pp Mouton Publishers, New York. Houston, Stephen 2000 Into the Mind of Ancients: Advances in Maya Glyph Studies. Journal of World Prehistory 14 (2): a The Archaeology of Communication Technologies. Annual Review of Anthropology 33: b Writing in Early Mesoamerica. In The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process, edited by Stephen Houston, pp Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Houston, Stephen, John Baines, and Jerrold Cooper 2003 Last Writing: Script Obsolescence in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Mesoamerica. Society for Comparative Study of Society and History vol. 45: Ingold, Tim 2007 Lines: A brief History. Routledge, London. Jansen, Marteen 1988 The Art of Writing in Ancient Mexico: An Ethno-iconological Perspective. Visible Religion 6:

8 Justeson, John 1986 The origin of writing systems: Preclassic Mesoamerica. World Archaeology 17 (3): Justeson, John, and L.D. Stephens 1993 The evolution of syllabaries from alphabets. Die Sprache (35) 1: Keightley, David 1996 Art, Ancestors, and the Origins of Writing in China. Representations 56: Kober, Alice, E The Minoan scripts: Fact and Theory. American Journal of Archaeology, vol 52 (1): Kubbler, George 1967 Iconography of the Art of Teotihuacan. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology, number 4. Dumbarton Oaks. Trustees for Harvard University, Washington D.C. Langley, James C Teotihuacan Sign Clusters: Emblem or Articulation? In Art, Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacan, edited by Janet C. Berlo, pp , Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C. León-Portilla, Miguel 1992 Have We Really Translated the Mesoamerican "Ancient Word"? In On the Translation of Native American Literatures, edited by Brian Swann, pp Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. Lounsbury, Floyd 1991 Recent Work in the Decipherment of Palenque's Hieroglyphic Inscriptions. American Anthropologist 93(4): Martin, Henri-Jean 1994 The History and Power of Writing. Translated by Lydia G. Cochrane. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago (originally published in 1988). Moser, Christopher 1983 The Middle Classic Ñuiñe Style of the Mixteca Baja, Oaxaca: A Summary Report. In The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations. Kent V. Flannery and Joyce Marcus, eds., pp Academic Press, New York. Nakassis, Dimitri 2010 Structuration and the State in Mycenaean Greece. In Agency in Ancient Writing, 8

9 edited by Joshua Englehardt and Dimitri Nakassis, pp University Press of Colorado, Boulder. Nelson, Jennifer, L Textual Bodies, Bodily Texts. Signing the body poetic: essays on American Sign Language literature, edited by H. Dirksen, L. Bauman, Jennifer L. Nelson, and Heidi M. Rose, pp University of California Press, Berkeley. Nicholson, Henry, B Phoneticism in the Late Pre-Hispanic Central Mexican Writing System. In Mesoamerican Writing Systems. Elizabeth P. Benson, ed., pp Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D. C. Ong, J. Walter 1986 Writing is a Technology that Restructures Thought. In The Written Word. Literacy in Transition, Gerd Baumann, ed., pp Clarendon Press, Oxford. Pohl, John, and Bruce Byland 1990 Mixtec Landscape: Perception and Archaeological Settlement Patterns. Ancient Mesoamerica 1: Cambridge University Press, London. Quirke, S. and C. Andrews 1988 The Rosetta Stone. Facsimile drawing. Trustees of the British Museum, Great Britain. Rodríguez Martínez et al Oldest Writing in the New World. Science 313: Salomon, Frank 2001 How an Andean Writing Without Words Works. Current Anthropology vol. 42, number 1: The Twisting Paths of Recall: Khipu (Andean cord notation) as artifact. In Writing as Material Practice: Substance, surface and the medium, edited by Kathryn E. Piquette and Ruth D. Whitehouse, pp Ubiquity Press, London. Sampson, Geoffrey 1985 Writing Systems: A Linguistic Introduction. Stanford University Press, California. Scancarelli, Janine 1996 Cherokee Writing. In The World's Writing Systems, Peter Daniels and William Bright, eds., pp Oxford University Press, Oxford. 9

10 Schmandt-Besserat, Denise 1992 Before Writing: From Counting to Cuneiform. University of Texas Press, Austin. Silberman, Neil Asher 2001 The Politics of the Dead Sea Scrolls. In Archaeology and Society in the 21 st Century, edited by Neil Asher Silberman and Ernst S. Frerichs. Israel Exploration Society, Jerusalem. Smalley, William A., Chia Koa Vang, and Gnia Yee Yang 1990 Mother of Writing: The Origin and development of a Hmong Messianic Script. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Smith, Adam 2013 Are writing systems intelligently designed? In Agency in Ancient Writing, edited by Joshua Englehardt and Dimitri Nakassis, pp University Press of Colorado, Boulder. Smith, E. Mary 1994 Why the Second Codex Selden was Painted. In Caciques and Their People, edited by Joyce Marcus and Judith Francis Zeitlin, pp Anthropological Papers, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan Number 89. Ann Arbor, Michigan. Stuart, David and Stephen Houston 1989 Maya Writing. Scientific American 261 (2): Taube, Karl 1999 The Writing System of Ancient Teotihuacan. Ancient American Art and Writing, Washington DC. Trigger, Bruce, G Writing systems: a case study in cultural evolution. In The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process, edited by Stephen Houston, pp Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Troike, Nancy 1990 Pre-hispanic Pictorial Communication: the codex system of the Mixtec of Oaxaca, Mexico. Visible Language, pp Urcid, Javier 2001 Problems in Reconstructing the Ancient Zapotec Calendar. In Zapotec Hieroglyphic Writing, chapter 3. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C. Urton, Gary 1998 From Knots to Narratives: Reconstructing the Art of Historical Record Keeping in 10

11 the Andes from Spanish Transcriptions of Inka Khipus. Ethnohistory 45 (3): Walker, C.B.F Cuneiform. University of California Press, Berkeley. Additional readings of interest Basso, Keith, H., and Ned Anderson 1973 A Western Apache Writing System: The Symbols of Silas John. Science vol. 180 (4090): Chadwick, John 1958 The Decipherment of Linear B. Random House, New York. (P1035.C5) Coe, Michael 1999 Breaking the Maya Code. Thames and Hudson. (F W75 C59) Daniels, Peter, T. and William Bright (editors) 1996 The World s Writing Systems. Oxford U. Press, New York. (P211.W714). Englehardt, Joshua 2013 Agency in Ancient Writing. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. cid= Fisher, Steven, R Rongorongo: The Eastern Island Script. Clarendon Press, Oxford. (F3169.F52) Gaur, Albertine 1992 A History of Writing. Cross River Press, New York. (P211.G27) Gelb, Ignace 1963 A Study of Writing. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago (first edition 1952). (P211.G37) Harbsmeier, Michael 1988 Inventions of writing. In State and Society: The Emergence and Development of Social Hierarchy and Political Centralization, edited by John Gledhill, Barbara Bender, and Mogens Trolle Larsen, pp Unwin Hyman, London. Lawler, Andrew 2004 The Slow death of Writing. Science vol. 305:

12 Miller, Laura 2007 Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. (online resource through LOUIS) Parpola, Asko 1994 Deciphering the Indus Script. Cambridge University Press. (+PK119.5P37) Pier, John, 1997 Roy Harris and writing without speech. High Beam Encyclopedia Piquette, Kathryn, E., and Ruth D. Whitehouse (editors) 2013 Writing as Material Practice: Substance, surface and the medium. Ubiquity Press, London. Pope, Maurice 1999 The Story of Archaeological Decipherment: from Egyptian Hieroglyphs to Linear B. Scribner, New York. (P901.P6) Postgate, Nicholas, Tao Wang, and Toby Wilkinson 1995 The Evidence for Early Writing: Utilitarian or Ceremonial? Antiquity 69: Robinson, Andrew 1999 The Story of Writing. Thames and Hudson, London. (P211.R6) Salomon, Frank, and Sabine Hyland 2010 Guest Editor s Introduction. Ethnohistory 57 (1): 1-9. Trolle Larsen, Mogens 1988 Introduction: Literacy and Social Complexity. In State and Society: The Emergence and Development of Social Hierarchy and Political Centralization, edited by John Gledhill, Barbara Bender, and Mogens Trolle Larsen, pp Unwin Hyman, London. Visicato, Giuseppe 2000 The power and the writing: the early scribes of Mesopotamia. CDL Press, Bethesda, Maryland. (DS69.9 V58) Other Readings on Mesoamerican scripts Berlo, Janet Catherine 1989 Early Writing in Central Mexico: In Tlilli, In Tlapilli before A. D In Mesoamerica after the decline of Teotihuacan A. D , Richard A. Diehl and Janet C. Berlo, eds., pp Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D. C. 12

13 Coe, Michael, and Justin Kerr 1998 The art of the Maya scribe. Harry N. Abrams, New York. Cowgill, George 1992 Teotihuacan glyphs and imagery in the light of some early colonial texts. In Art, Ideology, and the City of Teotihuacan. J. Berlo, ed., pp , Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC. Houston, Stephen and David Stuart 1996 Of gods, glyphs and kings: divinity and rulership among the Classic Maya. Antiquity 70 (268): Houston, Stephen, and Michael Coe 2003 Has Isthmian Writing Been Deciphered? Mexicon XXV (6): Justeson, John, and Terrence Kaufman 1993 A Decipherment of Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing. Science 259: B2-G Justeson, John and Terrence Kaufman 1997 A newly-discovered column in the hieroglyphic text on La Mojarra Stela 1: a test of the epi-olmec decipherment. Science 277: Marcus, Joyce 1992 Truth, Propaganda, and Noble Speech. In Mesoamerican Writing Systems. Propaganda, Myth, and History in Four Ancient Civilizations, pp Princeton University Press, New Jersey. Pohl, Mary E.D., Kevin Pope, and Christopher von Nagy 2002 Olmec origins of Mesoamerican Writing. Science 298: Stuart, E. George 1993 The Carved Stela from La Mojarra, Veracruz, Mexico. Science 259: B2-M Tavárez, David 2009 Zapotec Time, Alphabetic Writing and the Public Sphere. Ethnohistory 57 (1):

14 Terraciano, Kevin 2010 Three Texts in One: Book XII of the Florentine Codex. Ethnohistory 57 (1): Urcid, Javier 2005 Zapotec writing: knowledge, power, and memory in ancient Oaxaca. Whittaker, Gordon 1992 The Zapotec Writing System. In Supplement to the Handbook of Middle American Indians, volume 5. Victoria Reifler Bricker, ed., pp University of Texas Press, Austin. 14