Orality and Culture Written in Approach to the History of Literacy

Abstract

From the 16th century onwards, the progressive expansion of the access to written culture, giving rise to the emergence of numerous fields of study of the phenomenon. The history of written culture, for example, from the perspective of history cultural, serves as a way of access to culture, because it expresses the values ​​of certain groups and / or the wider culture, which brings us to issues of identity and mentality formation. Written culture was also addressed at from a sieve that illuminates its main roots - orality. In this sense, in anthropological approach, Jack Goody highlighted modes of communication as a factor influential in the configuration of thought and social organization. In the area of literature, Parry and Lord, among others, highlighted the peculiarities of the oral communication to clarify the distinctive characteristics of canonical texts of the Western literature, such as the Homeric work. But written culture is not a homogeneous reality, and also favors different mental, attitudinal and depending on the type of writing, its materiality or mode of appropriation in different social contexts. It is the current contribution of linguistics. These strands of analysis of written / oral culture have been incorporated into the field of literacy, as an area that aimed to specifically frame the phenomenon of literacy. From these diverse contributions, the history of literacy has unfolded into 4 research strands: the search for relationships between literacy and social structure - between writing and power; between literacy and schooling; in between literacy and rationality; between modes of communication - oral and written, which involves the history of writing, reading, printing, in its production processes and ownership. It is evident the relative absence of studies, in Brazil, on the passage from cultures unlike the cultures of writing, a story yet to be undertaken to avoid the illusion of watertight dichotomy and sudden transformation, which opposes, culture written to illiteracy.