Word, Sound, Image: The Life of the Tamil Text

by Saskia Kersenboom

Overview

This original and radical book challenges dominant parameters of literacy by comparing the oral tradition of the Tamils in South India with the Western culture of printed text. In India, traditional texts are always performed; as a result, form and meaning can change depending on the occasion. This is the opposite of Western communication through publication which is a static representation of knowledge. The author examines the reasons for the differences between the Indian and Western textual traditions, and describes how text lives through the performing arts of words, sound and imagery. She argues that interactive multimedia is the first Western communication form to represent oral traditions effectively.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780854964246
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/01/1995
Series:	Explorations in Anthropology
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Saskia Kersenboom Associate Professor in Linguistic Anthropology,University of Amsterdam

Table of Contents

Contents: Introduction - Texts, Data, Knowledge Representation - Part I: Habitus - Text - World - Performer - Part II: Praxis - Speech Artefact - Form - Content - Part III: Representation - Reproduction - Objectification - Translation - Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

an inspired and intelligent demonstration that a text lives complex lives. [...] an important contribution to the study of texts in performance.

Social Anthropology

... a remarkable performance - imaginative and thought provoking.

Rice University Stephen Tyler

A deconstruction of the Western concept of literacy comparing the oral tradition of South Indian Tamils with printed text. Because traditional Indian texts are always performed, the contrast is an obvious one and provides interesting anthropological theories about how culture and text live through performance, sound, and imagery. In comparison, the author suggests that interactive media is the first Western textual communication that begins to represent an oral tradition effectively. The CD-ROM accompanying the volume presents five minutes of the complete half hour used to perform the Tamil work discussed in the text. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

... a remarkable performance - imaginative and thought provoking.” —Stephen Tyler, Rice University

“an inspired and intelligent demonstration that a text lives complex lives. [...] an important contribution to the study of texts in performance.” —Social Anthropology

From the Publisher