Grounded: Indigenous Knowing in a Concrete Reality by Lynne Kelly

Author:Lynne Kelly [Kelly, Lynne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lynne Kelly
Published: 2019-06-28T17:00:00+00:00

Primary orality

How can indigenous elders remember so much information reliably when they have exactly the same fragile memories as those reading this essay? What is the mechanism that enables such extraordinary recall? Most importantly, can we learn from the mnemonic skills of oral cultures and in so doing enhance our own educational experiences?

The theoretical foundation of my research comes from a robust body of research on primary orality which includes the way in which knowledge is stored in cultures that have no contact with writing.58 ‘Primary orality’ is essentially an information technology. The mnemonic technologies discussed can be considered as tools that increase the ability of humans to process information and so increase the amount and complexity of information preserved in cultures with no access to writing. The research indicates that song, story, dance, repetition, rhyme, rhythm, epithets and mythology all serve to increase the memorability of information and are therefore considered as mnemonic technologies.59 It is critical to note that indigenous knowledge systems tend to be integrated, the concept of separate spiritual and secular information being almost meaningless. Mythology works as a very powerful mnemonic device while also serving spiritual needs.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.