Abstract: This paper outlines ways in which scholars build identity and connection on open networked platforms such as Twitter, and considers the risks and benefits of networked participatory engagement. The paper reports the findings of an ethnographic study examining the digitally-networked practices of scholars from a range of disciplines, identity positions, and geopolitical locations, and explores participants’ experiences of care and vulnerability within open, networked academic systems. The paper draws on White and LeCornu’s (2011) visitors and residents continuum, Veletsianos and Kimmons’ (2012) concept of Networked Participatory Scholarship (NPS), and Ong’s (1982) theories of secondary orality and secondary literacy to explore networked scholars’ practices and experiences. It examines ‘academic Twitter’ as a phenomenon in which oral and literate traditions – and audience expectations – are collapsed, creating a public that operates on very different terms from those of academia. The paper’s findings examine the risks of this collapse, yet also show that networked engagement – in which personal identity signals, humor, and expressions of commonality are found to be the dominant means by which scholars build networks ties – can result in opportunities and affinities that institutional scholarship may not offer. The substantive goal of the paper is to offer a portrait of networked scholars’ experiences and practices related to engagement, and to consider the tensions these practices raise within the contemporary academy.

Abstract: New York, NY – 5 December 2017 – The Modern Language Association of America today announced it is awarding its twenty-fifth annual Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Comparative Literary Studies to Haun Saussy, of the University of Chicago, for his book The Ethnography of Rhythm: Orality and Its Technologies, published by Fordham University Press. The prize is awarded annually for an outstanding scholarly work that is written by a member of the association and that involves at least two literatures.

Abstract: Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1: Orality, Literacy, and the Development of Egyptian Narrative Literature Chapter 2: Going Deeper: The Evidence for Orality Chapter 3: The Inaros Cycle and the Egyptian "Homeric Question" Chapter 4: Other Demotic Narratives Chapter 5: Egyptian Literature and the Greek Novel Conclusion

Abstract: Advances in digital media have made an impact on traditional rhetorical culture, thus shifting expectations and norms associated with orality and public presentation. Technology, entertainment, and...

Abstract: This article examines Marathi discourses of good writing from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Critical scholarship on literacy has highlighted reading and writing as historically situated practices, with complex interactions with orality. South Asian historiography on early modern scribal practices has also addressed the expansion of state power, regional historical imaginations, literary cultures and the sociology of scribal caste groups. Writing proliferated in seventeenth-century Maharashtra with the establishment of the independent Maratha state, and the spread of various religious movements, and generated diverse norms about ideal literate practices. This article closely reads a collection of accountancy manuals called ‘mestak’, alongside literate practices idealised by the poet-saint Ramdas in the Dāsabodha. While pointing to divergences across these bureaucratic and devotional contexts, the article teases out common emphases of moral conduct and self-fashioning between them. These overlap...

Abstract: This volume invites the reader into the world of pragmatic and discourse studies in Japanese popular culture. Through “character-speak”, the book analyzes quoted speech in light (graphic) novels, the effeminate onee kotoba in talk shows, narrative character in keetai (mobile phone) novels, floating whispers in manga, and fictionalized dialects in television drama series. Explorations into conversational interaction, internal monologue, rhetorical figures, intertextuality, and the semiotic mediation between verbal and visual signs reveal how speakers manipulate language in performing playful “characters” and “characteristics”. Most prominent in the discourse of Japanese popular culture is its “fluid orality”. We find the essential oral nature in and across genres of Japanese popular culture, and observe seamless transitions among styles and speech variations. This fluidity is understood as a feature of polyphonic speech initiated not by the so-called ideal singular speaker, but by a multiple and often shifting interplay of one’s speaking selves performing as various characters. Challenging traditional (Western) linguistic theories founded on the concept of the autonomous speaker, this study ventures into open and embracing pragmatic and discourse studies that inquire into the very nature of our speaking selves.

Abstract: At Rhetoric 3.12 Aristotle describes differences between a "written "style,which he associates with the epideictic genre, and a "debating "style suited to deliberative and forensic oratory. This paper argues that this seemingly unproblematic distinction constitutes a crucial indicator of the orientation ofAristotle 's style theory as a whole. Passages throughout Rhetoric 3.1-12 offer precepts oriented toward the medium of writing and the reading of texts-that is, they describe a specifically "written " style of prose. In contrast, Aristotle largely neglects the agonistic style of practical oratory, a fact that can be taken as another indication of the literary, and literate, bias pervading Aristotle 's account of prose lexis. In addition to disclosing nuances in the text of Rhetoric 3, this study contributes to our understanding of the ways in which early rhetorical theory responds to and is constrained by the circumstances of written composition and oratorical performance. T he idea that Aristotle stands in a pivotal position in the Greek transition from orality to literacy has become something of a commonplace in the scholarly literature. His observation in the Poetics that a well-constructed drama can achieve all its tragic effects by being read is often cited as a deci- sive step in the history of literary criticism, a striking instance of the text being considered on a par with-even ahead of-the spoken word and its presentation in staged performance.' Similarly, the notion that Aristotle's theory of rhetoric is both enabled and conditioned by the availability of writ- ten texts has been suggested with increasing confidence and frequency. In several recent studies this position has been advanced in the service of chal- lenging received views concerning the disciplinary status of rhetoric in the fifth and early-fourth centuries BCE. Thomas Cole and Edward Schiappa, for example, have argued that a rather advanced literacy-such as is reflected in the works of Plato and Aristotle-is a necessary precondition for the sort of analysis and abstraction needed for a truly theoretical understanding of rhe- torical art (Cole; Schiappa; see also Thomas and Webb). Others have ex- tended this insight to the interpretation of specific aspects of the Rhetoric. Aristotle's literacy, or text-centeredness, has been used to explain his literary preferences, notably his distaste for the "oral" elements of Gorgias' poetic prose (Connors 46-57; Schiappa 98-105; see also Enos 85-90, 119-120). The illustrative quotations inscribed in the Rhetoric have been studied as markers of the work's intended audience, presumably one consisting of literate mem- bers of the Athenian cultural elite (Trevett). Aristotle's characterization of

Abstract: Since the groundbreaking studies of Maurice Halbwachs, all written before the end of the World War II, it seems that only small progress has been made toward a better understanding of “religious memory,” a concept coined by him. Mainly basing myself upon early Christianity (Halbwachs’ field of predilection), I argue here that one can distinguish between two kinds of religious memory: implicit and explicit religious memory. This double nature of religious memory seems to reflect the two modes of religiosity described by the anthropologist Harvey Whitehouse and of course the two systems of memory, semantic and episodic. The transformations of religion itself in late antiquity, with the passage from a society mainly based on oral traditions to one established on scriptures and their written exegesis, show how these two systems of religious memory function together, complementing one another.

Abstract: The phrase "oral literature" is most often used to indicate the forms of expression to be found either in societies without writing or in parallel with a great tradition of written literature. In both cases a comparison, indeed an opposition, seems to be implied, at the base of which really lies a particular concept of written literature. This concept is very much at risk of being unconsciously influenced by features which belong only to the written literature of certain "great civilisations," in particular modern Western civilisation. It therefore seems necessary first to look briefly at these features before tackling the case of the Bugis where oral expression coexists with written expression; this written expression is important, but has notably distinct characteristics.

Abstract: I offer a retrospective on the field of orality and performance studies in South Africa from the perspective of 2016, assessing what has been achieved, what may have happened inadvertently or worryingly, what some of the significant implications have been, what remain challenges, and how we may think of, or rethink, orality and performance studies in a present and future that are changing at almost inconceivable pace.

Abstract: The oral re-telling of traditional tales, modelled by a storyteller and taught to children in school, can be understood as ‘non-instrumental’ practice in speaking and listening that emphasises oral language over the reading and writing of stories. While oral storytelling has significant benefits to children’s education and development, it is under-utilised within Primary Education in the UK. This interview and library-based study explores participant perceptions of oral storytelling and the barriers to the utilisation of such non-instrumental practice in school. In addition, observation of an oral storytelling initiative provides a research context through which such perceptions are understood. The findings suggest that speaking and listening is implicitly devalued as a result of the elevation of instrumental literacy-based practice in the primary curriculum. In addition, enquiry into the specific effects of engaging with orality as a precursor to literacy development is lacking. It is suggested t...

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Abstract: The Bible was composed both by way of oral tradition and by scribal activity. Various descriptions exist of the development and relationship of the dominant forms of orality and scribal tradition throughout the history of media culture. Utilising the insights of, and debate on, the field of Biblical Performance Criticism, this article argues for an articulated description of the interrelationship of oral and written. The article argues that these two aspects cannot be absolutely separated, either chronologically or in terms of importance, neither can they be ignored as part of a coherent model to depict the media history of the Bible. In the light of this model the article discusses the interpretation and translation of the words βιβλίον and βίβλος, which are sometimes misunderstood and mistranslated, because of a failure to understand the process of committing the oral biblical tradition to a preferred writing medium.

Abstract: What are the issues discussed today by African philosophers? Four important topics are identified here as important objects of philosophical reflection on the African continent. One is the question of ontology in relation to African religions and aesthetics. Another is the question of time and, in particular, of prospective thinking and development. A third issue is the task of reconstructing the intellectual history of the continent through the examination of the question of orality but also by taking into account the often neglected tradition of written erudition in Islamic centres of learning. Timbuktu is certainly the most important and most famous of such intellectual centres. The fourth question concerns political philosophy: the concept of ?African socialisms? is revisited and the march that led to the adoption of the ?African Charter of Human and Peoples? Rights? is examined. All these important issues are also fundamental to understanding the question of African languages and translation.

Abstract: Some of the most celebrated passages of Old English poetry are speeches: Beowulf and Unferth's verbal contest, Hrothgar's words of advice, Satan's laments, Juliana's words of defiance, etc. Yet Direct Speech, as a stylistic device, has remained largely under-examined and under-theorized in studies of the corpus. As a consequence, many analyses are unduly influenced by anachronistic conceptions of Direct Speech, leading to problematic interpretations, not least concerning irony and implicit characterisation. This book uses linguistic theories to reassess the role of Direct Speech in Old English narrative poetry. Beowulf is given a great deal of attention, because it is a major poem and because it is the focus of much of the existing scholarship on this subject, but it is examined in a broader poetic context: the poem belongs to a wider tradition and thus needs to be understood in that context. The texts examined include several major Old English narrative poems, in particular the two Genesis, Christ and Satan, Andreas, Elene, Juliana and Guthlac A. Elise Louviot is a Lecturer at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (France) and a specialist of Old English poetry. Her research interests include orality, tradition, formulas and the linguistic expression of subjectivity.

Abstract: Seventy percent of the world’s population cannot or chooses not to read! This astounding observation prompted the rise of the orality movement to help missionaries understand and reach oral learners. This article summarizes the recent orality movement by addressing questions that have arisen related to orality, such as: How far-reaching is this movement? Isn’t the orality discussion simply about storytelling and auditory learning? How do print and oral learning interact? Are there implications for Western cultures influenced by digital media? To address these questions, this article identifies six common misconceptions about the orality movement and concludes with missiological implications.

Abstract: The brief, cryptic account of Jerusalem’s takeover by David in 2 Sam 5:6-9 has elicited a considerable number of historical investigations into what events may have transpired according to this story. But what has received less historical attention is the scribal culture responsible for this text’s composition. With this concern in mind, the aim of this study is to approach 2 Sam 5:6-9 as a scribal artifact in an effort to examine how this text took form and what cultural expectations guided its production. What comes to light through this manner of inquiry, I contend, is a text deeply shaped by an oral storytelling tradition. The results of this analysis are then brought to bear on certain interpretive questions connected to how one reads ancient prose accounts rendered by scribes who lived in a world of oral, living speech.

Abstract: Lesotho’s educational system and development are largely influenced by missionaries and colonisers who taught the three ‘Rs’ (reading, writing and numeracy skills) to the Basotho Most of those enlightened Basotho were to carry on the duties of either educating others or as missionary workers Some became clerks, interpreters, police officers, nurses and Sunday school teachers This article is an account of a functionally literate Mosotho male adult learner who was herding livestock and taught himself reading and writing skills In his narrative, Hlalefang (not his real name) compares literacy to money and a watch or a clock He further expresses how people like him have managed to muster some basic and restructure the cognitive and oral history and archival memories, through intuitiveness The story is based on the work of Paulo Freire where culture influences the discourse of literacy A qualitative narrative story-telling approach was used to relate Hlalefang’s lived-experiences as he navigated his ways and challenges using orality acquired through various life encounters This inspirational cultural narrative demonstrates that culture and social uses are imperatives in functional literacy The article challenges those in adult education, literacy, development practitioners and policy-makers to consider some aspects of culture and to be innovative in their approaches to multi-literacies

Abstract: Abstract In this paper, I explore the late antique tradition of inscribing the Abgar-Jesus correspondence on stone for protection as attested by seven inscriptions from Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt. I first argue that the correspondence’s perceived protective efficacy stems from its claim to preserve an autograph of Jesus. I then explore the implications of embedding such an autograph into an urban landscape. Drawing on recent research on the orality and materiality of epigraphy, I suggest that the epigraphic attestations of the Abgar-Jesus correspondence join in a broader tradition of deploying oral formulae to protect domestic and civic space from harm, and therefore, should be viewed as ritually powerful objects that were “performing” the correspondence at their respective liminal spaces.

Abstract: This article explores areas of productive overlap in the respective fields of oral history and oral tradition, with particular focus on ways that both disciplines have enabled and encouraged engagement with premodern texts. Shared points of inquiry into the vexed concepts of truth, performance, and orality are explored in oral and oral-derived narratives of storytellers from medieval France, Anglo-Saxon England, and mid-twentieth-century Memphis, Tennessee. As an extended illustrative example of analysis drawing from a blended methodology, three versions of the “same” story are examined as they appear in the Old English epic Beowulf . Comparison with modern-day oral history accounts puts into sharp relief the ways that early medieval texts—texts produced in an era of new and emerging literacy—reflect very real patterns of oral narrative seen in interviews recorded quite recently.

Abstract: Perhaps the most striking thing about Ken Saro-Wiwa’s novel about the Nigerian Civil War, Sozaboy (1985), is that he references oil only once in the text, in passing. The novel’s narrator and protagonist Mene—a naïve young man struggling to decipher the political and economic forces that shape his world—speaks of the natural resource in a metaphor about the dangers of serving as a soldier (soza) on patrol. “As petrol burns,” he states, “that is how this patrol kills” (104). On the surface, the metaphor makes a figurative, visual, and aural connection between the fast-burning oil flares of the Niger Delta and the speed with which a patrolling soldier can meet his death. But dig deeper and the metaphor raises a significant question: why is oil not mentioned more in this novel? The question is vexing given Saro-Wiwa’s reputation as one of the world’s foremost protestors of the oil industry. As a founding member of MOSOP (the Movement of the Survival of the Ogoni People) and through non-fiction texts such as the political pamphlet “The Ogoni Nationality Today and Tomorrow” (1968), the civil war memoir On A Darkling Plain (1989), the polemic Genocide in Nigeria (1992), and the prison diary A Month and A Day (1995), he launched an environmental justice campaign and drew worldwide attention to the corrupt oil politics of the Niger Delta and destruction of his minority Ogoni tribe at the hands of the multinational oil companies Shell and Chevron and their partners in the Nigerian

Abstract: Languages have their own distinctive styles of argumentation. It seems some languages like Arabic and Persian have a preference for using the “oral” features of parataxis, formulaicity and repetition as persuasive devices in argumentation. The purpose of this article is first to examine these “oral” characteristics in Persian argumentation, and then to tie together the two areas of research: the study of orality and the study of metadiscourse. The article claims that these oral characteristics in Persian are means of gaining rhetorical effectiveness. Therefore, they should be considered as metadiscourse devices used to create a bond between writer and reader.