The Purpose of Writing: From Things to Thoughts in the Ancient World

In the Americas

William M. Clements, Preface, Oratory in Native North America, published by the University of Arizona Press, offers his definition of the term.
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Donald Bahr’s introduction to a collection of prose, oratory, and songs voiced by the Pimas of southern Arizona and transcribed by the anthropologist Ruth Benedict in 1927.
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A bibliography of online resources related to the Aztec experience, provided by NYU Press in connection with a volume of translations from Nahuatl called Sister Stories, published in 2000.
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An essay by James Maffie, “The region of the fleeting moment:” An Interpretation of Nahuatl metaphysica in the era of the Conquest,” Paideusis: Journal for Interdisciplinaryand Cross-Cultural Studies.
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A 14-page illustrated examination of the geographical features and shared cultural beliefs of Mayan and Teotihuacan cultures, from a course site maintained by Professor Kenney Mencher of Ohlone College in Fremont, California.
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A selection of lyric poems translated into English from Nahuatl originals,
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From the PBS Web site on the Conquistadors, a brief description of the thoughts that prompted Montezuma to believe Cortes an incarnation of the god Quetzalcoatl.
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The Aztec Empire, from the Emuseum of Minnesota State University, Mankato.
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A good explanation of the fall of the Aztecs, from “The European Voyages of Exploration,” copyright 1997, The Applied History Research Group at The University of Calgary.
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Selections from and background for Cantares Mexicanos, from theWeb pages of Professor Andreas Gruenschloss at Gottingen University in Germany.
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Some samples and an introduction to the poetry of Nezahualcoyotl, a fifteenth-century ruler of Texcoco; the translations are by John Curl.
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In Africa

From the British Broadcasting Company, a brief history that notes the coexistence of Arabic scribes and local griots in the court of fourteenth-century Mali after the death of Sundiata (Son-Jara).
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From The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, a classroom poster on The Art of Ancient Mali.
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From the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., an Introduction to Africa History and Cultural Life by the Kenyan scholar, Dr. Malaika Mutere. Note the sections on the “Western Sudanic Empires: Ghana, Mali, and Songhai” and “The African Oral Aesthetic.”
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A description of the African musical instrument with which griots accompany their performances, with links to other Web sites devoted to African music and art.
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Audio recording supplements the printed text of a contemporary example of an African praise poem, in honor of Nelson Mandela, from the Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia.
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