W. J. Ong Orality and Literacy is a provocative read for a student of Indigenous Studies. Much of Ong’s teachings are fascinating – like his introspections about the supremacy of writing for moving human civilizations into the future – while other claims about preliterate societies leave this reader with feelings of cultural bias. Ong goes into great detail on the differences between orality and literature; however, I respectfully disagree with some of his assertions about oral cultures. Specifically, I reject his idea that oralists cannot engage in study. Ong writes “human beings in primary oral cultures, those untouched by writing in any form, learn a great deal and possess and practice great wisdom, but they do not ‘study’”. (Ong, 2002, pg. 8) I appreciate the succinct eloquence of his definition of study as “extended sequential analysis” (Ong, 2002, Pg. 9) and propose that Aboriginal experience, ways of knowing and oral traditions (embodied in ceremony, song and dance) constitute literature that is studied collectively from one generation to another.
Indigenous peoples continue to practice traditional ceremonies that define their relationship with the land they belong to. Aboriginal Australians believe they belong to the land and Pacific Northwest Coast people have a deep relationship with the land. These ancient cultures are expressed through ceremony and ritual. Songs, dances and public performance convey knowledge and understandings of a peoples past; with connotations for present living and community development. The Potlatch is evidence of the rewards of study, as well as a method of making spoken words visible for communal appreciation. Barnett describes the Potlatch, in Indians of the North Pacific Coast, that allows individuals and family groups “to assemble an appreciative and purposeful audience outside his immediate localized kinship group.” (McFeat, 2002, pg. 83) This ceremony always commemorates some claim and “announcements or reassertion of these claims is in all cases the reason for the Potlatch.” (McFeat, 2002, pg. 83) A Potlatch is a pageant of oration, singing, dancing, and gifting to guests for attendance. All participants in a Potlatch have roles and must perform in precise sequence. Dancers and singers must adhere to protocols and procedures that are shared between communities and are referenced as “memory, history and story”. (FNESC, 2008) The proceedings in a Potlatch is neither random nor insignificant. Every family engage in communal study to learn the songs, and dance, of their ancestors for song and dance are property in this society. The ritual of the Potlatch is a message to for people outside kinship groups and this message must be conveyed correctly else tempt potential deep shaming of family and community.
It is true that “we think of words as the visible marks signaling words to decoders … written words are residue”. (Ong, 2002 pg. 11) I believe this residue to be a literary experience that commemorates, asserts and announces knowledge and experience. To describe Aboriginal societies as preliterate fails to see the institutional processes used to express languages, beliefs and traditions. Anishinaabe historian Basil Johnston, writing in Centering Aishinaabeg Studies, says “stories that make up our tribal literature are no different from the words in our language … both have many meanings and applications”. (Doerfler, 2013, PG 8) The invention of writing was not needed to share the meanings and understanding of a people. There can be no doubt that Aboriginal people “learned by apprenticeship … and a kind of corporate retrospection” (Ong, 2002, pg. 7), ceremony is a form of literary experience that requires a commitment to communal study.
Sources:
Doerfler, J. (2013). Centering Anishinaabeg studies: Understanding the world through stories Michigan State University Press.
FNESC. (2008). First Nations Education Steering Committee. Retrieved from http://www.fnesc.ca/: http://www.fnesc.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/PUB-LFP-POSTER-Principles-of-Learning-First-Peoples-poster-11×17.pdf
McFeat, T. (2002). Indians of the North Pacific Coast: Studies in selected topics. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press.
Ong, W.J. (2002) Orality and literacy: the technologizing of the word. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com
