The Early China Seminar
Project on Literacy and Social Uses of
Writing
Between 2006 and 2008, the Seminar is hosting a number of papers on the
problems connected with literacy and
social functions of writing in Early China.
Topics will include:
- schooling and
professional training
in how to read and write
- transmission of different kinds of
information with or without writing
- ritual and
other social functions
associated with writing
- political power
and literacy
- general vs.
occupational literacy
- degree and extent of literacy
in different regions and parts of society
- diglossia and the
relationship
between written and spoken language
- the material culture of
writing
- standardization of writing and the stabilization
of texts
At the end of this two-year period, there will be a general conference
refining the issues raised in individual papers, from
which a book is expected to result. While the project
will continue to
grow over the next two years, the following prospective
titles have been submitted to date:
Kenichi Takashima, University of British Columbia, Canada
Evidence of Literacy among the Diviners and the Elites in Multiple Regions in Shang China
2007-2008
Martin Kern, Princeton University
The Performance of Writing in the Western Zhou
September 2006
Lothar von Falkenhausen, University of California at Los Angeles
Oral performance
and written transmission in ceremonial contexts:
The nature of Western Zhou bronze inscriptions in light of the
recent finds from Yangjiacun
February 2007
Li Feng, Columbia University
The Administrative Use of Writing during the Western
Zhou”
November 2007
Constance A. Cook, Lehigh University
Education and the Way of the Former Kings
March, 2007
Robin
Yates, McGill University, Canada
Soldiers, Scribes, and Women: Literacy among the Lower Orders in the Early Empire
March 2007
Anthony
Barbieri-Low, University of Pittsburgh
Craftsman’s Literacy: Uses of Writing among Male and Female Artisans in Qin and Han China.
September, 2007
Matthias Richter, University of Freiburg, Germany
Enquiring into the
significance of writing for the transmission and stabilisation
of Early Chinese texts
May 2007
David Branner,
University of Maryland
Literacy in the Early Chinese
Inheritance of Medieval China: the Views
of Yan Zhitui
2007-2008
Thomas H. C. Lee, The City College of New York, CUNY
Functional Literacy,
General Literacy, and Literacy Crisis
November 2006
The dates for the papers could
change in due course; please pay close
attention to the “Annual Program”
linked to the main page of the Early
China Seminar. We continue to welcome
suggestions for new paper topics. Please direct your suggestions and inquiries
to Li Feng (fl123 AT AT AT columbia.edu)
and David Branner
(dpb23 AT AT AT columbia.edu).