2/10/2005

ONG'S 9 "Canonical" Ideas (these are in Ong pg 36-57)
*1. Additive rather than subordinative: think lots of "ands" linking action. PARATACTIC!
*2. Aggregative rather than analytic: use of epithets and cliches to help memory along.
*3. Redundant or 'copious': Saying the same thing over and over in order that the audience "get" it. After all, we are unable to "look up" an oral story.
*4. Conservative or traditionalist: Keeping knowledge in a story but changing the story in order to reinforce the information. Storytelling as didactic.
*5. Close to the human life world: analysis is connected to what is close to their lives. Plants, trails, weather.
*6. Agonistically toned: Conflict between people. Contests, oral people always fighting. Engaging each other.
*7. Empathetic and participatory rather than objectively distanced: writing and reading as isolating while oral culture is communal.
*8. Homeostatic: Sluffing off memories/knowledge that is no longer relevant. Living in the present.
*9. Situational rather than abstract: thinking concretely and with pragmatism. "Hammer, saw, hatchet, log" case study from Ong.

Flyting
We heard quite the insults from each other today ranging from the "Yo Mama" one-liners, to sibling tiffs and calling each other "botanists". Hannah had one that began, I think, "Disconnected, brain-affected..." that's all I remember, but it was a good one. Think about what your Top 100 Insults would be...:O)

KANE
Strong emphasis on Nature. Its music, its stories, and its lessons.
*pg 45 "The terms for a definition of mythtelling involve a concept of ecological patterns which elude, or should elude, human manipulation, and are therefore coded as sacred." This passage gets at the fact that there should be things in the world that humans cannot understand or control. These things are not clear because they should not be clear.
*pg 40 "The whole world seems alive with relationships we cannot see...Often it is better that something remain a mystery." This passage is very much connected to the one from page 45. Shown, Done, Spoken.
*pg 38 "To repel bees, you burn this leaf. To reduce fever, you place the inner bark of this tree on your forehead. You can fold this broad leaf into a drinking cup...losing an elder is like losing an entire library." There is practical information within the stories and conversations of the oral peoples. Connects to Ong's canonical idea #5 in that these people know things that they must know in their society and their environment.