Permeate with Permanence.
When I thought
about what people did before writing technologies were invented, I came to
the conclusion that people communicated on an oral level; in some places
of the world, this is still the case. It’s not a bad thing that
some cultures aren’t fully submerged in the advancing of technology in the
terms of writing and communication, but I am glad that the facilities of
pens, paper, and printers are available to me, in the terms of conveince
and permanence.
As I was thinking of those cultures who didn’t rely
on writing technologies, or who still don't, tribal communities like the
Native Americans, the Maori of New Zealand, and the !Kung in South Africa,
not to lump them all together because they are so different, but stood out
because of their reliance on the spoken word. The !Kung, for example,
have a complex clicking language, which relies heavily on the sounds of the
words for the meanings. Within the Native Americans and the Maori,
family and cultural traditions were/are passed down orally.
So, with this in mind, I asked myself how or do these cultures communicate
with out the use of spoken word and how do they keep any sort of permanence
within their cultures? To this, the images of body scarring,
tattoos, and even stretching and piercing came to mind. The purpose
of this is to perhaps, show rank, a life achievement, beauty.
Someone else has to look at the person with the body modification and
interpret what it means, same as someone interpreting the words on a page.
In inventing my own writing technology, keeping the ideas
of body modification in mind, I wanted to use the body as paper and something
I make myself as the writing implement, perhaps something found in nature.
I went to nature, trying to find a device of a vibrant color. I thought
of what might be used as an ink, like bark, clay, berries, and plants.
Outside my window, marigolds grow like hearty shrubs (possibly not so much
a plant of phenomenal import in nature). Plucking the pungent orange
flower from its plant, I rubbed a petal with my forefinger and thumb, massaging
out the pigment. I figured, maybe, with some sort of oil, this would
suffice as a technological writing invention, without using the conventions
so common to me.
With this new tool, I called up my own tribe, bribing them of course
with candy(Carmel apple suckers), to participate in my project. Coaxing
the color out of the marigold with olive oil, I uncomfortably, yet with a
bizarre intimacy, smudged letters onto the various tribe member’s bellies;
some were so hairy and beast like it took more oil and pigment, and others
were smooth, reflecting the written words with greater ease. Though
the first few letters were too transparent, I found the right combination
of oil and flower to make the words more legible.
While violating my friends, I thought how much easier it would be to write
on a piece of paper with a pen the words that were being smudged on their
tummies, how much easier it is to write of life accomplishments and to document
those who are in charge of what in some long lost data base.
I don’t know, maybe its different cultural mindsets, or it’s in the craft
of a ritual, but the conveniences of the writing tools I use set me at ease.
On the other hand, the art of written communication is
getting less and less personal, meaning computer screens vs. books, e-mails
vs. written letters, which to me, getting involved with nature and the craft
itself was somewhat rewarding.
After the elixir was applied to the belly and a snapshot was taken, I handed
each person a pink napkin, for I was out of paper towels, to wipe off the
words: eliminated, like that. With the issue of permanence, I
am torn. I like the withstanding of printed text on pages bound together
in a tight package. Unless burned or thrown into a pool of water or
molten lava, the book will last with some wearing. In an essay about
writing being a technology, Walter J. Ong, in dealing with the issue of permanence
between oral and written cultures, says, “We grasp truth articulately only
in events. Articulated truth has no permanence. Full truth is
deeper than articulation”, which, in interpreting this, shows how the written
word can be a comfort to a vast majority. It adds a tangibility to
truth(Ong20). But I look at this permanence and see a great risk of
the lack of ability and willingness to change. I see written
documents like the constitution and the bible (back off I’m not saying they
are bad) as a bar put up to stop a change, revolution in understanding and
bettering human condition, yet these documents are all up for interpretation
and who has the control of the interpretation are the ones who put up a blockade.
When I look at the cultures who partake in body modification, I see a sense
of permanence in their craft, like books, these tattoos, scars will
wear with time. Granted things may get lost or forgotten, but, the
impermanence and mobility in the oral aspect of these cultures seem to be
open up for change, but like a culture who values writing, what is
orally passed down from generation to generation is left up to interpretation
for the next generation.
So, within both written based and oral based communities,
a greater importance is placed on the responsibility of the human mind to
justly or coherently interpret those stories or information presented, not
so much in the way that it is presented. I refrain from calling societies
functioning around written communication more civilized than those societies
who don’t embrace the written word, for they are not less complex or civilized,
but have a different a value system. Though the nostalgic earthly romance
in picking a piece of nature and utilizing it is so appealing, I like the
convenience of the permanence in presenting stories or information in a technological
or written way.
Works Cited
Ong,Walter J. “Writing Is a
Technology that Restructures Thought.” Literacy: A Critical Source
Book.
Ed. Ellen Cushman, Eugene R Kintgen, Barry M. Kroll, Mike Rose. New York:
Bedford/St.Martin’s,
2001.
