Levi-Strauss on the Functions of Writing

…The only phenomenon with which writing has always been concomitant is the creation of cities and empires, that is the integration of large numbers of individuals into a political system, and their grading into castes or classes. Such, at any rate, is the typical pattern of development observed from Egypt to China, at the time when first emerged: it seems to have favoured the exploitation of human beings rather than their enlightenment. This exploitation, which made it possible to assemble thousands of workers and force them to carry out exhausting tasks, is a much more likely explanation of the birth of Architecture than the direct link referred to above. …

https://newlearningonline.com/literacies/chapter-1/levi-strauss-on-the-functions-of-writing

I’m not sure I can agree with CLS’s assertion that writing enabled slavery (omitted in the above exerpt), but the notion that writing can communicate across time or across a complex organisation, enabling bureaucracy, is asn interesting onee. There’'s a pre-voicing of Arendt’s “banality” observation here as well.

Originally: https://diaspora.glasswings.com/posts/8e1fa4102f650139e9ed002590d8e506

#writing #ClaudLeviStrauss #Anthropology #recordkeeping #organisation

Levi-Strauss on the Functions of Writing

...The only phenomenon with which writing has always been concomitant is the creation of cities and empires, that is the integration of large numbers of individuals into a political system, and their grading into castes or classes. Such, at any rate, is the typical pattern of development observed from Egypt to China, at the time when first emerged: it seems to have favoured the exploitation of human beings rather than their enlightenment. This exploitation, which made it possible to assemble thousands of workers and force them to carry out exhausting tasks, is a much more likely explanation of the birth of Architecture than the direct link referred to above. ....

https://newlearningonline.com/literacies/chapter-1/levi-strauss-on-the-functions-of-writing

#writing #ClaudLeviStrauss #Anthropology #recordkeeping #organisation

I'm not sure I can agree with CLS's assertion that writing enabled slavery, but the notion that writing can communicate across time or across a complex organisation, enabling bureaucracy, is asn interesting onee. There''s a pre-voicing of Arendt's "banality" observation here as well.