The Lettered Mountain: A Peruvian Village's Way with Writing

摘要

Subaltern use of writing is a topic that has gained an increasing amount of attention in academia. Much of this literature is formulated against an underlying assumption, rooted in what can be best understood as a Rousseauian notion of a noble savage, that writing is a form of power. Moving from an oral to a written society creates a 'great divide' between simple, primitive societies and complex, modern ones. From this perspective, writing makes traditional societies less authentic, with some ethnic militants defending the perceived superior value of oral cultures.