Word, Sound, Image The Life of the Tamil Text [Paperback]

This original and radical book challenges dominant parameters of literacy by comparing the oral tradition of the Tamils in South India with the Western culture of printed text. In India, traditional texts are always performed; as a result, form and meaning can change depending on the occasion. This is the opposite of Western communication through publication which is a static representation of knowledge. The author examines the reasons for the differences between the Indian and Western textual traditions, and describes how text lives through the performing arts of words, sound and imagery. She argues that interactive multimedia is the first Western communication form to represent oral traditions effectively.

... a remarkable performance - imaginative and thought provoking. Stephen Tyler, Rice University

an inspired and intelligent demonstration that a text lives complex lives. [...] an important contribution to the study of texts in performance. Social Anthropology

Introduction - Texts, Data, Knowledge Representation - Part I: Habitus - Text - World - Performer - Part II: Praxis - Speech Artefact - Form - Content - Part III: Representation - Reproduction - Objectification - Translation - Conclusion

Saskia Kersenboom, Associate Professor in Linguistic Anthropology, University of Amsterdam