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Revisiting the Early Uses of Writing in Society Building: Cuneiform Culture and the Chinese Imperium.

Revisiting the Early Uses of Writing in Society Building: Cuneiform Culture and the Chinese Imperium

dc.creatorBazerman, Charles
dc.date2023-02-13
dc.date.accessioned2023-05-09T18:34:52Z
dc.date.available2023-05-09T18:34:52Z
dc.identifierhttp://ediciones.ucsh.cl/ojs/index.php/lyl/article/view/3156
dc.identifier10.29344/0717621X.46.3156
dc.identifier.urihttps://revistaschilenas.uchile.cl/handle/2250/225465
dc.descriptionThis plenary address reconsiders the impact of writing on culture and governance in the ancient Middle East and China.en-US
dc.descriptionRecent studies of ancient documents illuminate how writing transformed governance, law, and culture in the two earliest re- gions where writing emerged: Mesopotamia and China. By 3000 BCE the profession of scribes had emerged in Sumeria, with scri- bes soon becoming central in finances, accounting, government, administration, law, courts, astronomy, agriculture, land surve- ying and ownership, magic and divination, medicine, literature, and prayers. An elite urban scribal culture supported the repu- tation, power, and administration of royalty and royal states. In China the Qin and Han dynasties created a unified state and ex- tended regulatory control over a large empire through a standar- dized written language, regulation, documentation, monitoring, and administration by literates. The hierarchical state enforced coherence and unity among layers of government administra- tors through systems of written regulation, documentation, and review backed by highly restrictive laws and draconian punish- ments. Ordinary inhabitants were documented, regulated, and held in geographic locales through registration; attempting to avoid documentary control by unauthorized travel was itself a crime of abscondence. In both regions literacy concentrated land ownership, property, and wealth in privileged and powerful classes. Ideology, beliefs, knowledge, and values become articu- lated, spread, maintained, and enforced through literate means,including religious artistic, social, and educational formations, as they continue to today.es-ES
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.languagespa
dc.publisherUniversidad Católica Silva Henrí­quezes-ES
dc.relationhttp://ediciones.ucsh.cl/ojs/index.php/lyl/article/view/3156/2739
dc.rightsDerechos de autor 2023 Literatura y Lingüísticaes-ES
dc.rightshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0es-ES
dc.sourceLiteratura y Linguí­stica; No. 46 (2022): Literatura y Lingüística; 61-76en-US
dc.sourceLiteratura y Lingüística; Núm. 46 (2022): Literatura y Lingüística; 61-76es-ES
dc.source0717-621X
dc.source0716-5811
dc.subjectLiteracyen-US
dc.subjectSumeriaen-US
dc.subjectChinaen-US
dc.subjectgovernanceen-US
dc.subjectcultureen-US
dc.subjectChinaes-ES
dc.subjectculturees-ES
dc.subjectsocial uses of writinges-ES
dc.subjectlawes-ES
dc.subjectscribeses-ES
dc.subjectSumeriaes-ES
dc.subjectwriting historyes-ES
dc.titleRevisiting the Early Uses of Writing in Society Building: Cuneiform Culture and the Chinese Imperium.en-US
dc.titleRevisiting the Early Uses of Writing in Society Building: Cuneiform Culture and the Chinese Imperiumes-ES
dc.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion


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