anthropology of letter writing

[Alexandre Enkerli]

Rachel, fellow LingAnthers,

Haven't done research about this myself. Just a few thoughts...

It seems to me that people are constantly redrawing the lines between 
public and private speech in writing. Though we discuss the 
public/private dichotomy in many contexts, we might need to think a bit 
more about different forms of writing. This situation might have to do 
with the division of labour assigning “oral” transmission to 
ethnographers and writing to literary specialists. Many writing genres 
and practises seem to fall off the academic map. For instance, Willard 
McCarty's Humanist Discussion Group discusses online writing a lot (from 
blogging to newsgroups) but shies away from, say, instant messaging. My 
personal contention is that IM is at the border between oral and written 
as well as on the border between public and private. Again, didn't 
investigate this and some LingAnthers might have.
As for scribes (paid or voluntary), it's likely to be a common practise 
in many of the groups in which we do research. In Mali, for instance, a 
person who has undergone formal schooling (typically a young adult) will 
often write letters, formal and informal, as a service to an elder. 
Doing so, these scribes are assuming a role of intermediary which is 
well-known in many of the local groups (jeliw among Mande-speakers, 
other “orators” and “griots” in other groups). In this case, the 
transmogrification from the spoken to the written word resembles Akan 
oratory to a fairly large degree (as described by Yankah in his classic 
/Speaking for the Chief/).

In non-academic contexts, there's this Brazilian movie (/Central 
Station/?) about a paid scribe who not only modifies the content of the 
message but, in fact, keeps the letters she's supposed to send. One 
would think that public scribes are a familiar sight in Brazil. Is it 
the case?

Do keep us posted on the subject of letter writing.

Alexandre
http://enkerli.wordpress.com/

Rachel Reynolds wrote:
> Hi Everyone:
>
> A student has just written me a terrific response paper to Keith 
> Basso's "Ethnography of Writing" article in _Explorations in 
> Ethnography of Speaking_ that has left me wondering about research 
> that may or may not have been spurred on by Basso's piece. Does anyone 
> know of research work on letter writers who write for illiterate 
> people? All I can think of is a few literary references, but not any 
> anthropological research.
>
> My second generation South Asian American student wrote: "Finally, I 
> was curious to find out how letter writers in India (those who write 
> and send out letters for the illiterate) change, delete, or add to the 
> content dictated to them by the customer and the reasons behind this. 
> For me, letter-writing is such a personal act and I couldn't imagine 
> having to ask someone to write for me. Also, since this communicative 
> act is performed for a fee, how do those dictating the letter alter 
> their language to ensure that they can afford to pay the letter 
> writer. What topics are of the utmost concern and how do these reflect 
> cultural assumptions? I would guess that the topics in the case of the 
> illiterate in India are money and well-being."
>
> Any leads would be appreciated.
>
> Rachel
>
> &%\----&%\----&%\----&%\----&%\-----/%&---/%&---/%&----/%&---/%&---/%&
> Rachel R. Reynolds
> Assistant Professor
> Director of Graduate Programs
> Department of Culture & Communication
> Drexel University
> 3141 Chestnut Street
> Philadelphia, PA 19104
> (215) 895-0498
> rrr at drexel.edu
>
>