Übersicht

The Goody Lecture for 2020 will be given by Stephen Levinson at 6.00pm on Tuesday 6th October. What should have been the highlight of the last academic year will now be the curtain-raiser for the new one.

Speaker’s Abstract:
Jack Goody introduced the notion of ‘technologies of the intellect’ to draw attention to the transformative power of literacy. It is a fertile idea, by no means fully exploited in anthropology or elsewhere: a cultural manner of externalization of thought affords mental operations that are impossible or difficult without that externalization, with potentially profound implications not just for the mind, but for culture, society and history. There are many ways in which cultures exploit this process, with consequences for the diversification of cultural mentalities, which nevertheless lie over a common bedrock of mental life.
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The lecture will be delivered by video-conference. All are welcome but space is limited, both in our main seminar room and online. Those interested should register with Anke Meyer (meyer@eth.mpg.de) indicating the form in which they wish to participate by 10.00am on Monday 5th October at the latest (first come first serve).