Austronesian research seminar "Written cultures and cultures of the spoken word"

Is the adoption of writing the "natural" evolution for societies? How can we explain the spread and use of alphabets in certain parts of Southeast Asia, and not in others, despite close proximity? How do people pass on knowledge without the use of written forms? Why do some groups emphasize orality in some domains, and writing for others? In what ways are different scripts and languages (sometimes blended with each other) used within the same community?

These are some of the questions that the seminar explores with the aim of understanding how orality and literacy interact among Austronesian-speaking people in present-day Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia, with a focus on societies living in the Sulawesi-Sulu Seas region.

"La Galigo - Part 10, pp. 19-20" by Leiden University Libraries, Digital Collections, cropped