Cambridge Studies in Oral and Literate Culture

This series is designed to address the question of the significance of literacy in human societies: it will assess its importance for political, economic, social and cultural development, and examine how what we take to be the common functions of writing are carried out in oral cultures. The series is interdisciplinary, but with particular emphasis on social anthropology and social history, and will encourage cross-fertilisation between these disciplines: it will also be of interest to readers in allied fields, such as sociology, folklore and literature. Althought it includes monographs, the focus of the series is on theoretical and comparative aspects rather than detailed description, and all the books will be presented in a form accessible to non-specialist readers interested in the general subject of literacy and orality.