Oral Culture as Homeostatic

One of the 9 Characteristics of orally based thought and expression is that it is Homeostatic, in other words, that the holders of knowledge (mythtellers, elders, etc) take out information that is no longer relevant to the situation of the community. For example, if I were telling a story that had previously included information about what it was like during prohibition, I might amend the story because prohibition no longer exists as a national statute across our country. (I can't think of a better example right now) In Ong's words, "oral societies very much live in a present which keeps itself in equilibrium...by sloughing off memories which no longer have present relevance" (46). This got me thinking. I am also majoring in History and most people who study history (and even some who don't) would agree that the point of studying the past is to learn about where we came from, how we came from that place and time to the one we are in now, and where we may be headed in our future. Where, then, do oral cultures draw the line at what is "worthy" of being held on to and what is not?

Some people out there hold the view that history often simply reminds us of the evil in mankind rather than teaching us the reasons to avoid that evil... is an oral culture's history like this? Does it keep memories of good times and reject the bad? or does it keep the bad in order that a lesson might be learned from it? It seems to me from the myth tales that I have read thus far in Kane's book, that the histories and memories of oral people are of the bad things. The tales are didactic and therefore remain relevant.

Ong's discussion of word meanings in this context are quite interesting. The Oxford English Dictionary is FULL of word meanings that we are rarely even aware of, let alone using. I suppose that for a print culture, the meanings of these words must be kept and catalogued so that when we go back to a 15th century text we can make sense of it in its own context. Oral cultures have no use for this because the word is only present as it is being said. After that, it is gone and cannot be referenced.


*My notes http://oraltraditionsnotes.blogspot.com