The Printing Press

The printing press arrived a few centuries late in the Arab world due to Ottoman declarations prohibiting it throughout the empire. This was mainly out of fear of tampering with Islamic texts and later on as censorship by the Ottoman government continuing until the 19^th century. Christian and Jewish communities started using the printing press much earlier, as ways of promulgating their respective religions. This was especially present in Palestine due to its significance as a center of the three faiths. In the 19^th century, the region experienced a cultural shake-up from the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt and the Ottoman Empire’s reforms. By the turn of the century, constitutional reforms allowing the use of the printing press led to a renaissance of Arabic literature, journalism/political activity, and the emergence of modern nationalistic tendencies across the region. This was a focal point in the region’s history, with the printing press contributing to many elements of society and consequences felt to this day. It would be interesting to explore the technology under a different context than usual: delayed and popularized at a very tumultuous time in history.

Cryptography

Al-Kindi was an Arab polymath living during the Islamic Golden Age in the Abbasid Caliphate. His book titled “Manuscript on Deciphering Cryptographic Messages” was the first of its kind to explore methods of cryptoanalysis, and for that he is considered to be one of the fathers of cryptography. His main contribution was the Frequency Analysis, a way of decrypting substitution ciphers via the frequency of letter occurrence in a language (for example, knowing that e is the most common letter in English and substituting it for the most common letter in the ciphered text). This method proved effective in deciphering most classical texts and incentivized the rise of more complex encryption methods. This raises interesting questions about the demand for cryptoanalysis during the Golden Age and its usage in the region, since Arab scholars continued to explore the topic well beyond Al-Kindi’s manuscript was written.

Note

Since Jordan didn’t actually exist before 1921, I decided to do this assignment as a “Levantine” Arab.

My excuse: In the 19^th century, Jordan was part of “Vilayet Syria” under the Ottoman Empire’s control, a division of Greater Syria. Before Ottoman rule, it was part of countless other empires and dynasties such as the Abbasid Dynasty (Islamic Golden Age). Basically, people in the area either identified as part of Syria or the Arabian Peninsula. I thought this was important to explain since the area of what is now Jordan was part of the encompassing region, not defined by its modern borders. Countries of the region share many historical, cultural, political, and lingual aspects, and the spread of communication technology in one area usually applied to others in the region.

References

“Printing History in the Arabic-Speaking World”. Yale University Library, 2009, http://exhibits.library.yale.edu/exhibits/show/arabicprinting/printing_history_arabic_world. Accessed 1 Oct 2018.

Al-Tayeb, Tariq. “Al-Kindi, Cryptography, Code Breaking and Ciphers”. Muslim Heritage, http://www.muslimheritage.com/article/al-kindi-cryptography-code-breaking-and-ciphers. Accessed 1 Oct 2018.

Najeeb, Huda. “Cryptographic Algorithms in Arabic Countries in Recent and Distant History”. Slovak University of Technology, 2010.

Suleiman, Mohammed. “Early Printing Presses in Palestine: A Historical Note”. Jerusalem Quarterly, no. 36, 2009, pp. 79-91., http://www.palestine-studies.org/sites/default/files/jq-articles/JQ%2036_Early%20Printing.pdf. Accessed 1 Oct 2018.

Persian Poetry & the Shahnameh

Modern Persian is written with the Persian alphabet, which is based on a modified form of the Arabic script. Loanwords from Arabic also constitute around 30% of the language. This transition to the modified Arabic script symbolised the transfer from Middle Persian to Late Persian during the Arab conquest of Persia during the 7th Century AD. 

Persian Poetry has always been a significant cultural and political means of one-to-many communication. The specific calligraphy and illustrations that accompany Persian poetry embellish the rhyme and flow of the text.

Ferdowsi’s epic poem, the Shahnameh, is one of the longest pieces of poetry written by a single poet. Ferdowsi starkly opposed the Arab conquest of Persia, and he wrote the poem over a 30 year period to strip the language used of any Arabic influence: Thus writing it in “pure” Persian. The text has served as one of the pillars of the modern Persian language, and as a result, modern Farsi is still strikingly similar to it.

After the Shahnameh, Persian poetry became a particular form of artistic expression, with specific rhyming schemes following the distichs, or bayt. Till the present day, Persian poetry is infused with a manner and mystical character that is easily identifiable.

References: 

• https://archive.org/details/PersianSufiPoetryAnIntroductionToTheMysticalUseOfClassicalPoemsByDeBruijn/page/n39
• https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/606299.pdf

The Oud

The Oud is the quintessential instrument in Arab music. Believed to have evolved from the Barbat, a lute-style instrument from pre-Islamic Persia, it has become most popular in Arabic and Turkish musical history. The Oud allows for twice as many notes as modern Western music, as most maqams, or melodic modes, allow for quarter tones in between that of Western music. This allows for much more variation in musical expression, where different countries or tribes have their own styles of Oud playing.

The Oud is often the central element of an ensemble and lends itself to improvisation, which is a manner of communication that allows for deeper, unplanned expression, compared to the recital of notes. The Oud is currently a staple instrument in Emirati Folk music, and it is often played in social functions that have a traditional setting.

References: 

• https://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/11956

As the UAE has grown rapidly over the past years, a lot of the sources on history and culture can be obtained from people directly. For our first essay assignment, I decided to ask my Mom for clarifications on two topics to help with my writing:

The first one being about the poetry scene in the UAE, long before the UAE became a country one of the most prevalent events within our culture revolved around poetry. According to my Mom, most people from around a hundred years ago to 60-ish years ago were illiterate and their main means of communicating poetry was through memorization. Everyone had a duty bestowed upon them to remember each other’s words and to pass the poems on. I’m hoping to examine the pros and cons of relying on verbal communication within the UAE and how the lack of inscription and the reliance on community relates to our culture.  There is much more to examine within this topic and I’m merely scratching the surface but I’m hoping it will all make sense when I draft the first paper.

As for the second topic, it was common for people that lived on islands to rely on a person as a messenger. Due to everyone being illiterate, they relied on the messengers to carry their messages verbally across to the other islands. This topic is somewhat similar to my previous one as it touches on the aspect of communities and cultures that form and stay together due to their forms of communication. Furthermore, another way of communicating to other islands which were closer and visible was hanging pieces of cloth as a flag that would indicate that the islanders needed something. The receivers of the message would then send someone, a messenger, over to examine the situation and see what they needed and then rallying the message back.

I think both of my topics touch on the same concepts revolving around communities forming over verbal communication due to the lack of literacy. I also find it somewhat ironic that the source I am relying on was verbally communicated to me through my Mom and her experience.

Alphabet

Belarus is located between the Eastern and the Western civilizations, Catholic and Orthodox beliefs, as well as Cyrillic and Latin alphabets. Originally, Belarusian language was recorded in Cyrillic alphabet. Then, since 16^th century Belarusian language started to be recorded in Lacinka (Latin script) until 1850s – when it went back to Cyrillic. Alphabetic changes reflect the diverse political and cultural changes in Belarus. A shift from Cyrillic to Latin alphabet happened with the increased power of Poland and Polish language within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. However, when the Kingdom of Poland fell apart and Belarus ended up under Russian Empire, Russian rulers banned Latin alphabet, fearing that it might prevent Belarusians from embracing Russian identity. Even though Belarusian intellectuals were still using Lacinka under Russian Empire, when Soviets came to power, Latin alphabet totally vanished from Belarusian language.

After the USSR collapsed, the interest in Latin alphabet came back together with the wave of Belarusization. Now, in a country with two official languages, Russian and Belarusian, a modified version of Lacinka is used for transliterating local geographic/street names. Also, people who choose to speak Belarusian in the country where more than 80% of the population speaks Russian, use Lacinka when communicating with each other.

The emergence and development of both Latin and Cyrillic alphabets demonstrate the problem of building and preserving Belarusian national, cultural, and political identity that Belarus, located between two big political players, faces. No wonder, Belarusian intellectuals have even tried to develop another alphabet, neither fully Cyrillic nor Latin, with a purpose of uniting Belarusians.

Sources to be used: 
Mayo, P ‘The Alphabet and Orthography of Byelorussian in the 20th Century’, The Journal of Byelorussian Studies, 4/1 (1977), pp. 28-47. ZC.9.a.9127 .

Mechkovskaya, N ‘Belarusian language: sociolinguistic essays’ Specimina philologiae Slavicae, 138 (2003)

“Three Alphabets Of The Belarusian Language – European Studies Blog”. Blogs.Bl.Uk, 2018, http://blogs.bl.uk/european/2018/01/three-alphabets-of-the-belarusian-language.html. Accessed 1 Oct 2018.

Photography

Photography developed in Belarus since the 1850’s, following the general course of development of photography in Europe. There was a documentary photography, which documented different aspects of life, urban development, etc. These photos began to appear on postcards, which were used as a medium of communication. In the paper I could analyze how photos depicting daily life became a message in themselves. Also, I can discuss how now, these photos reinforce history, as they allow us to look at historical development of the country.

Besides, photography was developing as something commercial (portrait-taking in studios), and was also was used for scientific, military and other reasons. Only in the 21^st century photography also became art. During the Soviet times photography in Belarus began to serve the ideology and propaganda of the state. If documentation was somewhat impossiblet control, depiction of photographs publically carefully selected and censored. This way, the use of photography under state control contributed to creating and sustaining certain illusions about life in Belarusian SSR, that we might be tricked by even today.

Sources to be used:  
Osterman, Mark. HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF PHOTOGRAPHY. Accessed 1 Oct 2018.

kozhemyakin.dironweb.com/for_the_waiting_of_photography/for%20the%20waiting%20of%20photography.html

Old Hungarian alphabet

The old Hungarian alphabet is a writing system that is used for writing the Hungarian language. It first appeared in 1000 BC as the incision of an axe found near Rome. Hungarians must have come in contact with it in the 7th and 8th century AD as part of the Turkic expansion. The alphabet was used by shepherds and commoners until Medieval times, then its use faded. It got revived in 1915. It is read from right to left, has 42 characters. The alphabet offers ways to represent Hungarian vowels (a/á, e/é, i/í, o/ó, ö/ő, u/ú, and ü/ű) and all consonants are pronounced with a vowel.

The writing medium used to be sticks but then Hungarians in Transylvania started using different media. Its contemporary revival uses it as a way of preserving history which can also be interpreted as a neopaganism.

Pre-postal Hungary

A specific technology that was used in Hungary before national post was an option was the so called “noise wood”. This was a column made out of wood that was erected in proximity of each other and it was used to communicate with lights and noise. 

The piece of wood was elaborately cut and decorated. There was always a a person responsible around it, so in time of danger it could be lit up. 

The contemporary use of this technology has changed, nowadays it is used as a centerpiece to folk celebrations in a rural community. 

Dainas – folk songs, but not really

Dainas, usually four-line poetic texts, have been a part of the Latvian culture for more than a thousand years. Many of them have no authors as Dainas are considered to have risen from people and spread from person to person, therefore losing any association with one single creator. Because of that, they capture the collective mentality of the daily routine of people from all levels of society and embodies the Latvian spirit throughout. They were all combined in the so-called “cabinet of songs” over a 25-year long period by a single man during the late 19^th century. The cabinet holds 268 815 individual pieces of paper each containing from 4-8 Dainas (internet was not a thing back then)! These had been obtained by travelling the country and learning about all of them from people directly. Dainas carried a specifically important role during the occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union after the Second World War. In that period freedom of speech was limited and pro-Latvian ideas were censored. At the same time, people kept on singing Dainas that helped to keep the national identity alive. In fact, the movement through which Latvia regained its independence is called the “Singing Revolution”. The significance hasn’t diminished now and Dainas are still commonly used in national traditions (summer solstice, national song and dance festival, etc.) that find their roots in pagan celebrations that originated before the spread of Christianity.

References: http://www.latvia.eu/traditions-lifestyle/latvian-folksongs-dainas

VEF radio and electronics company.

VEF used to be the largest producer of telecommunication technology in the Soviet Union. Although it originated in 1887 under a different name, it reached its industrial peak during the 1960s. It provided the entire Soviet Union with communication equipment like radios and even produced airplanes. At one moment two thirds of all phones in the Soviet Union were created by VEF. One of its most famous achievements was the production of the first portable radio that was able to pick up shortwave frequencies. VEF has solidified itself into the history as one of the greatest and most successful factories Latvia has ever had. Streets, a bridge, a basketball team and other frequently heard of things are still named after VEF even though it went bankrupt shortly after the regain of independence in 1991. However, it is interesting how while researching for this post I learnt that VEF was heavily involved in creating tech for the military, spies, etc. As I think about it now, it makes a lot of sense understanding what the regime was and how important VEF used to be. Nevertheless, I find that the Latvian community has forgotten about that and only sees VEF as one reason why to be proud about ourselves. I think this would be an interesting topic to explore.

References: http://www.laikmetazimes.lv/2014/05/26/vef-latvijas-lepnums-1dala-pirmas-brivvalsts-laiks/

(currently adding the Native American systems of communication after the 9pm deadline)

United States Postal Service

Colorado quickly became a distinguished region because of the most rampant form of communicative technology in the United States at the start of the Gold Rush – the US Postal Service. The Post Office Department did not bring in financial profit initially, but rather helped connect the east and west coasts. The mail carriers worked to find the best routes of travel and include supply stations on the path to California. The construction of the route would soon be used over the previous route – traveling by steamship down to the Panama canal, then crossing over and back up to the Californian coast.

The first overland mail service was sent from Salt Lake City to California. Overtime, more routes were perfected for safety and efficiency, leading to the opening of more routes, including the legendary Californian Butterfield Overland route. The route eventually managed to deliver postage every 22 days, connecting St. Louis and Memphis to San Francisco. Until the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, mail was carried via stagecoach and steamship. Though postage itself never paid more than half of its expense, yet it was invaluable in expanding state commerce and trade, binding the west to the east. 

In the 1890s, the influx of people into Colorado increased with health professionals from abroad because of advertising and exchanging of letters describing Colorado as an ideal atmosphere for healing from consumption. Exchanging of letters led to greater investments in Sanitariums and visits from famous English writers suffering from tuberculosis. It can be argued that Colorado’s initial reputation as a healthy environment for easing TB symptoms in the Midwest ties to its current regional reputation as one of the most health-driven states in the US.

Native American Tribe Smoke Signals https://www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/native-american-culture/war-paint.htm

(quick addition to the list I discovered recently, currently updating right now)

Smoke signals were one of the most common developments in Native American establishments for mass communication. By lighting several fires (best burned using damp leaves, oil, and animal dung to develop the thickest smoke) in a series and covering them with blankets to create pulsations of smoke in the air, tribes could communicate warnings, alarms, death counts from battles, as well as invitations to inter-tribal meetings. 

Native American War Paint 

War paint involved a language of symbolism and badges adorned by Native American Indians as means of communicating intimidation in battle and distinction, as well as other functions including camouflage, protection from weather and insects, mental religious preparation, ritual performances, and visual messages of victory or mourning. Each color used can reference a religious or emotional state, and in the 1800s body paint was a widespread means of visual emotional representation and communal support within individual tribes. It transcended verbal communication between tribes in social rituals, and established an hierarchy and level of prestige amongst tribe members.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/fashion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/war-paint

Colorado Newspapers

(I found this archive of old newspapers from my hometown)

https://informationwanted.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/print-media-mass-communication-in-19th-century-america/

Newspapers in the United States increased from 500 printed newspapers in 1820 to over 3,000 being published by 1860. Magazines further increased alongside the newspapers, both sources further jumping in popularity at the outbreak of the Civil War. The pricing of the papers themselves allowed for accessibility to all audiences. Specific newspapers targeted certain audiences including women, blue collar workers, and immigrants. Current newspapers in 2018 gained their routes from over a century ago, including the Sun, Herald, and Tribune. The newspapers included compilations of poetry, lectures, book reviews, advertisements, crimes, and politics. The African American communities at the time developed a greater sense of community and identity from the African Methodist Episcopal Church publication The Christian Recorder in 1852. Publications in the United States arguably stood at the forefront of communicative technology at the time in helping construct the United States identity in a population with such highly diverse backgrounds. 

Boulder County News publication established itself in 1869, just a decade after gold prospectors first discovered gold in the Boulder region. The news publication acted as the first pivot point to encourage a longterm community to stay within the region; what soon followed was the establishment of schools, universities, and railroads in the same decade. The publication was one of the first businesses established just after legislation passed to mark Territory of Colorado; it increased the incoming population by advertising the region, while also developing a unified community around the town.

Al Sadu

Al Sadu is a traditional weaving tool in the United Arab Emirates. It is used by the local women who have the weaving skills, and make soft furnishings and decorative accessories for camels, furniture, bags and many more. Because of its significance and rich tradition, it was inscribed in 2011 of UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list. Although the tool was used in the past century, it is still being used today when women would come together as a group and weave. Al Sadu brings much communication in the UAE in terms of trade, majlis seating, and fiber arts. 

Sources:

Al Sadu – Abu Dhabi Culture

Al Sadu Video

Al Sadu Book (will be shown later when I get the book)

Shasha

The Shasha is a traditional fishing boat that is primarily found in the East coast of the UAE, particularly in Fujairah. It is made from Palm trees and from the Palm’s fronds. Fishing was an integral part of the UAE trade where locals and South asians would go out to the sea and go fishing. The tradition is still carried on in some parts of the country, however, it is slowly dying down, and becoming more of a business aspect rather than a tradition. Chanting and having intimate conversations during fishing in the Shasha boats were huge outgoing activities with the people. Much history and communication would be made during these fishing sessions where communities would interact with each other such as some India’s Bollywood entertainment would arrive at an Emirati’s TV set.

Sources:

Sounds of the Sea – 2015 Film

Shasha heritage in sturdy hands

The Telegraph as a Symbol for Innovation 

From the 1840s until the 1860s, Paraguay was known to be as the most emerging and innovative economy of South America. Under the reign of President Carlos Antonio Lopez, there were several projects that placed Paraguay ahead of its surrounding countries. Some of these projects involved the inauguration of the first railway of South America, the push to send Paraguayan scholars to study in European Universities, and the creation of the first Telegraph in South America. However, in 1964 Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina allied against Paraguay and the Triple Alliance War began. This was a catastrophic event for Paraguay, given that there was a complete destruction of the population and multiple infrastructures, which eliminated the positive growth outlook it had in its future years. In this analysis paper, I want to explore the effects the creation of the telegraph had in placing Paraguay as an innovation and technological hub, but also how this method of communication was used during the times of war that followed. Finally, I want to analyze the effects of the destruction of the telegraph lines in regards to the flipped perspective on Paraguay by the time the war ended. However, I do believe that I cannot fit that much content in 5 pages, so if I were to choose any of these topics, I would like to focus on the importance it was given at time of development and progress [TBD]. 

https://portalguarani.com/1677_juan_francisco_perez_acosta/13518_telegrafo__presidencia_de_carlos_antonio_lopez_por_juan_francisco_perez_acosta_.html

http://www.portalguarani.com/2576_manuel_guanes_molinas/19258_apuntes_para_la_historia_de_las_telecomunicaciones_en_el_paraguay_1864_1964__por_manuel_guanes_molinas.html

Guarani: The Spanish Translation of  A Phonetic Language into a Latin Alphabet 

The Guarani language is one of the only surviving native languages in South America. It is so frequently used that, without Guarani, you can’t understand half of conversation between two Paraguayans. It is the only native language that is taught in school and spoken by people of all social classes. One of the components that make these teachings possible is the fact that there was an alphabet created around a phonetic language. For this paper however, I would like to explore the agendas and the process behind the translation of Guarani into the latin script. Given that the Guaranies did not have a written version of their alphabet, it was only during the 1600s, the times of the Spanish conquest, that the church developed a latin alphabet that would represent the Guarani language. Of course, this was under the agenda of spreading the Catholic religion and providing the natives with catechism education in their local language. However, they created a very specific dialect called “Missionary Guarani”, that was eliminated after the expulsion of the missionaries in 1767. For this essay,  I would like to explore the process of decision to create an alphabet and the levels of adoption from the natives. If I get the time and enough resources, I would also like to keep exploring the development of this alphabet, the agendas around it, and the impact it had on the natives perception of their own language.  

Resources (Both PDFs): 

https://www.jstor.org/tc/verify?origin=%2Fstable%2Fpdf%2F41615989.pdf%3Frefreqid%3Dexcelsior%253Aca0cea9a1aef255193d40935738b1787

http://publications.iai.spk-berlin.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/Document_derivate_00002557/BLB_024_475_502.pdf;jsessionid=45D8F830EA14232D2F74479347B7843B

Premodern communication technology that emerged and developed in Korea:

#1 Hangul (한글): Korean alphabet

China influenced Korea’s civilisation since the earliest dynasties and one of the most prominent contributions it gave was writing. Before Korea had a writing system, they adopted Chinese characters and it was not until the 15th century that King Sejong introduced Hangul.

Today, each Korean letter has a Chinese equivalent, making it easier to understand what a word means if one knows the translation. But this by no means suggests that the two languages are similar as, for example, Chinese has an SVO (subject-verb-object) construction whereas Korean has an SOV construction.

The main reason for King Sejong to create a new set of alphabets was because Chinese characters were complex and only the intellectuals learned to speak and communicate in it fluently. Hangul thus became a secondary writing system that the illiterate masses could learn more quickly and use it. Hanja (Chinese characters) were still used as the primary language associated with elite status and Hangul as the vernacular language.

The movement to use Hangul began in late 19th century more as a tool of resistance when Japanese colonized Korea (1910-1945). Koreans were forced to adopt Japanese names and were punished when they used their own language. Textbooks were reproduced in Japanese and they removed courses on Korean history and geography, which were central in teachings of national identity. It was in this period that the current rules of spelling and standard language for Korean developed. After the liberation, there was a push for the exclusive usage of Hangul.

#2 Cartography: Korean maps 

One of the earliest surviving maps in Korea portraying the country in 5th to early 7th century was found on the wall of a tomb in Pyongan province. There were some concerns about Chinese security as their maps were being exported to Korea. Two maps that have survived before the Japanese invasion in of 1952 are Kangni-do and another by Yi Hoe and Kwon Kun. It’s believed that ‘Buddhist maps’, also known as ‘maps of the five Indian kingdoms,’ were invented in Korea. 

The first form of the world map was called a ‘wheel map,’ which featured a large continent containing both China and Korea surrounded by water, which is also surrounded by a circular land mass that is again surrounded by a circular sea.

New approaches came after Ricci’s world map arrived in Korea in 1603 and paved way for different types of maps. The use of each map varied, such as to illustrate written materials in historico-geogrpahical texts and to help merchants understand the topography and communication routes better as inter-regional commerce developed (maps in style of Cho Sanggi).

One of the most famous maps was that of Kimg Chongho, which is praised today as the finest product of Korea’s traditional geography. He was not a geographer and spent 30 years wandering up and down the Korean peninsula to gather information. He added towns, military bases, and government offices. But the government was afraid that this map could be used by their enemy and arrested Kim.

Bibliography: 

http://s-space.snu.ac.kr/bitstream/10371/85783/1/11.%202234478.pdf

http://asianhistory.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277727-e-192 

https://books.google.ae/books?id=r15cAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq=korea+wheel+map&source=bl&ots=bgsKvfXUYA&sig=Yww6CF_sTR6aApNPs_gQJsCP4bE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiD0drarOPdAhUF4YUKHQECCgYQ6AEwCXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=korea%20wheel%20map&f=false 

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=7698c9f9-a7c5-4671-835b-47fc5738df4e%40sdc-v-sessmgr06