Written culture in a colonial context : Africa and the Americas, 1500-1900 / / edited by Adrien Delmas, Nigel Penn.

• Superior document: African history ; v. 2
• TeilnehmendeR: Delmas, Adrien.; Penn, Nigel.
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: African history (Brill Academic Publishers) ; v. 2.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (411 p.)
• Notes: Papers first presented at a conference at the University of Cape Town in Dec. 2008.; Previously published: UCT Press, 2011.
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• ISBN: 1283470802; 9786613470805; 9004225242
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: edited by Adrien Delmas, Nigel Penn.

Recent developments in the cultural history of written culture have omitted the specificity of practices relative to writing that were anchored in colonial contexts. The circulation of manuscripts and books between different continents played a key role in the process of the first globalization from the 16th century onwards. While the European colonial organization mobilised several forms of writing and tried to control the circulation and reception of this material, the very function and meaning of written culture was recreated by the introduction and appropriation of written culture into societies without alphabetical forms of writing. This book explores the extent to which the control over the materiality of writing has shaped the numerous and complex processes of cultural exchange during the early modern period.