#mmm hyperfixation

[coquette-corpsie]

I quite frankly don't apologize for the amount of top gun on main.

[freakscircus]

sadly all finished with the khipu book i was obsessed with. i may pick up another khipu book by the other khipu guy, gary urton. putting my thoughts below, taken from my goodreads review

I am going to preface this review by saying that it is so seldom that a new topic in academia captures my imagination. It is even more seldom that I feel excited while I read. Salomon's book was like putting together a puzzle, all coming toward a fascinating and compelling conclusion. I loved it. This book is not for everyone, but with a little bit of effort and a willingness to unpack alternate nontextual forms of language and writing, this book is worth the effort you may have to put into it. Salomon attempts to understand the khipu - an ancient Inca system of storing knowledge through a knotted cord system. The main question of the book is deceptively simple: What exactly do these khipus "say?" Salomon attempts to get at this question through an ethnographical view of the village of Tupicocha. Tupicochans have preserved their ancestral khipus, called quiopocamayos, and have bestowed new ritual meaning upon them beyond their original recordkeeping function. Salomon investigates the quiopocamayos in an attempt to understand the khipu system, and what exactly they could be "saying" and why. Salomon makes the extremely interesting argument about how these khipus should be viewed. Are they a form of writing? The answer is complicated. Khipus "speak" in a language that cannot be directly translated or conceptualized in verbal speech in the same way that "writing proper" can. Think of a math equation, a piece of sheet music, or a choreographed ballet. Each analogy has its own semiotic language that cannot be put into words, yet convey an inherent meaning. To try and understand khipus as a direct text-to-speech medium would be impossible - they must instead be understood as their own sign system through the use of knots that cannot be "translated" the way the written word can. This is why there will never be a khipu "Rosetta stone." Salomon uses quite a few interesting methods to try and crack the code of this enigmatic sign system. His methodological arsenal includes oral interviews, alphabetic record books, radiocarbon dating, ethnographic observation, and more. Salomon attempts to learn more about khipus in order to bridge the gap between their pre-hispanic function as an information system, and the modern khipu as a piece of ceremonial regalia. Salomon also dismisses the Spanish notion that khipus "died" when lettered literacy rose, instead arguing that they continued to be used and understood through "half life" knowledge in which they began to fade away but continued to have meaning and presence. The book opens with the question – could the Incas write? Salomon notes that he is usually hesitant to answer this question when his students ask him. He waffles between “yes, but not in any way we can explain” or “no, but behaved like a literate society.” (xvii) After all, khipus were quite enigmatic. Hernando Pizarro was surprised to note that the Inca were able to keep highly accurate records of everything the Spanish took from them using the knotted cord method. Salomon goes on to explain that khipus are now considered a “lost script,” their meaning and function lost to time. He then introduces the reader to Tupicocha, unique because of their preserved khipus that still play a role in village life. However, this role is purely ceremonial and curatorial, and the khipus are no longer added to or referenced as a source of information. However, these khipus were still closely tied with what Salomon believes was their original purpose – the planning of the division and allocation of community tasks, and the checks and balances that previously allotted tasks were in fact completed. This can be seen through the ceremonial importance of the quipocamayos at the yearly New Years ritual of governance, which deals with that very matter. Salomon unpacks the ayllu system, and its purpose both as a standalone body and its role in inter-ayllu relations and larger governance as a whole. One of the most important functions of the ayllus is to distribute collective labor groups in order to do projects that benefit the community. This can be quite complicated, as there are many jobs and each have different variables. The traditional role of the ayllu deals with complicated and often conflicting planning – the need for meticulous records is clearly spelled out here. The reader is then taken along a multi chapter unpacking of not just what the khipus say, but what their meaning is to modern Tupicochans. It is not just important for Salomon to arrive at an objective truth of cracking the code of the khipu, but it is also important to understand their changing cultural meaning over time. Some chapters are quite difficult, especially chapter four about the signification system of staffs used by staff bearing officials. Salomon is giving the reader an alternate abstract sign system that “says” something that is not directly translatable into speech, but conveys information to the villagers of Tupicocha about authority and a larger political context. This system of lines, Xs, and Ps are a way to calculate social relations that cannot be understood with a direct verbal translation. These social relations shift every year, which is documented through the changing of the carvings made on each staff. Salomon makes a fascinating argument for a change in political context, and a change in the way authority is expressed on each staff. Interestingly, when Salomon asks villagers of Tupicocha what exactly these staffs are supposed to “say” – it is difficult to verbalize and there is no direct consensus. Instead, these staffs communicate in a different semiosis - like khipus. While this is difficult, I think this chapter really hits home at the idea of a nonverbal system of communication that runs parallel to speech. So what is Salomon's ultimate conclusion as to what these Tupicochan quipocamayos could say? The khipus’ colored band system corresponds to a recorded plan through both simulation and documentation of the completion of tasks. Salomon argues that this can be directly linked to the color sequence – cycles of color represent planning, while whole bands represent execution. However, the khipu is so much more than that, and the reader understands that thanks to the excellent work of Salomon's anthropological methodology. Highly HIGHLY recommended!

[sporesgalaxy]

hoo....just got done doing some Important Research (Watching Danny Phantom Episodes With Vlad In Them Again)