Luba Memory Codes
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Luba Memory Codes
Luba Memory Codes explores the ingenious methods employed by the pre-literate Luba Kingdom of Central Africa to preserve and transmit their history and governance. Lacking a written language, the Luba people developed sophisticated memory aids, most notably the lukasa, a wooden board adorned with beads and carvings. These served as mnemonic devices, enabling trained specialists (basangwa) to recount intricate narratives and legal precedents. This book delves into the Luba's system of indigenous knowledge, highlighting their capacity for abstract thought. The book examines the lukasa in detail, deciphering its symbolic language and demonstrating its function as a memory aid. It also considers the broader cultural context, including oral traditions and initiation ceremonies, that reinforced the memory codes. By understanding these elements, readers gain insight into the complex governance structures of the Luba Kingdom, which flourished from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Organized into three parts, Luba Memory Codes first introduces the Luba Kingdom, then analyzes the lukasa and finally explores the social context of memory in Luba culture. Through a combination of historical accounts, museum collections, and ethnographic research, the book offers a nuanced perspective on pre-colonial African history and challenges conventional views reliant solely on written records. This interdisciplinary approach will appeal to scholars, students, and anyone interested in African history, cultural preservation, and the fascinating world of mnemonic devices.
The Memory Code
In ancient, pre-literate cultures across the globe, tribal elders had encyclopedic memories. They could name all the animals and plants across a landscape, identify the stars in the sky and recite the history of their people. Yet today, most of us struggle to memorize more than a short poem. Using traditional Aboriginal Australian song lines as a starting point, Lynne Kelly has since identified the powerful memory technique used by our ancestors and indigenous people around the world. In turn, she has then discovered that this ancient memory technique is the secret purpose behind the great prehistoric monuments like Stonehenge, which have puzzled archaeologists for so long. The stone circles across Britain and northern Europe, the elaborate stone houses of New Mexico, huge animal shapes in Peru, the statues of Easter Island - these all serve as the most effective memory system ever invented by humans. They allowed people in non-literate cultures to memorize the vast amounts of information they needed to survive. But how? For the first time, Lynne Kelly reveals the purpose of these monuments and their uses as 'memory places', and shows how we can use this ancient technique to train our minds.
Summary of Lynne Kelly's The Memory Code
Author: Everest Media,
language: en
Publisher: Everest Media LLC
Release Date: 2022-05-23T22:59:00Z
Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The complexity of oral traditions has been recognized only recently. Indigenous cultures were seen as intellectually inferior and primitive, but they were actually very complex and advanced. They memorized a great deal of information, and used it to navigate their environment. #2 The need to know the animals and plants that live in a specific area is common among Indigenous people. They often have a love of knowledge for knowledge’s sake, and they often record the names, sounds, behavior, and habitats of animals in myths, songs, and dry sand paintings. #3 The dances of Australian Aboriginal tribes are a complement to the songs they sing. They not only entertain but information can be encoded in dance that defies clear expression in words. #4 The songs, dances, and mythology of the kachina, the mythological beings who perform much of the Pueblo oral tradition, tell the stories of mythological characters who act out the highly memorable narratives.