Oral Cultures - A link to the physical world

I came across this 1875 photograph French mountain guides by Joseph Tairrez while shopping for a keepsake in Chamonix, France. It's part of a calendar I bought and is on the month of September. It reminded me of reading Walter Ong's article about orality and literacy. Ong says that literacy led to abstract thinking which has ultimately expressed itself in our cyber existence, whereas primarily oral cultures are more connected to the here and now and share in traditional knowledge that is passed from generation to generation. This change towards literacy removed the parent as the primary tutor for the child and placed children in schools instead of on the farm or in the fields.

To look at this image of the mountain guides I can imagine the conversation being about the knowledge they have about glaciers, weather, irritable clients, and the happenings around the village. It is a slower pace of life, one I am drawn to each time I leave the city for an extended camping trip.