Literary Representation of the Self in Medieval Arabic Autobiographies and the Cultural Barriers to Self‑Cognition. The Literacy Theory Perspective. Part 2

Abstract

This article addresses the problems associated with the relationship between the influence of writing on cognitive processes and the features of the cul­ture within which writing appears. Classical literacy theory, with the modi­fications that were introduced over the course of time, was embraced as the research perspective. According to these modifications, the change in the cog­nitive processes and content which occurs under the influence of writing is not automatic. Every culture has at its disposal a specific array of factors which influence writing and literacy and which determine the extent to which the potential of writing will be used. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the most important cultural norms and values which, by being practiced socially, could have limited the influence of writing on self-cognitive processes—the consequences of such processes can be found in the literary representation of the self in medieval Arabic autobiographies of the 12th–15th centuries. These features were referred to as traditionalism, the domination of collective aware­ness over individual awareness, the acceptance of social hierarchical structure, and a Quranic vision of the limits to man’s freedom.