More than Writing: Coding and Decoding (in) Amerindian Graphic Communication Systems between Mexico and the Andes

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This project investigates the operating principles of Amerindian graphic systems by 1) exploring selected case studies and by 2) reconceptualizing the deeply rooted assumption that non-European graphic systems are to be measured and evaluated from a point of view that focuses on "true" writing, i.e., the full visualization of speech. Such a biased, but still prevailing focus is problematic, as most graphic communication systems in the Americas and elsewhere do not visualize speech but express mental concepts and constructions without visualizing words. Plenty of Western knowledge is as well codified in non-alphabetical graphic communication systems, which are, like chemical or musical notations, understood independently and be verbalized in different languages, but the theoretical work on those kinds of scripts is still in its infancy. This project asks how such graphic communication systems work in Amerindian America and how their understanding contributes to a general theory of writing. Therefore, five subprojects will analyze highly distinct cases (from Mixtec codices and maize reading, to mixed pre-Hispanic Andean communication systems, to pictographs and graphical notation system in Lowland South America) through a similar basic methodical procedure to contribute to a unified theory in which the plurality of Amerindian graphic communication systems could be included. This project will bring together the specific knowledge and methodologies developed for analyzing prehispanic and contemporary graphic communication systems in different Amerindian regions, cultures, as well as different academic traditions: Mesoamerican, Andean and Lowland South American. It will thereby contribute to better comprehend the communication and transmission of knowledge in Amerindian graphic communication systems by focusing on the operating principles of these systems; to develop a unified methodology for approaching Amerindian graphic communication systems and a theory of the plurality of Amerindian graphic communication systems.