Inventing Writing
Prophets, Shamans, and the Transmission of Ritual Discourse in North American Indigenous Cultures, 1600–1900
Distributed for HAU
Inventing Writing
Prophets, Shamans, and the Transmission of Ritual Discourse in North American Indigenous Cultures, 1600–1900
Why have humans repeatedly devoted immense intellectual energy to inventing writing? In world history, writing was independently created four times—by the Sumerians, Egyptians, Chinese, and Mayans. These traditions developed universal scripts, systems of symbols theoretically capable of recording any utterance in the spoken language. On this basis, a long-standing scholarly view has held that the origins of writing are inseparable from the rise of states and bureaucracies.
However, this book turns our attention to another trajectory. Between 1700 and 1900, prophets and shamans in Native American societies devised “bounded” forms of writing. Unlike universal scripts, these were not intended to capture the entirety of speech. Instead, they served a precise function: to ensure the faithful transmission of ritual discourses within ceremonial frameworks. Their principles of notation differed profoundly from those of the great phonographic traditions.
Pierre Déléage’s analysis not only illuminates these overlooked episodes in the history of writing but also advances a methodological shift: rather than treating selective scripts as “failed” or “incomplete,” he interprets them on their own terms. In doing so, he opens up a broader framework for understanding writing as a diverse cultural practice, one that can emerge outside of state power, bureaucracy, or universal phonographic systems.
Now published in English translation, Inventing Writing makes the work of a leading French scholar available to new readers. It offers a groundbreaking perspective: writing does not emerge only as a universal technology of language, but also as a bounded tool shaped by ritual, institution, and culture.
150 pages | 39 halftones, 5 maps | 6 x 9 | © 2026
Anthropology: Cultural and Social Anthropology
Language and Linguistics: Anthropological/Sociological Aspects of Language
Table of Contents
Figures
Acknowledgments
A Note on Terminology
Introduction
Writing Systems and Ritual Discourses
Selective Writing Systems and Total Writing Systems
Bound Writing Systems
Five Indigenous American Rituals
Prophetic Writing Systems and Shamanic Writing Systems
Chapter 1
The Writing System of Charles Meiaskaouat, Montagnais Preacher
Meiaskaouat’s Vision
The Ritual Calendar
The Book of Superstitions
The Propagation of Charles Meiaskaouat’s Selective Writing System
Chapter 2
The Great Book of Neolin, Delaware Visionary
July 5, 1754—The Susquehanna River—An Indian Book
July 24, 1754—Onondaga—A Nanticoke Letter
June 2, 1760—The Susquehanna River—An Old Delaware Priest’s Book of Images
October 15, 1762—The Ohio River—The Great Book of Neolin, Delaware Prophet
October 22, 1767—The Ohio River—The Preachers’ Bible
Chapter 3
Kenekuk’s Bible: The Kickapoo Prophet
An Eschatological Map
Kenekuk’s Selective Writing System
After the Death of the Prophet
Chapter 4
The Charts of Abishabis and Wasiteck, Cree Prophets
Two Cree Prophets
Two Printed Hymns and an Eschatological Chart
Chapter 5
Prophetic Scripts
Two Aspects of Ritual Invention
Mapping Vision Narratives and Transcribing Songs
The Prophetic Invention of Writing
Chapter 6
The Midewiwin: The Writing System and Charts of an Ojibwe Shamanic Society
Two Accounts Separated by More Than a Century
An Ojibwe Shamanic Society
Ojibwe Graphic Repertories
The Origin of the Midewiwin Selective Script
Midewiwin Shamanic Songs
An Example
The Selective Script of the Songs
The Charts
The Institutional Context of the Midewiwin Charts and Writing System
The Midewiwin and Christianity
The Midewiwin and the Jaasakids
Chapter 7
The Writing Systems of Shamans and Prophets
Epistemology and Liturgy
Stability and Distribution
Institutional Conditions for the Invention of Writing
Conclusion
Bound Writing Systems
Selective Writing Systems
Secondary Writing Systems
Total Writing Systems
Afterword to the English Edition
The Problem of the Origin of Writing
Standardized Graphic Systems
Selective Writing Systems
Bound Writing Systems
Bibliography
Index