Blog post 1: Enheduanna

In reading this text I was intrigued by the reference to the Sumerian word for intelligence, gestu, being written with the sign of an ear. I found this rather fascinating. It is heavily implied that the ancient Mesopotamian culture believed intelligence was directly correlated to the ability to 'listen and learn'. In rhetoric and the study of it, there is such a focus on what is being said or how it is being delivered, or why its being said and so on - that there seems to be little thought given to the listening side, (other than identifying one's audience and using that to create the most effective rhetoric to persuade them)what makes them powerful? What makes the listening important? If we really listen well, will we be able to form our own ideas and stances better and not be as easily swayed by skilled rhetoricians? How does listening relate to intelligence precisely? I obviously don't have the answers for these questions but the Sumerians seemed to find it an important connection. Listening or the 'art of listening' is an often overlooked skill. How do we really learn? There are many different options but one of the most common is by listening to something new and enacting it. You cannot learn without being able to listen to some degree. I think in our society (referring to 'western' american culture because its the only one I know intimately) we don't really quantify intelligence as the ability to listen - we think of it as the ability to be heard or how well versed someone is in a specific subject. It is also interesting that Enheduanna and her work originate from a 'pre-gendered' society, and that throughout the world today women are often referred to as the better listeners. The fact that one of the earliest rhetorical works was composed by a woman from a very ancient society makes the fact that females were largely left out of the world of rhetoric in the coming centuries, simply astounding. It would be interesting to pinpoint when the shift toward 'gender- importance' really began and trace how it effected rhetoric (and history) as a result, and how things would differ if Enheduanna and her work hadn't been shuffled off into the fringes of 'other' or eastern rhetoric. And apologies that this is one huge text block, for some reason the spaces between paragraphs won't translate to the published version and I haven't figured out how to fix it yet!!