A dictionary is a tool that has the power to connect cultures and civilizations by weakening the restraints of the very things that make it up, words. A specific word that professor McCoy mentioned in relation to ‘Zulus’ and dictionaries was the term: Abecedarian. We discussed in class that this meant that something was arranged in alphabetical order. However, by practicing the concept of repetition to gain more insight, I researched this term again. The online resource, dictionary.com confirms this definition but also adds something that screamed ‘Zulus!’ right at me.
Stated by Dictionary.com, used as an adjective, abecedarian is defined as being arranged in alphabetical order but when used as a noun this term is defined as, “A person who is learning the letters of the alphabet; a beginner in any field of learning.” A beginner? Fields of learning? This would mean that anyone who is being newly introduced to an environment that requires them to obtain knowledge is an abecedarian. When this definition is applied to the work Zulus readers find themselves looking at what the text is saying rather than how it looks.
In ‘Zulus’ the main character, Alice Achitophel, journeys through different areas of this world she lives in causing her to find out more about herself. As readers, we watch as she transitions from naïve and simplistic understanding of others, to a more complex thought process. This transition occurs only after the acquisition of knowledge through experience. This makes Alice an Abecedarian. So, what? What if she is an abecedarian within an abecedarian? What significance can that possibly have?
In the work ‘Interdisciplinarity’ Joe Moran highlights an important observation made by Michael Foucault about the connection between knowledge and power. “…power in order to be established and constituted, require the production of a discourse in order to make sense of and justify it. For Foucault, a discourse refers to a historically constituted for of ‘truth’, or what specific power arrangements will allow to be said, written and though within a society.” (page 122). By inserting this connection between power and knowledge and societal restraints in the context of the work ’Zulus’ some missing puzzle pieces appear.
In the world that Alice Achitophel lived, based on Foucault’s points, humanity was powerless. They were confined by sterilization, occupation, food, and religion (just to name a few) and with this tension knowledge depleted. However, Alice Achitophel the Abecedarian was different. She had the ability to awaken a power for humanity while simultaneously sustaining the remnants of their past. She was the key that got rid of confinement and she did all this through knowledge and observations. Though the end of ‘Zulus’ was not stated clearly I think an important point to take away from this work is understanding the significance of knowledge and power in acquiring it. For it seemed as though the worst part of this apocalyptic world was the lack of people willing to learn, a lack of abecedarians.