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Semiotics of Social Memory in Urban Space: the Case of Volgograd (Stalingrad)

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Semiotics of Social Memory in Urban Space: the Case of Volgograd (Stalingrad) (IJCRSEE) International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education Vol. 2, No.1, 2014. SEMIOTICS OF SOCIAL MEMORY IN URBAN SPACE: THE CASE OF VOLGOGRAD (STALINGRAD) Dr. Irina Yanushkevich, Volgograd State University, Russia E-mail: [email protected] Received: April, 14. 2014. Accepted: May, 26.2014. Original Article UDK 711.523(470.45) 316.334.56 Abstract. Social memory as a kind of collective about the semiotic approach to urbanistic stud- memory is connected with the strategies and practices ies two directions can be taken into account: of perpetuating the memory about important events, and the structural analysis of sign systems which city as a commemorative space can be viewed as a sign focuses upon their interrelationships in the and as a text. The semiotic means encoding social phe- semiosphere of the city, and the phenomeno- nomena and events represent the system of denotation, logical analysis of sign processes emphasizing while the ways of place naming represent the culturally the role of the human environment (umwelt) conditioned system of connotation operating behind in the use of signs which causes changes in the denotation code. The semiotics of social memory the urban landscape. The semiotic approach was examined by the example of the city of Volgograd to the urban landscape studies in various (Stalingrad), the landscape of which appeals to a most aspects is regarded fruitful in the research of significant historical event – the Great Patriotic War many scholars (Barthes, 1982; Greimas, 1986; (World War II) – and can be conveniently described by Jachna, 2004; Kostof, 1991; Rose-Redwood means of Ch. S. Peirce’s classification of signs in which et al. 2009; Singer, 1991). Thus, T. J. Jachna icons include signs denoting war heroes and represented (2004) describes the connection between by their sculptural images; indices include signs denot- urban space and digital communication tech- ing artifacts associated with the war events; symbols nologies and argues that the digital layer of a are represented by toponymy signs characterized by the city’s infrastructure is causing re-formulation connotations of heroic deeds; all these signs representing of ‘the urban’ as a complex, multidimensional cultural and political values specific for the Volgograd semiotic system. In Rose-Redwood et al. society. The semiotic density of social memory repre- 2009 semiotic approaches are applied to the sentation may be considered a ground for shaping the examination of commemorative toponyms. city’s ‘imagined community’ (the term suggested by B. Linking semiotics to politics, the authors indi- Anderson, 1983) of a particular kind. cate that the interdisciplinary study is espe- Keyword: Social memory, Historical memory, cially rewarding because it allows exploring Imagined community, City-text, Semiotic code, Toponymy. place naming in its interrelation with political power throughout the course of history. In that way, commemorative priorities influenced by 1. INTRODUCTION certain ideology can be recognized through toponymy. The aim of the article is to analyze the means of representation of social memory and cultural values in the urban space using the 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS semiotic approach. Semiotics as the study of signs grouped Urban landscape can be described as a into systems of codes analyzes the processes particular system of communication where of constructing and understanding meanings places, buildings, architectural styles, urban based on the denotative correlation with the rites and ceremonies, the very lay-out of the cultural values of a given society. Speaking city, as well as the names of its streets code meanings in shapes, forms and words. Big cities, in particular, concentrate principal Corresponding Author national sets of signs representing cultural Irina Yanushkevich, Volgograd State University, values of local societies. Significant historical Volgograd, Russia, changes result in the changes of urban semi- E-mail: [email protected] otics when many old sign systems carrying www.ijcrsee.com 43 (IJCRSEE) International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education Vol. 2, No.1, 2014. old meanings are supplemented by a number Modern scholarship defines social of new symbols standing for new values. The memory as a complex intertwining of public old and new signs are interwoven into semio- morals, values and ideals; it is a phenomenon spheres of new cities. As D. Stevenson (2003, which can be subject to philosophical, socio- 93) states, logical, historical, psychological, and linguis- “Cities are stages for the great triumphs tic research. In the works of scholars belong- and tragedies of humanity – sites for the events ing to the cultural-semiotic approach (Лотман, and interactions which define the ages. <…> 2004; Assmann and Czaplicka, 1995; Rüsen, In the city, the result has been a change in the 2005) social memory is considered in the cul- relationship between its material and symbolic tural aspects through its relation to the means aspects”. of mass-communication which are able to The semiotic relations in semiosphere transform in the course of time and, conse- manifest themselves as the relations between quently, to give rise to different types of think- the interpreting system and the system inter- ing about past. These scholars state that cul- preted. Signs used by a society can be fully tural memory has ‘text’ nature and represents interpreted by means of language signs, but a combination of two basic elements: canonic not vice versa. Thus, language turns out to be texts and the means of their decoding which an interpretant of society and involves soci- ensure the topicality of these texts regardless ety. So, when speaking about codifying social of the stage of the society progress. The struc- experience by language, the term ‘sociosemi- tural approach (Levi-Strauss, 1963, Foucault, otic code’ seems to be appropriate. 2002, Barthes, 1982) is connected, by its meth- Semioticians state (Никитина, 2006) odological premise, with the cultural-semiotic that a sign standing for a unit of human expe- one; it emphasizes the out-of-time structures rience reflected in human’s consciousness is which penetrate all the strata of social real- connected with the two basic forms of percep- ity. The post-structural approach (Baudril- tion of the environment: space and time. Three lard, 1994, Nora, 1989, Анкерсмит, 2003) spatial vectors set up the coordinates of a sign examines the dynamic changing of social phe- referring it to name, object, and meaning. The nomena (including social memory) in spatial fourth coordinate – that of time – links it to aspects and thus introduces the notion of ‘the other signs in a linear chain providing it with topology of social memory’ which accentuates sense. The process of coding experience per- the idea that places and landscapes laden with ceived by man underlies the classification of cultural significance prevent social ‘amnesia’. signs according to the time axis, that is, clas- A French sociologist M. Halbwaches sifying is connected with spiritual activity (Halbwaches, 1950) has convincingly dem- and cognition which operate with senses. The onstrated that the main function of collective space of senses is connected with material memory consists in upholding the cohesive- world which, when being reflected in mind ness of the society and its reproducing by and transformed into spiritual nature, objecti- way of transmitting the commonly shared fies senses in various forms: nature and soci- history rather than preserving its past. This is ety phenomena, objects of material culture, the reason why the collective memory is fre- behavior, oral speech and its written form, quently embellished, falsified, and mystified. thereby representing texts or signs. All these M. Halbwaches connected social memory with commonly recognized forms represent social the work of social power mechanisms. Social meanings; they are always communicable and memory as a kind of collective memory deals socialized. with the knowledge of the past and the pres- The store of social meanings is social ent, about historical events and historical per- memory consisting of a materialized (retro- sonalities, and includes emotional experience. spective) part and a live (current) part. The Social memory keeps up group identities and materialized part comprises two kinds of is understood as a history of ‘collective men- meanings: 1) functional – the meanings of arti- talities’ (metaphorically defined by P. Nora) facts which represent their purport, and 2) sign which may coincide neither with each other – the meanings of texts representing the plane nor with the official discourse. Social memory of content. As is put in (Соколов, 2002), live results from social constructing (the term sug- memory deals with non-imprinted meanings gested by P. L. Berger & T. Luckmann, 1966), which are represented by knowledge, beliefs, therefore, the way in which the past is called and social feelings. These mental meanings up depends on the power of the group which are invariants of sign meanings which are free creates the memory of its own. from the material form. Historical memory as a kind of social www.ijcrsee.com 44 (IJCRSEE) International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education Vol. 2, No.1, 2014. memory arises from the time or spatial ‘bun- culturally conditioned system of connotation dles of memory’ (or ‘lieux de memoire’, operating behind the denotation code. according to Nora) with which the society As is well known, the connection associates its memory: memorials, celebra- between a signifier and a signified which is tions, museums, anniversaries, and so on. obligatory for any sign can be motivated (con- These ‘places of memory’ are constructed and ditioned in this or that way and, thus, expli- reconstructed according to the needs of the cable), and non-motivated. In human’s mind, present. After such social tragedies as World motivated connections (or associations) are of Wars I and II, the Holocaust, Stalin’s repres- two kinds: by contiguity and by resemblance sions the collective memory has acquired ethi- of phenomena.
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