DOCSLIB.ORG

An Ethnosemiotic Approach to Culturally Themed Selective Web

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
An Ethnosemiotic Approach to Culturally Themed Selective Web Original Research Article Big Data & Society July–December 2015: 1–15 ! The Author(s) 2015 Big Web data, small focus: An Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav ethnosemiotic approach to culturally DOI: 10.1177/2053951715595823 themed selective Web archiving bds.sagepub.com Saskia Huc-Hepher Abstract This paper proposes a multimodal ethnosemiotic conceptual framework for culturally themed selective Web archiving, taking as a practical example the curation of the London French Special Collection (LFSC) in the UK Web Archive. Its focus on a particular ‘community’ is presented as advantageous in overcoming the sheer scale of data available on the Web; yet, it is argued that these ethnographic boundaries may be flawed if they do not map onto the collective self- perception of the London French. The approach establishes several theoretical meeting points between Pierre Bourdieu’s ethnography and Gunther Kress’s multimodal social semiotics, notably, the foregrounding of practice and the meaning-making potentialities of the everyday; the implications of language and categorisation; the interplay between (curating/researcher) subject and (curated/research) object; evolving notions of agency, authorship and audience; together with social engagement, and the archive as dynamic process and product. The curation rationale proposed stems from Bourdieu’s three-stage field analysis model, which places a strong emphasis on habitus, considered to be most accurately (re)presented through blogs, yet necessitates its contextualisation within the broader (diasporic) field(s), through institutional websites, for example, whilst advocating a reflexive awareness of the researcher/curator’s (sub- jective) role. This, alongside the Kressian acknowledgement of the inherent multimodality of on-line resources, lends itself convincingly to selection and valuation strategies, whilst the discussion of language, genre, authorship and audience is relevant to the potential cataloguing of Web objects. By conceptualising the culturally themed selective Web-archiving process within the ethnosemiotic framework constructed, concrete recommendations emerge regarding curation, clas- sification and crowd-sourcing. Keywords Selective Web archiving, Bourdieu, Kress, multimodality, ethnosemiotics, curation Introduction: The practice and the current and future generations (Digital Preservation theory Coalition, n. d.; Kitchin, 2014: 30; Pennock, 2007: 1). As distinct from a digital archive per se, which Through a combination of Bourdieusian ethnographic preserves digitised copies of physical collections or and Kressian semiotic principles, this article proposes a born-digital documents never available in ‘hard’ form, conceptual framework for the construction of a small a Web archive collects only ‘material’ found on the corpus of thematically linked Internet objects within a big Web archive. The fundamental purpose of a Web Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, Faculty of Social archive is to retain a version of the fragile (Strodl et al., Sciences and Humanities, University of Westminster, UK 2011: 8; Taylor, 2012: 2) and ephemeral (Day, 2006: 178; Gomes and Costa, 2014: 107; Masane` s, 2006: 6) Corresponding author: Saskia Huc-Hepher, Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, digital material found on the Internet for posterity, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Westminster, thereby providing a lasting record of Web objects 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW, UK. deemed to be of intellectual and cultural value to Email: [email protected] Creative Commons CC-BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (http://www.uk. sagepub.com/aboutus/openaccess.htm). Downloaded from by guest on December 22, 2015 2 Big Data & Society ‘immaterial’ Internet, regularly safeguarding it from material that demonstrates the everyday existence of future obsolescence as the on-line landscape evolves. the London French in the spatial and temporal context In this sense, a Web archive, or collection therein, is of the here and now; as archival product: ensuring that not so much a record of born-digital data, and by no the archived collection serves the social purpose of means an ‘identical copy’ (Bru¨gger, 2014: 20) of the (re)presenting and preserving the multifaceted aspects Internet, rather it is a reproduction, a created entity of this community, from the institutional to the indi- composed of digital material reborn and brought vidual, through a variety of genres, discourses and together in a technically and ontologically more modes, on a platform which is socially committed restricted environment than in its original dynamic through its open accessibility (Kitchin, 2014: 55); and network. as analytical object: drawing on notions of field theory, Cognisant of the inherent limitations of Web arch- reflexivity, objectivation and multimodality, the ethno- ives in relation to the live Web (Pennock, 2013: 5; semiotic approach, integrated within a broader ethnog- Spaniol et al., 2009) and with concerns over their raphy of the French community in London, finds its long-term usefulness, or at least usability, as vast wider justification and use as a case-study here. repositories of unwieldy Big Data,1 this article ascribes Constructing the Collection is one facet of an several ‘ethnosemiotic’ principles to the practice of cur- overarching doctoral project that seeks to reveal the ating a smaller, thematically selected Web collection, everyday experiences and attitudes of a demographic- which may arguably be a more manageable set of ally diverse sample of London’s French migrants, as materials for present and future end-users (Brown, recounted first-hand through a series of semi-structured 2006: 32), as well as drawing attention to some of the interviews, focus groups3 and a paper survey, as well as problematics concerned, all the while from an ‘ethno- through other traditional ethnographic methods, such semiotic’ perspective. The collection under scrutiny is as participant observation and note-taking within effectively an archive within an archive: for a Web arch- London-French circles, and less traditional ones, ive refers to a vast agglomeration of resources including the social-semiotic analysis, or ‘deconstruc- harvested automatically from the entire World Wide tion’, to adopt Kitchin’s terminology (2014: 190), of Web (as with the US Internet Archive) or an entire community Web objects. To that end, in 2011, work national domain (as with the UK Web Archive or the began to appraise and collect Web material, or that Danish Net Archive; Jacobsen, 2008), whereas the which could be broken down into ‘Web elements’, ‘micro’ archive (Bru¨gger, 2005: 10) under discussion is ‘Web pages’ and ‘Web sites’ from the London-French a targeted corpus of websites selected for their thematic ‘Web sphere’ (according to the five-tiered conceptual- coherence, presenting users with a clear pathway isation of the Web developed by Bru¨gger, 2014: 5) through the mass of ‘messy’ (Kitchin, 2014: 160; to build a corpus of resources for the LFSC. Each Mayer-Scho¨nberger and Cukier, 2013: 12) data Web entity was selected from the live World Wide contained in the colossal, and ever-expanding, national Web, irrespective of domain (despite the standard UK UK Web Archive. Further, just as the collection of TLD – Top Level Domain – scope of the UK Web Web objects discussed here offers a defined, and neces- Archive, since excluding <.com> and <.fr> domains, sarily small, route into the big data that arguably for instance, would have precluded a significant number constitute Web archives, so the ethnosemiotic approach of thematically relevant sites and pages) and was cap- posited, which draws on the points of convergence tured with the Web Curator Tool, which, like the between Bourdieusian and Kressian conceptualisations majority of other tools, uses the Heritrix Web crawler, of ethnography and semiotics respectively, aims to offer developed by the Internet Archive. In an effort to a fine-grained theoretical route into the curation achieve consistency with the theoretical framework of exercise. the overarching project and to reflect the community as The example taken is the London French fully as possible – in keeping with the BL remit – the Special Collection (LFSC),2 housed within the UK curation, construction and analysis stages were Web Archive, which has been harvesting websites approached from a multimodal ethnosemiotic angle. from the UK domain since 2004 and is itself hosted Although rarely united in a single investigative or by the British Library. The Collection responds directly analytical undertaking, with some notable exceptions to the UK Web Archive’s key mission to ‘reflect the (Bezemer et al., 2013; Dicks et al., 2006; Vannini, diversity of lives, interests and activities throughout 2007), ethnographic and social-semiotic schools of the UK’ (Pennock, 2013: 26) in its (re)presentation of thought share much common ground, such as agency one of London’s most significant, yet comparatively and interest; habitus, practice and the insights of the invisible, minority communities: the French. In com- imperceptible; the tyranny of language; dynamics and bining
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Exposing Exoticism – the Near and the Far in the Exhibition Context
    Exposing exoticism – the near and the far in the exhibition context Elisa de Souza MARTINEZ University of Brasilia, Brazil National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, Brazil This article analyzes a set of situations drawn from the exhibition La Triennale 2012 – Intense Proximité, held at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, from April 20 to August 26, 2012. In this exhibition, the curatorial discourse is seen as playing a mediating role, making the vision possible, i.e. providing the context of the scopic relations to be descibed. Its role is to make the vision possible, i.e. it provides the context of the scopic relations to be described. In this case, the enunciator-curator defines the conditions in which the displayed objects are seen, and in which the visitors see. Thus, the analysis of situations (Landowski 1996) that constitute visibility regimes defines the scopic relations. La Triennale highlights the ethnographic image, which is seen as an art object, while at the same time art objects are seen as ethnographic documents. Displayed in a contemporary art event, ethnographic images express ethnographic content, and therefore play an ambiguous role. In any case, the function assigned to the image, whether artistic or ethnographic, allows one to consider, at the fundamental level of analysis, a semantic category that unfolds into two opposite terms: fictional and documental. The objects chosen by the addresser-curator, Okwui Enwezor, confront the addressee- visitor with a broader problem than the distinction between artistic or ethnographic function. Considering that these functions manifest themselves simultaneously to variable degrees in each element of the exhibition-text, one finds that the same image can have a dual function, hindering its classification in a single field of epistemological relations.
    [Show full text]
  • Language Ideologies:Bridging the Gap Between Social Structures and Local Practices Introduction to the Colloquium
    Language Ideologies:Bridging the Gap between Social Structures and Local Practices Introduction to the Colloquium Brigitta Busch ¨ Jürgen Spitzmüller University of Vienna ¨ Department of Linguistics Sociolinguistics Symposium öw Murcia, wÏ/.Ï/ö.wÏ Bridging what? Introduction to the Colloquium Busch/Spitzmüller Bridging what? Stance and Metapragmatics Indexical Anchors ‚ Local indexicality – stance and social positions Programme ‚ Social indexicality – language ideologies ö¨öö Bridging what? Introduction to the Colloquium Busch/Spitzmüller Bridging what? Stance and Metapragmatics Indexical Anchors ‚ Local indexicality – stance and social positions Programme ‚ Social indexicality – language ideologies ö¨öö Social Positioning and Stance (as Local Practices) Introduction to the Colloquium Busch/Spitzmüller ‚ Davies,Bronwyn/Harré, Rom (wRR.). Positioning. The Discourse Production of Selves. In: Journal for the Theory Bridging what? of Social Behaviour ö./w, pp. ÿé–Ïé. Stance and Metapragmatics ‚ Wortham, Stanton (ö...). Interactional Positioning and Indexical Anchors Narrative Self-Construction. In: Narrative Inquiry Programme wR/wóÅ-wÏÿ . ‚ Englebretson, Robert (ed.) (ö..Å). Stancetaking in Discourse. Subjectivity,Evaluation, Interaction. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins (Pragmatics & Beyond, N. S. wÏÿ). ‚ Deppermann,Arnulf (ö.wó). Positioning. In:Anna de Fina/Alexandra Georgakopoulou (eds.): The Handbook of Narrative Analysis.Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, pp. éÏR–éÏÅ. ‚ amongst many more é¨öö Social Positioning and Stance (as Local Practices – within Discursive Frames) Introduction to the Colloquium Busch/Spitzmüller Bridging what? ‚ Bamberg, Michael (wRRÅ). Positioning Between Structure Stance and and Performance. In: Journal of Narrative and Life History Metapragmatics Å/w-ÿ, pp. ééó–éÿö. Indexical Anchors ‚ Bamberg, Michael/Georgakopoulou,Alexandra (ö..Ï). Programme Small Stories as a New Perspective in Narrative and Identity Analysis. In: Text and Talk öÏ/é, pp.
    [Show full text]
  • The Semiotics of Images Photographic Conventions in Advertising NEDELJKOVIC Uros, Mag
    The semiotics of Images Photographic conventions in advertising NEDELJKOVIC Uros, Mag. F. Arts – PUSKAREVIC Irma, MSc University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad Serbia 1. INTRODUCTION 3. PHOTOGRAPHY IN ADVERTISING This presentation explores semiotic power of photography in advertising. > popular for distributing propaganda messages The photographic image has become the most preferable visual tool of the mass culture on the account of its correlation with reality and, conse- > has ability to attract and hold attention quently, its ability to visually transfer cultural and social conventions. > commercial photographers use well known and popular forms ENABLE EASIER codes&forms RECEPTION BY In the world of advertising where there is tendency to minimize the noise THE VIEWER between the meaning that sender is transmitting and the meaning that the receiver might understand, the sender predicts the visual and verbal resources that a typical receiver holds and uses them to compose the 4. PRODUCTION OF MEANING THROUGH message. This composition is made possible with conventions, estab- PHOTOGRAPHIC GENRE lished principles and norms by which meaning is formed. In our investi- gation we use photography as a carrier of these visual resources with an > connection of photographic content with specific conventions of the genre overview of social dimension within advertising discourse. > selection of genre triggers connotations that the viewer holds > photography in advertising employs various genres to direct the message 2. PHOTOGRAPHIC CONVENTIONS FOR EXAMPLE > if advertiser wants to call upon the truth and sincerity, he borrows the characteristics of the documentary photography genre. SOCIALLY 1. derived from art history & ESTABLISHED cultural heritage NORMS 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Semiotics and the Related Interpretation Jinshun Long 1*A, Jun He 2 B
    Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 571 Proceedings of the 2021 5th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2021) Social Semiotics and the Related Interpretation Jinshun Long 1*a, Jun He 2 b 1School of Foreign Languages, Jimei University, Xiamen, Fujian, China 2School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Jinggangshang University, Ji’an, Jiangxi, China a*Jinshun Long. [email protected] Abstract Social semiotics studies cultural and community-specific semiotic practices in order to produce various texts and meanings in the contexts of various situations and of culturally meaningful activities. From the perspective of social semiotics, our understanding of reality cannot be separated from the actual compiled code and semantic system, which means that social (cultural) reality itself is a building full of meanings----a kind of semiotic structure. For this reason, text, style, code, language system and its social structure are put into the theoretical study of semiotics. Thus social semiotics is to study the social dimension of meaning, and of the power of human processes of signification and interpretation in shaping individuals and societies, and focuses on social meaning-making practices of all types, whether visual, verbal or aural in nature, exploring human signifying practices in a specific social and cultural environment, and attempts to explain meaning-making as a social practice to develop an analytical and theoretical framework that can interpret the social context of meaning-making . Key words: social semiotics, related interpretation irregularities, dissonance and tension peculiar to human 1. INTRODUCTION interaction and social process; secondly, to explain the semiotics of social structure, in its aspects both of In the two major traditions of semiotics: Saussure's persistence and of change, including the semantics of semiotics; and C.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Size Matters: the Values Behind Basque Food, Font and Semiotics
    BOGA: Basque Studies Consortium Journal Volume 7 Issue 1 Article 3 October 2019 Size Matters: The Values Behind Basque Food, Font and Semiotics Kerri Lesh University of Nevada, Reno, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/boga Part of the Basque Studies Commons, Food Studies Commons, Linguistic Anthropology Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Lesh, Kerri (2019) "Size Matters: The Values Behind Basque Food, Font and Semiotics," BOGA: Basque Studies Consortium Journal: Vol. 7 : Iss. 1 , Article 3. 10.18122/boga/vol7/iss1/3/boisestate Available at: https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/boga/vol7/iss1/3 Size Matters: The Values Behind Basque Food, Font and Semiotics Cover Page Footnote A great thanks for the support of Cameron Watson and Daniel Montero in helping me revise this article. Additionally, I would like to thank everyone that was part of my fieldwork in the Basque Country and to my fellow panel members with whom this article was presented at the American Anthropological Association (AAA). This article is available in BOGA: Basque Studies Consortium Journal: https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/boga/ vol7/iss1/3 Size Matters: The Values Behind Basque Food, Font and Semiotics Kerri Lesh, PhD. “People look for the origin of the wine they consume, they want to link it to the terroir … they are looking for something more than just the quality of the product, but rather the story behind the wine, the histories that lie behind a glass, and being able to focus in on a particular bodega, on the places where it is cultivated and produced.
    [Show full text]
  • Visualizing Teens and Technology: a Social Semiotic Analysis of Stock Photography and News Media Imagery
    This is a repository copy of Visualizing teens and technology: A social semiotic analysis of stock photography and news media imagery. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/151189/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Thurlow, C, Aiello, G orcid.org/0000-0002-9636-1016 and Portmann, L (2020) Visualizing teens and technology: A social semiotic analysis of stock photography and news media imagery. New Media & Society, 22 (3). pp. 528-549. ISSN 1461-4448 https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819867318 © 2019, the Author(s). This is an author produced version of a paper published in New Media & Society. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications. Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ VISUALIZING TEENS AND TECHNOLOGY 1 Visualizing teens and technology: A social semiotic analysis of stock photography and news media imagery Crispin Thurlow, Giorgia Aiello, Lara Portmann New Media & Society (2019, Online First) Abstract Previous research on verbal representations shows how the news media consistently depicts young people’s uses of digital media in a narrow, negative light.
    [Show full text]
  • Poststructuralism, Cultural Studies, and the Composition Classroom: Postmodern Theory in Practice Author(S): James A
    Poststructuralism, Cultural Studies, and the Composition Classroom: Postmodern Theory in Practice Author(s): James A. Berlin Source: Rhetoric Review, Vol. 11, No. 1 (Autumn, 1992), pp. 16-33 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/465877 Accessed: 13-02-2019 19:20 UTC REFERENCES Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article: https://www.jstor.org/stable/465877?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Taylor & Francis, Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Rhetoric Review This content downloaded from 146.111.138.234 on Wed, 13 Feb 2019 19:20:03 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms JAMES A. BERLIN - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~Purdue University Poststructuralism, Cultural Studies, and the Composition Classroom: Postmodern Theory in Practice The uses of postmodern theory in rhetoric and composition studies have been the object of considerable abuse of late. Figures of some repute in the field-the likes of Maxine Hairston and Peter Elbow-as well as anonymous voices from the Burkean Parlor section of Rhetoric Review-most recently, TS, a graduate student, and KF, a voice speaking for "a general English teacher audience" (192)-have joined the chorus of protest.
    [Show full text]
  • A Multimodal Social Semiotic Approach
    LEARN Journal : Language Education and Acquisition Research Network Journal, Volume 11, Issue 1, June 2018 An Investigation of Instagram’s Metonymy: A Multimodal Social Semiotic Approach Sichon Koowuttayakorn Thammasat University [email protected] Abstract This paper applied a social semiotic lens toward investigating the metonymic representations repeatedly displayed on the Instagram official account and the Instagram blog. The main source of data were 90 photos gathered from ten “Weekend Hashtag Projects” (WHPs), a weekly photo challenge organized by the Instagram team. The multimodal analyses revealed that the WHP photos shared some common visual properties including medium to low color saturation, medium color modulation, minimal background, unengaged social actors, long distant shots, and unique visual presentations. Thus, the metonymy VISUAL PROPERTY FOR BRAND IMAGE was proposed. These findings suggest that certain visual elements that were repeatedly featured on Instagram has subtly yet persuasively suggested its users what kind of visual aesthetics are highly valued in the community. Keywords: social semiotics, metaphor, metonymy, social media, visual grammar Introduction Instagram Launched in October 2006, Instagram is a photo-sharing social networking site (SNS) that has quickly become one of the fastest growing social media platforms alongside Facebook and Twitter. At present, it has over 800 million monthly active users, 500 million daily active users, and 300 daily stories active users (Instagram, 2018). Because Instagram is a visually-oriented SNS, images are undoubtedly the most prominent features appearing on the site; however, the Instagrammers are equipped with various other tools that they can use to express themselves and to communicate with others.
    [Show full text]
  • A Semiotic Alternative to Communication in the Processes in Management Accounting and Control Systems
    Sign Systems Studies 39(1), 2011 A semiotic alternative to communication in the processes in management accounting and control systems Ülle Pärl1, 2 1School of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu 2Department of Accounting and Finance, Estonian Business School Lauteri 3, Tallinn 10114, Estonia e-mail: [email protected] Abstract. This conceptual paper addresses Management Accounting and Control Systems (MACS) from a communication process perspective as opposed to a func- tional design perspective. Its arguments originate from a social-constructionist perspective on the organization. Its line of argument is that building a social theory of a social phenomenon such as MACS, demands that attention be paid to the characteristics of the communication process. An existing theoretical framework that does the same is Giddens’ structuration theory, but it is only partly satisfac- tory because it refuses to consider communication-as-interaction from a dyna- mic contextual perspective, instead falling back on an argument related to the behavioural aspects of agency. An alternative is a semiotic-based communication perspective that includes context as well as addresses the epistemological level of a MACS theory based on communication. The semiotic model of Jakobson is pro- vided and developed as a specific alternative. Introduction Atkinson et al. (2007: 643) define the Management Accounting and Control Systems (MACS) as “a […] process of planning, designing, measuring, and operating both non-financial information systems 184 Ülle Pärl and financial information systems that guides management action, motivates behaviour, and supports and creates the cultural values necessary to achieve an organization’s strategic, tactical, and opera- ting objectives”.
    [Show full text]
  • The Identity Illusion: the Impact of Heterosexist Microaggressions on the Identity Formation of Teachers
    The Identity Illusion: The Impact of Heterosexist Microaggressions on the Identity Formation of Teachers By Bradley Jolliffe A Thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning) Memorial University of Newfoundland January 31, 2021 St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador Abstract This study focuses on identity formation as it relates to teachers and the heterosexist microaggressions that can be experienced. Using critical autoethnography, I reflect on, write, and analyze narratives written based upon both my own and my colleagues’ experiences. Critical qualitative research on the experiences of queer individuals in education has grown in the past decade, however, more first-hand experiences need to be shared to expose the need for all individuals to examine their behavior and beliefs and how they may be attributing to microaggressions. Through my personal voice as a research participant (teacher) and analytical voice as a researcher, this thesis purposely incites chaos, disruption, and entangles perspectives and biases that are usually kept separate. Heterosexist microaggressions enliven the belief that heterosexuality is the norm and benchmark for society, othering those who fall outside of this measurement and shape their identity through different means. When this belief is unchallenged it threatens authenticity and inclusion for the genuine identity development of individuals to occur. As a result of this critical autoethnography, considerations for future research are offered in the hopes of encouraging those living unspoken narratives to make themselves visible and heard in an educational context to promote future fluidity and transformation.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Semiotics and Fieldwork
    Social Semiotics and Fieldwork: Method and Analytics Despite the existence of a great variety of theoretical, methodological, and empirical works on the connection between semiotics and interpretive sociology (e.g. Denzin 1987; Gottdiener 1995; MacCannell 1976; MacCannell and MacCannell 1983; Manning 1987, 1988, 1994, 2004; Perinbanayagam 1985, 1991; Vannini 2004; Wiley 1994), most sociologists still perceive semiotics as an arcane, precious, and unintelligible intellectual enterprise. As proof of its uncertain status take the role played by semiotics in the universe of contemporary qualitative inquiry. For instance, the recent successful International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry featured no sessions on semiotics, and the sole significant mention of semiotics in the highly influential Handbook of Qualitative Research edited by Norman Denzin and Yvonna Lincoln dates as far back as its first edition (Manning 1994). My goal for this paper is to uncover, hopefully for once and for all, the potential of semiotics for current qualitative inquiry, and in particular to shed light on the value of the combination between fieldwork and social semiotics. Semiotic approaches to fieldwork are not a novelty. Examples of structural semiotic approaches to ethnological research are legion in cultural anthropology and cultural studies, and even sociologists and communication studies scholars have witnessed the genesis of unique combinations of semiotics and pragmatism for the solution of ethnographic research problems (see Manning 1987, 1988). In this paper, however, I am concerned with a different version of semiotics, one that differs significantly from the structural and Saussurean perspective embraced by anthropologists, cultural studies researchers, and some symbolic interactionists (e.g. Davis 1994; Denzin 1987; Manning 1987, 1988; Perinbanayagam 1991) and one that, I believe, holds greater use value.
    [Show full text]
  • Eating the Other. a Semiotic Approach to the Translation of the Culinary Code
    UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI TORINO (UNITO) UNIVERSITÀ DELLA SVIZZERA ITALIANA (USI) Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici (UNITO) / Faculty of Communication Sciences (USI) DOTTORATO DI RICERCA (IN CO-TUTELA) IN: Scienze del Linguaggio e della Comunicazione (UNITO) / Scienze della Comunicazione (USI) CICLO: XXVI (UNITO) TITOLO DELLA TESI: Eating the Other. A Semiotic Approach to the Translation of the Culinary Code TESI PRESENTATA DA: Simona Stano TUTORS: prof. Ugo Volli (UNITO) prof. Andrea Rocci (USI) prof. Marcel Danesi (UofT, Canada e USI, Svizzera) COORDINATORI DEL DOTTORATO: prof. Tullio Telmon (UNITO) prof. Michael Gilbert (USI) ANNI ACCADEMICI: 2011 – 2013 SETTORE SCIENTIFICO-DISCIPLINARE DI AFFERENZA: M-FIL/05 EATING THE OTHER A Semiotic Approach to the Translation of the Culinary Code A dissertation presented by Simona Stano Supervised by Prof. Ugo Volli (UNITO, Italy) Prof. Andrea Rocci (USI, Switzerland) Prof. Marcel Danesi (UofT, Canada and USI, Switzerland) Submitted to the Faculty of Communication Sciences Università della Svizzera Italiana Scuola di Dottorato in Studi Umanistici Università degli Studi di Torino (Co-tutorship of Thesis / Thèse en Co-tutelle) for the degree of Ph.D. in Communication Sciences (USI) Dottorato in Scienze del Linguaggio e della Comunicazione (UNITO) May, 2014 BOARD / MEMBRI DELLA GIURIA: Prof. Ugo Volli (UNITO, Italy) Prof. Andrea Rocci (USI, Switzerland) Prof. Marcel Danesi (UofT, Canada and USI, Switzerland) Prof. Gianfranco Marrone (UNIPA, Italy) PLACES OF THE RESEARCH / LUOGHI IN CUI SI È SVOLTA LA RICERCA: Italy (Turin) Switzerland (Lugano, Geneva, Zurich) Canada (Toronto) DEFENSE / DISCUSSIONE: Turin, May 8, 2014 / Torino, 8 maggio 2014 ABSTRACT [English] Eating the Other. A Semiotic Approach to the Translation of the Culinary Code Eating and food are often compared to language and communication: anthropologically speaking, food is undoubtedly the primary need.
    [Show full text]