Cultura 6 Cultura. Vol. 9, No. 2 (2012) International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology Bearbeitet von Nicolae Râmbu 1. Auflage 2012. Taschenbuch. 258 S. Paperback ISBN 978 3 631 62905 5 Format (B x L): 14,8 x 21 cm Gewicht: 340 g Weitere Fachgebiete > Literatur, Sprache > Sprachwissenschaften Allgemein > Semiotik schnell und portofrei erhältlich bei Die Online-Fachbuchhandlung beck-shop.de ist spezialisiert auf Fachbücher, insbesondere Recht, Steuern und Wirtschaft. Im Sortiment finden Sie alle Medien (Bücher, Zeitschriften, CDs, ebooks, etc.) aller Verlage. Ergänzt wird das Programm durch Services wie Neuerscheinungsdienst oder Zusammenstellungen von Büchern zu Sonderpreisen. Der Shop führt mehr als 8 Millionen Produkte.
Cultura. International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology 9(2)/2012: 7 12 Introduction to Semiotics of World Cultures Asunción LÓPEZ-VARELA Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain alopezva@filol.ucm.es Etymologically derived from the Greek word semeion which means sign, semiotics can be defined as the study of signs and of the systems, rules and conventions that allow signs to have meaning. This thematic issue of Cultura Journal seeks to provide an overview of different theories on the study of sign systems and their impact upon social practices across the world. In order to achieve this goal, the volume incorporates papers that deal with ancient civilizations and contemporary societies, ways of thinking and experiences from a broad spectrum of world cultures. Interestingly, the impact of Western semiotics is strongly felt upon the non- Western analyses that form part of this issue. Many studies take as starting point the work of the North-American pragmatist Charles Sanders Peirce; others focus on the ideas developed by European linguists such as Ferdinand de Saussure, C.K. Ogden and I.A. Richards, or Roland Barthes. Undoubtedly, this shows the impact of critical theory on knowledge development and dissemination. But even more importantly, it illustrates the uneven distribution, and unfair location of knowledge production in certain economic clusters and regions of the world, disclosing the mechanisms that enable the empowerment of certain cultures at the expense of others. Globalization is not just a fashionable word. In recent years digitalization has caused sign systems, in an interconnected world, to multiply at an unprecedented speed. This situation prompts important questions regarding the impact of material formats (from clay tablets and papyrus to new media) on the creation, dissemination and reception of knowledge. More than ever, it is ethically necessary to incorporate the very diverse forms and systems used in the reproduction of cultural memory and glocal (both global and local) heritage in distinct world cultures. Attention to changing semiotic patterns and their supporting formats shows how they come to influence the economies of culture. For instance, the emergence of photography in the second half of the 19th century, moving-pictures (cinema) in early 20th century, the expan- 7
Asun López-Varela / Introduction to Semiotics of World Cultures sion of forms of tele-transmission of images (television) in mid century and, more recently, the unprecedented speed of digitalization of analogue formats of sign storage, have enabled a greater dissemination of images, previously much more costly to reproduce. From the point of view of theory, this growth has encouraged a parallel interest in the study of visual sign systems (icons if we use Peirce s classification of signs) in competition with the emphasis on human discursive modes (i.e. early Formalist and Structuralist research on phonetics, morphology and syntax). Digitalization enables the coexistence of several sign systems within the same document. A page on the World Wide Web, whether a blog, a personal page on a social-network site such as Facebook, or the profile pages enabled by search engines and portals such as Google, allow the incorporation of various types of information: text in various formats (word, pdf, excel, etc), jpeg images, pm3 audio, and pm4 video. Clearly, text is no longer the privileged space of communication. Linguistic signs now work in a dialogue with other modes, and not just human language but also machine code. It is necessary to study how these modes operate (machine code is self-reflexive and follows algorithmic operations) in isolation and in conjunction. The aim of this thematic issue is to show the relationship between sign systems (semiotics), changes in supporting materials, and their impact upon cultural practices across the world. This relationship is not just one-directional. For instance, while some forms of cultural memory preservation persist even if continuously evolving (clothing for instance; see the paper on Indonesia Batik), others disappear because they are no longer used or because cheaper ones appear in their place (magnetic tapes for audio-video storage were replaced by compact disks CDs and DVDs with a higher memory capacity). In other words, cultural values, changing fashion preferences, and power structures (national/institutional but also transnational in a global context enabled by tele-communications) also affect the conditions for the exchange of signs and their material formats. The issue opens with a paper by Wenceslao Castañares (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) who examines the three discursive lines that provide evidence for semiotic thought in Greek culture: namely logic, dialectic, and rhetoric. Oana Cogeanu (Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi) demonstrates how this Western semiotic tradition represents an on-going reflection on three correlated themes: existence, knowledge, and communication, 8
Cultura. International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology 9(2)/2012: 7 12 which would correspond to the fundamental areas in which Greek thought develops: when something exists, it can be known and, thus, communicated (logos, epistemos and ontos). The resulting triangular structure asserts itself in argumentative self-reflective, narcissistic movements that take the form of a semiotic pyramid in the shape of a clepsydra. The need for a complex multi-dimensional model for cross-cultural and semiotic research is also the topic in Qingben Li (Beijing Language and Culture University) and Jinghua Guo (Inner Mongolia University of Technology). Their model focuses on the study of literary adaptations and shows that cross-cultural exchanges, in the form of misappropriation, transplantation, transfer and transformation of cultural representations between different regions of the world, are not clear-cut bidirectional operations. Contemplated across historical time-spans, these exchanges are shown in all their complexity by means of a study on the reception of Ji Junxiang s drama The Orphan of Zhao. The paper by Ömer Naci Soykan (Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts University, Istanbul, Turkey) inquiries into the cognitive basis of value in grammatical form in the Turkish language in order to show that semantics is not defined by syntax alone. In some languages, such as English and German, order might determine meaning in a given sentence. Turkish, however, argues Soykan, has a quasi-mathematical structure that enables multiple syntax variations semantically understood in the same way by Turkish speakers. Such a possibility allows important considerations on the influence of cultural values and preferences upon a given language. Just as important as the context of production, disseminating structures play a fundamental role in constructing and maintaining a certain cultural framework within world knowledge dynamics. Translation is one of such structures that allow knowledge transfer and help situate its conditions of production across a variety of locations. The paper by Dan Lungu (Al.I. Cuza University of Iasi, Romania) focuses on the study of translation in post-communist Romania, and brings into the discussion of the intercultural barriers that might enable or reduce the promotion of literature abroad. Using works by Wáng Wéi ( 王维,699 759) and Paul Celan (1920 1970), Yi Chen (University of Toronto, Canada) shows the importance of translation for reception abroad and the need for a 9
Asun López-Varela / Introduction to Semiotics of World Cultures complex framework in cross-cultural comparison, such as the one proposed by Qingben Li and Jinghua Guo earlier in this volume. The contribution by Lars Elleström (Lineaus University, Sweden) on the paradoxes of Mail Art (art distributed via the international postal system) contributes to show the importance of cultural dissemination, and it also makes visible the impact of medium specificity upon a particular cultural form of representation. For centuries, much work within the humanities has been devoted to setting the limits between artistic media types. Here Mail Art is meant to be an example of the ambiguous ways in which media types in general are delimited and defined. Several papers other in the volume study other types of semiotic systems alongside linguistic signs. Interpreted on the basis of their physical manifestations, through the perceptual modes of sight, hearing, touch, taste and scent, such systems would respond to Peirce s trichotomous view of signs: whether icons (images), indexes (metonymical pointers, such as gestures) and symbols (abstract consensual signs found primarily in human verbal language). Thus, Benson O. Igboin (Adekunle Ajasin University, Nigeria), studies greeting gestures in a particular African environment and shows the important cultural dimension of these indexical structures in African day to day communication. This volume also shows that, in practice, sign categories merge in different proportions, and although some, such as icons and indexes, are as similar as possible to the objects they signify, this function, grounded on physical phenomenology, is also achieved by cultural consensus, imposed by habits, and approved by tradition and convention materialized in usages or collective representational customs. For instance, Ulani Yunus and Dominiq Tulasi (Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta- Indonesia) present the case of Batik industry, Indonesia's traditional practice of dying cloth through wax resist methods, as another case study of the culturalization of the natural in motivated signs. The convergence between motivation (in icons and indexes) and arbitrariness (symbols) can be observed in the diversity of Batik patterns and motifs and in the connotative implications of Batik s cultural significations that pass on from older to younger generations revealing the importance of visuality and touch in constructing meaning within certain cultures. Interestingly, the symbolic dimension of certain ornamental objects is explored by Nadezhda Nikolenko (Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Kazakhstan) in the context of nomadic cultures in Eurasia. During 10
Cultura. International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology 9(2)/2012: 7 12 the processes of ancient exchanges between nomadic and settled ethnic groups, the symbolic structure of these ornaments has acted as a fundamental element for intercultural relations, marking the ordering of meanings, whether denotative/referential/informative or connotative/emotive/ suggestive, characteristic of human activities. The coexistence of both functions is evident in Eurasian ornaments. The last part of the volume takes on a more philosophical and psychological turn in order to explore the dynamics of semiotic thought within particular cultural communities. The starting point is the paper by Susi Ferrarello (Loyola University and Florence University of the Arts) on perception, intersubjectivity and internationality in Husserl s work. The exploration of the constitution of ego, otherness, and life in Husserl confronts assumptions on the individuality of cognitive and semiotic process and sheds some light on the socio-constructivist foundations of culture. The paper by Dennis Ioffe (Ghent University, Belgium) presents the contributions of the two main schools of semiotic thought in Russia during the 20th century, stressing their interrelations and suggesting a revision of the traditional ontology of perception. However, the differences in methodology and research goals of the two main schools of Russian semiotic thought epitomize the complicated intellectual trajectory in the intellectual history of Russia. Nicolito A. Gianan (University of the Philippines) offers a discussion of philosophy and the dealination of culture from the Filipino perspective and Asian philosophy. This paper asserts that philosophizing is not the monopoly of Western cultures and that the dealienation of Asian culture, for instance, warrants the emergence and subsistence of Asian philosophy. Diego Busiol (Hong Kong City University) suggests that the focus should shift onto the process of how knowledge is produced (cultivated) instead of measuring culture by what is transmitted, perpetuated and achieved. Hong Kong represents an interesting case, not because it might be a place where East and West meet, but rather because it is a location where different discourses coexist without necessarily meeting. By discussing Bonduca (1611) a Jacobean tragi-comedy by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, the paper by I-Chun Wang (National Sun Yat Sen University, Taiwan) looks into this tragic story rewritten in fiction, and to the cultural and semiotic codes that Bonduca represents in the context of imperialism. The paper explores the conflict between the 11
Asun López-Varela / Introduction to Semiotics of World Cultures Romans and the colonized Iceni tribe and discusses the legitimization of colonization in the light of historical records alongside fictional accounts. The study serves as an example of the need for a complex multidimensional framework for the comparative study of literatures and cultures as proposed by Qingben Li and Jinghua Guo in this thematic issue of Cultura. Finally, the volume ends with a contribution by Massimo Leone (University of Turin) who advocates a shift in the observation and analysis of cultures and their axiologies. Civilizations, the paper argues, should not be apprehended through the conquering and domesticating eye of the triumphant explorer, but rather semiotically guessed from the resistance that objects, relics and sediments of such civilizations, oppose to the traveler s endeavors. As a case study of this epistemological reversal, the paper delves into the scabrous matter of corporal waste, attempting a typology of excrementitious practices, and showing how cultures and their axiologies of values condition even the most recondite recesses of the human behavior. From this apparent ludic inquiry emerges an impressionistic fresco of how power and its disparities molds the human relation to corporal waste, and the ability of cultures and societies to conceal it and expel it as a reminder of finitude and death. 12