Cultural Semiotics: For a Cultural Perspective in Semiotics

227 Pages·2015·2.03 MB·English

by  Anna Maria Lorusso (auth.)

SEMIOTICS AND POPULAR CULTURE
Cultural Semiotics
For a Cultural Perspective in Semiotics
ANNA MARIA LORUSSO
Cultural Semiotics
Semiotics and Popular Culture
Series Editor: Marcel Danesi
Written by leading figures in the interconnected fields of popular
culture, media, and semiotic studies, the book in this series aim to
show the contemporary relevance of cultural theory. Individual vol-
umes offer an exercise in unraveling the socio-psychological reasons
why certain cultural trends become popular. The series engages with
theory and technical trends to expose the subject matter clearly,
openly, and meaningfully.
Marcel Danesi is Professor of Semiotics and Anthropology at the
University of Toronto. Among his major publications are X-Rated! ; O f
Cigarettes, High Heels, and Other Interesting Things; Vico, Metaphor,
and The Origins of Language ; C ool: The Signs and Meanings of
Adolescence ; T he Puzzle Instinct: The Meaning of Puzzles in Human
Life ; and B rands . He is Editor-in-Chief of Semiotica , the leading
journal in semiotics.
Titles:
TheObjects of Affection: Semiotics and Consumer Culture ,
by Arthur Asa Berger
M edia Literacy and Semiotics ,
by Elliot Gaines
T heTexture of Culture: An Introduction to Yuri Lotman’s
Semiotic Theory,
by Aleksei Semenenko
Semiotics of Exile in Contemporary Chinese Film ,
by Hong Zeng
TheHistory of the Kiss! TheBirth of Popular Culture ,
by Marcel Danesi
Cultural Semiotics: For a Cultural Perspective in Semiotics ,
by Anna Maria Lorusso
Cultural Semiotics
For a Cultural Perspective in
Semiotics
Anna Maria Lorusso
Palgrave
macmillan
CULTURAL SEMIOTICS
Copyright © Anna Maria Lorusso 2015
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-54941-9
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication
may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication
may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission. In
accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by
the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London
EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
First published 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
The author has asserted their right to be identified as the author
of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire, RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of Nature America, Inc., One
New York Plaza, Suite 4500, New York, NY 10004-1562.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
ISBN 978-1-349-55775-2
E-PDF ISBN: 978–1–137–54699–9
DOI: 10.1057/9781137546999
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lorusso, Anna Maria.
Cultural semiotics : for a cultural perspective in semiotics / Anna Maria
Lorusso.
pages cm.—(Semiotics and popular culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Semiotics. 2. Culture. I. Title.
P99.L6418 2015
302.2—dc23 2015016211
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Contents
List of Figures vii
Acknowledgments ix
Series Preface xi
Introduction 1
1 The Structuralist Perspective 21
2 Unity and Pluralism: The Theory of Jurij Lotman 67
3 Interpretation and Culture: Umberto Eco’s Theory 117
4 Ideas for an Archeological Semiotics 159
Notes 193
Bibliography 201
Index 213
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Figures
1.1 The structural units of Oedipus’s myth 28
1.2 Barthes’s schema for connotation 35
1.3 The semiotic square of freedom in Madame Bovary 53
1.4 Young girl from HIV support group from Bulawayo.
Operational Center of Brussels. 59
1.5 Philom è ne and her daughter 59
1.6 Rubaya displaced camp in Masisi, North Kivu 60
1.7 MDR TB patient taking his Direct Observation Treatment
Short Course medication at the Nhlangano TB Ward
supported by MSF 61
1.8 Dressing of a Buruli ulcer plague 63
2.1 The spatial dynamics of cultural universes 77
3.1 Semantic componential analysis of some animals 122
3.2 The triadic structure of Peircian sign 128
3.3 A typology of modes of sign production 142
3.4 Guy Fawkes mask 1 48
3.5 The headless suit 154
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Acknowledgments
I
would like to thank all the people who have made this work pos-
sible and have accompanied me in its writing. First Marcel Danesi
for the trust he gave me from the start. And then Cristina Demaria,
Stefano Traini, and Patrizia Violi who read the draft versions of this
book with great patience.