Semiotics, or the study of signs and meaning, enhances the understanding of cultures, texts and social practices, and provides a powerful critique of dominant cultural models. Nevertheless, semiotics is often understood, especially in America, as a ghost of early French structuralism and positivist human sciences, made useless by subsequent developments in Continental philosophy. However, this vision ignores the last 30 years of developments in the semiotic enterprise. In this course, we will study the position of semiotics within the poststructuralist field, especially in relation to structuralism and deconstruction. Our readings address various issues related to the ways in which cultures produce, store, transmit and modify meanings. We will examine the basic concepts of semiotics as presented by Umberto Eco (sign, language, meaning, symbol, modes of semiotic production, the principle of interpretation). We will analyze ways in which a culture defines its relationship with its own signs on the basis of major theories of the semiotics of culture (Jurii Lotman, Michel Foucault, James Boon). We present examples of semiotic cultural criticism in order to unveil underlying ideological constructs. Requirements: full attendance and participation, 3-page critical comments on weekly assignments, and a final paper. Lecture and discussion. Open to all classes without prerequisite.
RAMBELLI