Semiotics / semiology Books

Book SynopsisComics are a global phenomenon, and yet it's easy to distinguish the visual styles of comics from Asia, Europe, or the United States. But, do the structures of these visual narratives differ in more subtle ways? Might these comics actually be drawn in different visual languages that vary in their structures across cultures? To address these questions, The Patterns of Comics seeks evidence through a sustained analysis of an annotated corpus of over 36,000 panels from more than 350 comics from Asia, Europe, and the United States. This data-driven approach reveals the cross-cultural variation in symbology, layout, and storytelling between various visual languages, and shows how comics have changed across 80 years. It compares, for example, the subtypes within American comics and Japanese manga, and analyzes the formal properties of Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes across its entire 10-year run. Throughout, it not only uncovers the patterns in and across the panels Trade ReviewIn previous innovative publications, Neil Cohn has provided a framework for understanding the visual language of comics across languages and cultures. In this magisterial volume he provides readers with tools for continued research. In essence, this is a carefully constructed handbook for in-depth exploration of visual narrative. -- Dan I. Slobin, Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Linguistics, UC Berkeley, USATable of ContentsList of Figures and Tables Preface 1. Visual Language 2. Corpus-Driven Comics Research 3. Morphology 4. Page Layout 5. Situational Coherence 6. Framing Structure 7. Narrative Structure 8. Visual Languages across Time 9. Cross-Cultural Visual Languages? 10. The Visual Language of Calvin and Hobbes 11. Towards a Visual Language Typology Notes References Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisDr Rachel Lawes is recognized as one of the original founders of commercial semiotics. Based in London, UK, she is a Fellow of the Market Research Society, and for 15 years has convened its Advanced Qualitative Methods Masterclass. She supplies brand and marketing strategy to businesses such as Unilever, P&G, Kraft, Nike and Diageo, as well as clients in specialized sectors such as pharmaceuticals and finance. A regular international conference speaker, she is the author of Using Semiotics in Marketing, also published by Kogan Page.Trade Review"An essential guide for retailers and marketers looking to leverage the competitive advantage that comes from gaining a deeper understanding of customers and how they see your brand. Rachel Lawes provides some great insights, backed up by examples from her work with brands from across the globe and provides a toolkit that allows you to apply the principles to your role right away." * Gareth Lloyd, Head of Marketing, Pricing, Morrison Supermarkets *"What a fantastic read, full of thought-provoking insights for retailers, providing a great balance between theory and real-life application of semiotics in the commercial world. It was hard to put it down!" * Kamila Cedro, Insight Manager, Boots *"Rachel Lawes's book is as fascinating as ever in terms of her bottom-up semiotic analysis. What makes it vital though is the top-down cultural analysis. She details a cultural milieu riven with anxiety, loneliness and depersonalization but, critically, provides the thinking, tools and ideas for companies and brands to start to take remedial and ameliorative action. A vital read for the times we now live and work in." * Richard Warren, Director, Marketing Communications, Lloyds Banking Group *"Rachel Lawes takes us on a journey of semiotics, encouraging us to ask and address the killer consumer questions through this engaging read. She propels our understanding of the consumer, enabling an improved retail experience with a revenue-driving focus at the root." * Hugo Proffitt, Head of Ecommerce, Singapore, adidas *"Whether you are a retailer, a retail marketer or a brand marketer who relies on consumers for brand engagement, affinity, advocacy and sales, Rachel Lawes has written the playbook to inform your future success. Lawes is not only a leading global authority on semiotics, but a futurist who shares her vision for the future of retail and shopper marketing. Using Semiotics in Retail is required reading for every executive who conducts business at the intersection of retail, shopping, consumers and marketing." * Mark Beal, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in Public Relations, Rutgers University, Author, Engaging Gen Z *"Finally, a book about semiotics in retailing by a semiotics veteran who lists Unilever, Procter and Gamble, Diageo, Boots, Morrisons and Mondelez among her present and former clients. Rachel Lawes knows the industry well! If you're a retailer, you need to read this book. If you're studying marketing, branding, retail UX and/or consumer behaviour, you need to read this book. In fact, if you're in any way, shape or form part of a digital ecosystem, you must read this book." * Zubin Sethna, Professor of Entrepreneurial Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Regent’s University London, Co-Author, Consumer Behaviour *"Semiotics can often feel daunting and un-accessible; this book will unlock understanding in how you can practically harness this methodology. I especially loved the case-studies which really help to bring the theory to life - a must read for anyone interested in how consumers assign meaning to colours, signs and symbols - then importantly how you can harness this insight to create meaningful experiences." * Hayley Ward, Director of User Research & Insight, Deliveroo *"Using Semiotics in Retail is a potent cocktail of knowledge on retail and shopper behaviour. Offering a much-needed reality check, the book helps readers see the bigger picture and understand the power that semiotics can wield. Deep diving into digital ecosystems, behavioural futures markets, and decentralized economies, it is not only sensitive to emerging digital culture, diversity and inclusivity, it is an excellent follow up to Rachel Lawes' first book, Using Semiotics in Marketing." * Muchaneta Kapfunde, Founder of FashNerd.com *"Rachel Lawes is one of the most provocative and unique thinkers in the field of marketing I've ever encountered. Her approach to semiotics is weapons-grade insight for modern marketers. Her writing is not only clear and immediately helpful, it's also entertaining - something one rarely encounters in marketing literature." * Bhavin Pabari, Strategy Director, Mother *"An insightful, surprising and highly enjoyable read. Rachel Lawes explains the theory and practice of semiotics with an energy that makes the pages turn themselves. But beyond that, it's also a brilliantly useful tool, because she never takes her eye off the end goal - how can all of this be used to create a competitive advantage?" * Ruth Chadwick, Head of Strategy, Lucky Generals *"Wow! I loved the first book and this one is even better. I couldn't put it down. Entertaining, gripping and humorous - this book is all those things and still manages to be a serious, solid dive into the way shoppers shop, coupled to straight-forward, practical advice that every marketeer can use. Rachel Lawes combines the literary style of a novelist with no-nonsense advice on actions every marketeer can do to improve sales, brought to life with real world examples. Learning about Semiotics has never been more engaging for non-academics, nor more practically valuable for everyone." * Andrew Cowen, Founder, Bluespark Commercial Strategy *"This book will get you thinking differently about things you see every day. As someone who works in the creative side of advertising, this is the greatest gift I could ask for. Lawes' whirlwind tour through human behavior, psychology and the shop aisle deepens your understanding of what it means to shop both in person and online. A must read for everyone in marketing who wants to stay forever curious." * Audrey Madden, Creative Strategist Huel *"Rachel Lawes' personal writing style is engaging, evocative, and enjoyable. She guides you through what was and what is now retail and marketing and the total experience of shopping, as well as the rise of consumer activists. More importantly, the book highlights the power of semiotics to influence individuals and society beyond consumerism towards responsible living. This resonates with current viewpoints in design practice and education, which is why I will be using this book to underpin learning and teaching in my Undergraduate and Postgraduate modules." * Dr George Torrens, Senior Lecturer in Industrial Design and Assistive Products, Loughborough University *"With 95% of purchase decisions being habitual, it is important to understand the rules your customer's brain uses to make a choice (so you can help them choose you). The subconscious buying brain is constantly looking for signs, symbols and other associations to help it make those decisions and Using Semiotics in Retail does a fantastic job of showcasing how to apply this skill. Everyone working for a retail brand needs to read this book so they can make it easier for customers to do business with them." * Melina Palmer, Founder & CEO, The Brainy Business,® LLC *"Part semiotics bible, part personal diary, this is a fascinating account of all those delicate touches in malls and markets that subtly win us over. Using Semiotics in Retail will compel you to analyse every shelf, aisle and shop window in an attempt to uncover the layers of social intelligence that went into their design. This book has - quite literally - opened my eyes, and will probably make me money, thanks to all the new knowledge I have. No one knows the subject better, and for the insider intel alone, it's an absolute must for every communications student and marketer." * Amy Charlotte Kean, Founder and CEO, Six Things Impossible *"I've had the pleasure of working directly with Rachel Lawes, collaborating on research projects conducted all around the world. Having the opportunity to not just tell a story about data, but instead tell a story about people, is what continues to drive me towards semiotics and collaborate with THE expert herself." * Dana DiGregorio Global Managing Director, MESH Experience *Table of Contents Section - PART ONE: Case studies - semiotics in real-world retail; Chapter - 01: Semiotics will change your career in retail or retail marketing; Chapter - 02: How Unilever uses semiotics; Section - PART TWO: The present day; Chapter - 03: Desire; Chapter - 04: ‘Premium, natural, sensational!’ How to create meaning; Chapter - 05: Shopper needs and behaviour; Chapter - 06: Shopping and identity; Section - PART THREE: The future; Chapter - 07: The future of business; Chapter - 08: The future of consumers; Chapter - 09: The future of retail; Chapter - 10: The future of everything; Section - PART FOUR: You can do semiotics - tools for retailers; Chapter - 11: Fast answers to everyday questions; Chapter - 12: Tools for thinking - how to generate ideas using semiotics; Chapter - 13: Acknowledgements;

Read more less

Book SynopsisDr Rachel Lawes is recognized as one of the original founders of commercial semiotics. Based in London, UK, she is a Fellow of the Market Research Society, and for 15 years has convened its Advanced Qualitative Methods Masterclass. She supplies brand and marketing strategy to businesses such as Unilever, P&G, Kraft, Nike and Diageo, as well as clients in specialized sectors such as pharmaceuticals and finance. A regular international conference speaker, she is the author of Using Semiotics in Marketing, also published by Kogan Page.Trade Review"An essential guide for retailers and marketers looking to leverage the competitive advantage that comes from gaining a deeper understanding of customers and how they see your brand. Rachel Lawes provides some great insights, backed up by examples from her work with brands from across the globe and provides a toolkit that allows you to apply the principles to your role right away." * Gareth Lloyd, Head of Marketing, Pricing, Morrison Supermarkets *"What a fantastic read, full of thought-provoking insights for retailers, providing a great balance between theory and real-life application of semiotics in the commercial world. It was hard to put it down!" * Kamila Cedro, Insight Manager, Boots *"Rachel Lawes's book is as fascinating as ever in terms of her bottom-up semiotic analysis. What makes it vital though is the top-down cultural analysis. She details a cultural milieu riven with anxiety, loneliness and depersonalization but, critically, provides the thinking, tools and ideas for companies and brands to start to take remedial and ameliorative action. A vital read for the times we now live and work in." * Richard Warren, Director, Marketing Communications, Lloyds Banking Group *"Rachel Lawes takes us on a journey of semiotics, encouraging us to ask and address the killer consumer questions through this engaging read. She propels our understanding of the consumer, enabling an improved retail experience with a revenue-driving focus at the root." * Hugo Proffitt, Head of Ecommerce, Singapore, adidas *"Whether you are a retailer, a retail marketer or a brand marketer who relies on consumers for brand engagement, affinity, advocacy and sales, Rachel Lawes has written the playbook to inform your future success. Lawes is not only a leading global authority on semiotics, but a futurist who shares her vision for the future of retail and shopper marketing. Using Semiotics in Retail is required reading for every executive who conducts business at the intersection of retail, shopping, consumers and marketing." * Mark Beal, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in Public Relations, Rutgers University, Author, Engaging Gen Z *"Finally, a book about semiotics in retailing by a semiotics veteran who lists Unilever, Procter and Gamble, Diageo, Boots, Morrisons and Mondelez among her present and former clients. Rachel Lawes knows the industry well! If you're a retailer, you need to read this book. If you're studying marketing, branding, retail UX and/or consumer behaviour, you need to read this book. In fact, if you're in any way, shape or form part of a digital ecosystem, you must read this book." * Zubin Sethna, Professor of Entrepreneurial Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Regent’s University London, Co-Author, Consumer Behaviour *"Semiotics can often feel daunting and un-accessible; this book will unlock understanding in how you can practically harness this methodology. I especially loved the case-studies which really help to bring the theory to life - a must read for anyone interested in how consumers assign meaning to colours, signs and symbols - then importantly how you can harness this insight to create meaningful experiences." * Hayley Ward, Director of User Research & Insight, Deliveroo *"Using Semiotics in Retail is a potent cocktail of knowledge on retail and shopper behaviour. Offering a much-needed reality check, the book helps readers see the bigger picture and understand the power that semiotics can wield. Deep diving into digital ecosystems, behavioural futures markets, and decentralized economies, it is not only sensitive to emerging digital culture, diversity and inclusivity, it is an excellent follow up to Rachel Lawes' first book, Using Semiotics in Marketing." * Muchaneta Kapfunde, Founder of FashNerd.com *"Rachel Lawes is one of the most provocative and unique thinkers in the field of marketing I've ever encountered. Her approach to semiotics is weapons-grade insight for modern marketers. Her writing is not only clear and immediately helpful, it's also entertaining - something one rarely encounters in marketing literature." * Bhavin Pabari, Strategy Director, Mother *"An insightful, surprising and highly enjoyable read. Rachel Lawes explains the theory and practice of semiotics with an energy that makes the pages turn themselves. But beyond that, it's also a brilliantly useful tool, because she never takes her eye off the end goal - how can all of this be used to create a competitive advantage?" * Ruth Chadwick, Head of Strategy, Lucky Generals *"Wow! I loved the first book and this one is even better. I couldn't put it down. Entertaining, gripping and humorous - this book is all those things and still manages to be a serious, solid dive into the way shoppers shop, coupled to straight-forward, practical advice that every marketeer can use. Rachel Lawes combines the literary style of a novelist with no-nonsense advice on actions every marketeer can do to improve sales, brought to life with real world examples. Learning about Semiotics has never been more engaging for non-academics, nor more practically valuable for everyone." * Andrew Cowen, Founder, Bluespark Commercial Strategy *"This book will get you thinking differently about things you see every day. As someone who works in the creative side of advertising, this is the greatest gift I could ask for. Lawes' whirlwind tour through human behavior, psychology and the shop aisle deepens your understanding of what it means to shop both in person and online. A must read for everyone in marketing who wants to stay forever curious." * Audrey Madden, Creative Strategist Huel *"Rachel Lawes' personal writing style is engaging, evocative, and enjoyable. She guides you through what was and what is now retail and marketing and the total experience of shopping, as well as the rise of consumer activists. More importantly, the book highlights the power of semiotics to influence individuals and society beyond consumerism towards responsible living. This resonates with current viewpoints in design practice and education, which is why I will be using this book to underpin learning and teaching in my Undergraduate and Postgraduate modules." * Dr George Torrens, Senior Lecturer in Industrial Design and Assistive Products, Loughborough University *"With 95% of purchase decisions being habitual, it is important to understand the rules your customer's brain uses to make a choice (so you can help them choose you). The subconscious buying brain is constantly looking for signs, symbols and other associations to help it make those decisions and Using Semiotics in Retail does a fantastic job of showcasing how to apply this skill. Everyone working for a retail brand needs to read this book so they can make it easier for customers to do business with them." * Melina Palmer, Founder & CEO, The Brainy Business,® LLC *"Part semiotics bible, part personal diary, this is a fascinating account of all those delicate touches in malls and markets that subtly win us over. Using Semiotics in Retail will compel you to analyse every shelf, aisle and shop window in an attempt to uncover the layers of social intelligence that went into their design. This book has - quite literally - opened my eyes, and will probably make me money, thanks to all the new knowledge I have. No one knows the subject better, and for the insider intel alone, it's an absolute must for every communications student and marketer." * Amy Charlotte Kean, Founder and CEO, Six Things Impossible *"I've had the pleasure of working directly with Rachel Lawes, collaborating on research projects conducted all around the world. Having the opportunity to not just tell a story about data, but instead tell a story about people, is what continues to drive me towards semiotics and collaborate with THE expert herself." * Dana DiGregorio Global Managing Director, MESH Experience *Table of Contents Section - PART ONE: Case studies - semiotics in real-world retail; Chapter - 01: Semiotics will change your career in retail or retail marketing; Chapter - 02: How Unilever uses semiotics; Section - PART TWO: The present day; Chapter - 03: Desire; Chapter - 04: ‘Premium, natural, sensational!’ How to create meaning; Chapter - 05: Shopper needs and behaviour; Chapter - 06: Shopping and identity; Section - PART THREE: The future; Chapter - 07: The future of business; Chapter - 08: The future of consumers; Chapter - 09: The future of retail; Chapter - 10: The future of everything; Section - PART FOUR: You can do semiotics - tools for retailers; Chapter - 11: Fast answers to everyday questions; Chapter - 12: Tools for thinking - how to generate ideas using semiotics; Chapter - 13: Acknowledgements;

Read more less

Book SynopsisDr Rachel Lawes is recognized as one of the original founders of British commercial semiotics. Based in London, UK, she has convened the Market Research Society Advanced Qualitative Methods Masterclass for 15 years. Academic posts include Principal Lecturer in Marketing at Regent's University London. She supplies brand strategy and consumer insight to brands and ad agencies globally. Clients include Unilever, P&G, Diageo and Grey London. Rachel is a Fellow of the Market Research Society in the UK. She is the author of Using Semiotics in Marketing and Using Semiotics in Retail, both published by Kogan Page.Trade Review"In an age where influencer marketing, personalization and building positive social impact are the new mantras of marketing, Lawes' book is a priceless guide for marketers to make sense of the world that their consumers live in. Brilliant, incisive and a comprehensive look at using the principles of semi­otics in marketing, this book is testimony to Lawes' mastery of the subject and her immense contribution to the world of semiotics." * Shelley Sengupta, GM and Head of Insights, Pernod Ricard India *"This book confirms why Lawes is one of the foremost industrial semioti­cians. It is a masterclass on the role of culture in consumer behaviour. If you are a researcher, this book is an essential part of your library. The second edition of Using Semiotics in Marketing adds three new chap­ters that link recent changes in the global socio-political context and the emergence of metamodernism. Lawes provides an insightful, actionable and entertaining comparison between generations with regards to how they process functional and emotional information, and translates this into how brands should think about designing product experiences and communica­tions to be authentic and sincere." * Dr Nick Harrington, Senior Director, Procter & Gamble *"Dr Lawes' book goes much further than academic or professional stand­ards. Her writing is emotional, touching, profound and delicate at the same time. And that reflects that semiotics is about culture before becoming a matter of marketing. Nevertheless, it is vital for consumer trends under­standing and brand planning. Using Semiotics in Marketing is full of meaning. It is brilliant and compelling, both professionally and personally." * André D’Abreu Pazin, Director of Customer Intelligence, Research and Strategy, LATAM Airlines *"Business leaders talk about using semiotics in research, but do they actually know what it means? In this book all is revealed, and in a simple, practical and applicable way to boot. Using Semiotics in Marketing ultimately proves that semiotics meets the stature of its buzzworthyness and that leaders can gain differentiated insights by leveraging it, top down, bottom up and layered with other methods that help us investigate deeper into consumers and cultures." * Joanna Lepore, Global Foresight Director, McDonald’s *"Rachel Lawes writes with insightful brevity, but what makes this book shine is the incredibly useful techniques she offers for 'culture first' thinking. The 'Tree' technique in Chapter 6 has particularly inspired me in how to guide strategists to structure upstream thinking rooted in truisms. A gem of a book to reignite your approach to creative development." * Lucy Crotty, Cultural Strategy and Insight Lead, ITV *"This is a book that demands to be read (again and again), comfortably sat back with a note-taking device nearby, as we are invited to jot down our own reflections and ideas that will inevitably come. This second edition brings future applicability to all the learnings from the previous chapters, with a focus on key changes in consumer culture brought about by metamodernism. Rachel Lawes makes light work of explaining the values, needs and behaviour shifts that will define the future through the metamodernist lens. The insights are so compelling that you'd be forgiven for concluding that this shift is not just key for marketing into the future, but for adding value and meaning to all kinds of professional and personal relationships. If Rachel's book doesn't stir something inside you, you haven't read it right." * Trish Rajo-Brea, Insights Professional and Capabilities Lead, Unilever *"A fascinating and insightful read on an area of research which can often be underrepresented. Lawes makes a compelling case for the use of semiotics and the commercial impact it delivers. If you ever need to convince someone of the power of semiotics, make sure you give them a copy of this book. A must-read for marketers and insight professionals." * Andrew Tenzer, Independent Insight and Brand Strategy Consultant, Reach plc *"This highly awaited second edition of Using Semiotics in Marketing is writ­ten by a semiotics veteran. Dr Rachel Lawes knows the industry well! If you're a marketer, you need to read this book. If you're studying marketing, branding, retail UX and/or consumer behaviour, you need to read this book. With three new chapters on Generation Z, social change in the 'West' and the rise of emotions, the book is bang up to date. So, if you're in any way, shape, form or part of the 'digital ecosystem' (and I'd be surprised if you're not!) you must read this book. Like, now! What are you waiting for?" * Professor (Dr) Zubin Sethna, Professor of Entrepreneurial Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Regent’s University London *"The publication of this second edition has given me the perfect excuse to revisit this seminal text on best practice in semiotics - written by one of the discipline's best practitioners. This is a book that should sit within arm's reach of everyone working in marketing, research and communication; in fact, anyone who needs to understand how people tick as part of their job. Filled with practical advice and fascinating examples, it is that unusual breed of textbook that you will fly through. This new edition applies the lens of the seismic cultural shifts caused by the pandemic and maturing of Generation Z. It is now even more imperative that you absorb its wisdom and insight. Meanwhile, we all need to hold our breaths for what will be the inspira­tion for a third edition!" * Fiona Keyte, Planning Partner, Grey London *"Using Semiotics in Marketing is a must-read for anyone committed to putting people at the centre of marketing. Dr Lawes manages to make a complex and nuanced practice approachable, and does so in a way that illuminates, rather than dulls, the pixie dust of semiotics. This effortless balance of the practical and the magical solidified my belief that Dr Lawes is an underutilized resource in our industry." * Kim Einan, Chief Strategy Officer, Starcom *"How many times in our lives have we looked at objects or ideas or brands for what they are rather than what they signify? A coffee, for example, as a brewed beverage, evokes comfort, creativity and alertness; a sofa, as a furniture item, evokes symmetry, relaxation and family time. In this compelling book about images, icons, language, culture, people and meaning, the often-mystifying world of semiotics comes alive. Lawes, in her commercially relevant and practi­cal account, masterfully brings forth the future of researching customer engagement by describing how researchers, strategists and marketers can decode signs so they can see connections and meanings that others cannot. It beautifully and aptly explains the fascinating world of semiotics with clarity and accessible language for all, novices or experts. A must-read!" * Dr Panagiotis Kokkalis, Chair of Business and Management and Associate Professor of Strategy, Rochester Institute of Technology, Dubai *"Seeing things other brands, marketers or even the person sitting next to you don't is vital to success. In Using Semiotics in Marketing Dr Lawes gives you the keys to unlock the unseen that's all around us. With sharper vision we become sharper marketers. Dr Lawes' book helps you keep your 'eyes on that very special prize'." * George Tannenbaum, Founder, GeorgeCo, LLC, Adaged Blog *"Are great semioticians born or created? Mindful, perhaps, of my own limita­tions in this field, I had always leaned toward the former, lamenting my lack of relevant genetic curlicues. The first edition of this book changed all of that, making the mysterious hinterland of semiotics accessible, sending up a flare to illuminate this terrain and roll back the shadows cast by past intel­lectuals - yes, I'm looking at you, Barthes. This new version, enriched with recent social history and dripping with new cultural codes, is clear, concise and comprehensible, touching the universal elements of the everyday while spotlighting the 'how to' of creative analysis - increasingly necessary to business innovation and delivering competitive advantage." * Leslie X Hallam, Course Director, Psychology of Advertising MSc, University of Lancaster and Qualitative Consultant, Tangent Partnership *"The field of semiotics is littered with books that are either unreadable, unusable or far too pleased with themselves. Lawes' is different. As well as being hugely practical and commercially relevant, this gem of a textbook is packed full of juicy cultural analysis. Lawes manages to make page-turners out of discussions on baked beans and toilet tissue. Her depiction of British tea-time rituals is up there with Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down. It could only have been written by someone who cares as much about Instagram as she does about Ideograms. Essential reading." * Dr Nick Coates, Global Creative Consulting Director, C Space *"Do you wish you knew more about semiotics, how it is used in market research, and how it links to other techniques? Learn how ideas get into people's heads, the role of culture and the method of outside-in thinking. A must-read for any marketer or market researcher." * Ray Poynter, Founder and Chair, NewMR and Member of ESOMAR Council *"I like to think I know a bit about semiotics, but Lawes is the real deal, the Full Monty, the Queen of Codes. Her insightful work is an important rejoinder and reminder to all those in the brand and comms world of the need to focus on culture and meaning, linguistics and anthropology, icons and images - not just the reductionist world of messages, propositions and benefits." * Anthony Tasgal, Strategist and Owner, POV Marketing and Research *"A great read for anyone in the research game! Whether new to the field or long in the tooth, this is certainly a book to get stuck in to." * Viv Farr, Managing Director, Narrative Health *"From the moment I started reading about the culture of weddings, I was gripped. This was going to be a good read! But more than that, Using Semiotics in Marketing gives you the step-by-step, practical tools to learn and use the discipline yourself - written in a highly engaging manner. Lawes masterfully combines the practicality of a training manual with a 'can't put down' read. If you are intrigued by semiotics, if you wish you knew how to be a semiologist, Lawes gives you the tools to get stuck in. This second edition really opened my eyes to the importance of Generation Z and provides heaps of practical strategies for brands and marcoms as new gener­ations of consumers evolve." * Fiona Blades, President and Chief Experience Officer, MESH Experience *"I have concluded that all Quant researchers become Qual converts in the end - and I am no exception. I've spent the last 10 years promoting qual research, and it seems to me that semiotics is a qual 'superpower'. I loved the clarity of this book and the clever synthesis of so much academic research that I wouldn't have had the time to read for myself, but most of all I appreci­ated gaining an insight into current trends that I have been observing without fully understanding. If you are a 'boomer' (like me), some of the ideas of metamodernism are bewildering and very hard to assimilate - but the effort is very definitely worthwhile for the light it shines on the modern world." * Phyllis McFarlane, Market Research Society Gold Medallist *"Lawes excels at writing in a way that demystifies semiotics and makes it clearly actionable in an engaging way, exploring the cultural changes happening in society that only semiotics can truly identify. The new chapters include identifying the consumer needs of the 2020s and provide several different lenses that businesses can instantly learn from. A shout out here goes to the way that the case studies and activities dovetail seamlessly together, to provide the tools for marketeers to apply immediately." * Alan Hathaway, MD, Discovery Research Ltd and Judge, MRS Awards 2022 *"An invaluable tool for any researcher looking to go beyond the traditional methodologies to successfully level up and differentiate their analysis and storytelling. Lawes has made semiotics accessible to those of us who aren't expertly trained as semioticians but still understand the value of decoding the cultural symbols and language all around us. Lawes' Using Semiotics in Marketing gets us results for our clients every time with its inspiring advice for market researchers. It's full of amazing revelations and stories you won't read anywhere else. This expanded second edition has even more fascinating insights concerning social change in the United States." * Stephanie David, Vice President Research and Design, Vital Findings *"In writing Using Semiotics in Marketing, Rachel Lawes has succeeded in both simplifying and making a complex subject accessible. This book is a great practical guide to semiotics written in an engaging style. I would highly recommend it to all insight professionals who want to further their under­standing of the subject." * Julie Irwin, Co-Founder and Board Director, Citrine Market Research and Judge, MRS Awards 2022 *"If you're looking for a well-written, easy-to-understand and informative book on the use of semiotics in marketing then look no further. Dr Lawes has taken years of experience and succinctly summarized it into a practical and interesting book. The second edition builds on the first by bringing an explanation of semiotics in relation to recent yet rapid changes to western-influenced culture. Dr Lawes continues to deliver further knowledge to the reader and practical responses that brands can make to meet the changing expectations of their market and consumers." * Steven Darby, Director, AURA *"If you read just one book about the shifting consumer culture and what it means for brands, make it this one! Dr Lawes sets out the criticality of semi­otics in this powerful, practical and immensely insightful second edition. It brilliantly elevates semiotics from a 'nice to have' to a 'must have' for all insight and marketing practitioners. It bravely challenges old ways of think­ing and catapults us into a state of readiness for the future. It's an essential, enlightening and hugely enjoyable read." * Sandra Grandsoult, Co-Founder and Equity Architect, Equitas Insight *"This is a weighty tome of information and thought-provoking content. What is most relevant and fruitful for me is the way Rachel Lawes helps marketers (in the broadest sense) understand that semiotics can make tangi­ble what their customers are thinking and feeling in ways that are much more insightful than the kind of answers we tend to get in Q&A market research." * Hilary Woods, Strategic Partner, Crater Lake & Co and Agency for the Third Age *Table of Contents Chapter - 00: Introduction to the new edition; Chapter - 000: Introduction to the first edition; Chapter - 01: Semiotics will change your career in marketing or market research; Chapter - 02: An explosion of semiotics in business; Chapter - 03: How to do research using semiotics – A blueprint for marketers; Chapter - 04: Images, language and other semiotic signs; Chapter - 05: Society, culture and other big influences on consumers; Chapter - 06: Creativity and innovation – Semiotic tools for thinking; Chapter - 07: How to do semiotic field trips; Chapter - 08: Combining semiotics with ethnography and discourse analysis; Chapter - 09: Data – insight – strategy; Chapter - 10: Sharing the findings of semiotic research; Chapter - 11: Industry debates and the future of semiotics; Chapter - 12: Inspiration – How to continue teaching yourself to do semiotics; Chapter - 13: Consumer needs in the 2020s; Chapter - 14: Brands and businesses; Chapter - 15: Marketing and communications; Chapter - 16: Acknowledgements; Chapter - 17: Glossary; Chapter - 18: References;

Read more less

Book SynopsisDr Rachel Lawes is recognized as one of the original founders of British commercial semiotics. Based in London, UK, she has convened the Market Research Society Advanced Qualitative Methods Masterclass for 15 years. Academic posts include Principal Lecturer in Marketing at Regent's University London. She supplies brand strategy and consumer insight to brands and ad agencies globally. Clients include Unilever, P&G, Diageo and Grey London. Rachel is a Fellow of the Market Research Society in the UK. She is the author of Using Semiotics in Marketing and Using Semiotics in Retail, both published by Kogan Page.Trade Review"In an age where influencer marketing, personalization and building positive social impact are the new mantras of marketing, Lawes' book is a priceless guide for marketers to make sense of the world that their consumers live in. Brilliant, incisive and a comprehensive look at using the principles of semi­otics in marketing, this book is testimony to Lawes' mastery of the subject and her immense contribution to the world of semiotics." * Shelley Sengupta, GM and Head of Insights, Pernod Ricard India *"This book confirms why Lawes is one of the foremost industrial semioti­cians. It is a masterclass on the role of culture in consumer behaviour. If you are a researcher, this book is an essential part of your library. The second edition of Using Semiotics in Marketing adds three new chap­ters that link recent changes in the global socio-political context and the emergence of metamodernism. Lawes provides an insightful, actionable and entertaining comparison between generations with regards to how they process functional and emotional information, and translates this into how brands should think about designing product experiences and communica­tions to be authentic and sincere." * Dr Nick Harrington, Senior Director, Procter & Gamble *"Dr Lawes' book goes much further than academic or professional stand­ards. Her writing is emotional, touching, profound and delicate at the same time. And that reflects that semiotics is about culture before becoming a matter of marketing. Nevertheless, it is vital for consumer trends under­standing and brand planning. Using Semiotics in Marketing is full of meaning. It is brilliant and compelling, both professionally and personally." * André D’Abreu Pazin, Director of Customer Intelligence, Research and Strategy, LATAM Airlines *"Business leaders talk about using semiotics in research, but do they actually know what it means? In this book all is revealed, and in a simple, practical and applicable way to boot. Using Semiotics in Marketing ultimately proves that semiotics meets the stature of its buzzworthyness and that leaders can gain differentiated insights by leveraging it, top down, bottom up and layered with other methods that help us investigate deeper into consumers and cultures." * Joanna Lepore, Global Foresight Director, McDonald’s *"Rachel Lawes writes with insightful brevity, but what makes this book shine is the incredibly useful techniques she offers for 'culture first' thinking. The 'Tree' technique in Chapter 6 has particularly inspired me in how to guide strategists to structure upstream thinking rooted in truisms. A gem of a book to reignite your approach to creative development." * Lucy Crotty, Cultural Strategy and Insight Lead, ITV *"This is a book that demands to be read (again and again), comfortably sat back with a note-taking device nearby, as we are invited to jot down our own reflections and ideas that will inevitably come. This second edition brings future applicability to all the learnings from the previous chapters, with a focus on key changes in consumer culture brought about by metamodernism. Rachel Lawes makes light work of explaining the values, needs and behaviour shifts that will define the future through the metamodernist lens. The insights are so compelling that you'd be forgiven for concluding that this shift is not just key for marketing into the future, but for adding value and meaning to all kinds of professional and personal relationships. If Rachel's book doesn't stir something inside you, you haven't read it right." * Trish Rajo-Brea, Insights Professional and Capabilities Lead, Unilever *"A fascinating and insightful read on an area of research which can often be underrepresented. Lawes makes a compelling case for the use of semiotics and the commercial impact it delivers. If you ever need to convince someone of the power of semiotics, make sure you give them a copy of this book. A must-read for marketers and insight professionals." * Andrew Tenzer, Independent Insight and Brand Strategy Consultant, Reach plc *"This highly awaited second edition of Using Semiotics in Marketing is writ­ten by a semiotics veteran. Dr Rachel Lawes knows the industry well! If you're a marketer, you need to read this book. If you're studying marketing, branding, retail UX and/or consumer behaviour, you need to read this book. With three new chapters on Generation Z, social change in the 'West' and the rise of emotions, the book is bang up to date. So, if you're in any way, shape, form or part of the 'digital ecosystem' (and I'd be surprised if you're not!) you must read this book. Like, now! What are you waiting for?" * Professor (Dr) Zubin Sethna, Professor of Entrepreneurial Marketing and Consumer Behaviour, Regent’s University London *"The publication of this second edition has given me the perfect excuse to revisit this seminal text on best practice in semiotics - written by one of the discipline's best practitioners. This is a book that should sit within arm's reach of everyone working in marketing, research and communication; in fact, anyone who needs to understand how people tick as part of their job. Filled with practical advice and fascinating examples, it is that unusual breed of textbook that you will fly through. This new edition applies the lens of the seismic cultural shifts caused by the pandemic and maturing of Generation Z. It is now even more imperative that you absorb its wisdom and insight. Meanwhile, we all need to hold our breaths for what will be the inspira­tion for a third edition!" * Fiona Keyte, Planning Partner, Grey London *"Using Semiotics in Marketing is a must-read for anyone committed to putting people at the centre of marketing. Dr Lawes manages to make a complex and nuanced practice approachable, and does so in a way that illuminates, rather than dulls, the pixie dust of semiotics. This effortless balance of the practical and the magical solidified my belief that Dr Lawes is an underutilized resource in our industry." * Kim Einan, Chief Strategy Officer, Starcom *"How many times in our lives have we looked at objects or ideas or brands for what they are rather than what they signify? A coffee, for example, as a brewed beverage, evokes comfort, creativity and alertness; a sofa, as a furniture item, evokes symmetry, relaxation and family time. In this compelling book about images, icons, language, culture, people and meaning, the often-mystifying world of semiotics comes alive. Lawes, in her commercially relevant and practi­cal account, masterfully brings forth the future of researching customer engagement by describing how researchers, strategists and marketers can decode signs so they can see connections and meanings that others cannot. It beautifully and aptly explains the fascinating world of semiotics with clarity and accessible language for all, novices or experts. A must-read!" * Dr Panagiotis Kokkalis, Chair of Business and Management and Associate Professor of Strategy, Rochester Institute of Technology, Dubai *"Seeing things other brands, marketers or even the person sitting next to you don't is vital to success. In Using Semiotics in Marketing Dr Lawes gives you the keys to unlock the unseen that's all around us. With sharper vision we become sharper marketers. Dr Lawes' book helps you keep your 'eyes on that very special prize'." * George Tannenbaum, Founder, GeorgeCo, LLC, Adaged Blog *"Are great semioticians born or created? Mindful, perhaps, of my own limita­tions in this field, I had always leaned toward the former, lamenting my lack of relevant genetic curlicues. The first edition of this book changed all of that, making the mysterious hinterland of semiotics accessible, sending up a flare to illuminate this terrain and roll back the shadows cast by past intel­lectuals - yes, I'm looking at you, Barthes. This new version, enriched with recent social history and dripping with new cultural codes, is clear, concise and comprehensible, touching the universal elements of the everyday while spotlighting the 'how to' of creative analysis - increasingly necessary to business innovation and delivering competitive advantage." * Leslie X Hallam, Course Director, Psychology of Advertising MSc, University of Lancaster and Qualitative Consultant, Tangent Partnership *"The field of semiotics is littered with books that are either unreadable, unusable or far too pleased with themselves. Lawes' is different. As well as being hugely practical and commercially relevant, this gem of a textbook is packed full of juicy cultural analysis. Lawes manages to make page-turners out of discussions on baked beans and toilet tissue. Her depiction of British tea-time rituals is up there with Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down. It could only have been written by someone who cares as much about Instagram as she does about Ideograms. Essential reading." * Dr Nick Coates, Global Creative Consulting Director, C Space *"Do you wish you knew more about semiotics, how it is used in market research, and how it links to other techniques? Learn how ideas get into people's heads, the role of culture and the method of outside-in thinking. A must-read for any marketer or market researcher." * Ray Poynter, Founder and Chair, NewMR and Member of ESOMAR Council *"I like to think I know a bit about semiotics, but Lawes is the real deal, the Full Monty, the Queen of Codes. Her insightful work is an important rejoinder and reminder to all those in the brand and comms world of the need to focus on culture and meaning, linguistics and anthropology, icons and images - not just the reductionist world of messages, propositions and benefits." * Anthony Tasgal, Strategist and Owner, POV Marketing and Research *"A great read for anyone in the research game! Whether new to the field or long in the tooth, this is certainly a book to get stuck in to." * Viv Farr, Managing Director, Narrative Health *"From the moment I started reading about the culture of weddings, I was gripped. This was going to be a good read! But more than that, Using Semiotics in Marketing gives you the step-by-step, practical tools to learn and use the discipline yourself - written in a highly engaging manner. Lawes masterfully combines the practicality of a training manual with a 'can't put down' read. If you are intrigued by semiotics, if you wish you knew how to be a semiologist, Lawes gives you the tools to get stuck in. This second edition really opened my eyes to the importance of Generation Z and provides heaps of practical strategies for brands and marcoms as new gener­ations of consumers evolve." * Fiona Blades, President and Chief Experience Officer, MESH Experience *"I have concluded that all Quant researchers become Qual converts in the end - and I am no exception. I've spent the last 10 years promoting qual research, and it seems to me that semiotics is a qual 'superpower'. I loved the clarity of this book and the clever synthesis of so much academic research that I wouldn't have had the time to read for myself, but most of all I appreci­ated gaining an insight into current trends that I have been observing without fully understanding. If you are a 'boomer' (like me), some of the ideas of metamodernism are bewildering and very hard to assimilate - but the effort is very definitely worthwhile for the light it shines on the modern world." * Phyllis McFarlane, Market Research Society Gold Medallist *"Lawes excels at writing in a way that demystifies semiotics and makes it clearly actionable in an engaging way, exploring the cultural changes happening in society that only semiotics can truly identify. The new chapters include identifying the consumer needs of the 2020s and provide several different lenses that businesses can instantly learn from. A shout out here goes to the way that the case studies and activities dovetail seamlessly together, to provide the tools for marketeers to apply immediately." * Alan Hathaway, MD, Discovery Research Ltd and Judge, MRS Awards 2022 *"An invaluable tool for any researcher looking to go beyond the traditional methodologies to successfully level up and differentiate their analysis and storytelling. Lawes has made semiotics accessible to those of us who aren't expertly trained as semioticians but still understand the value of decoding the cultural symbols and language all around us. Lawes' Using Semiotics in Marketing gets us results for our clients every time with its inspiring advice for market researchers. It's full of amazing revelations and stories you won't read anywhere else. This expanded second edition has even more fascinating insights concerning social change in the United States." * Stephanie David, Vice President Research and Design, Vital Findings *"In writing Using Semiotics in Marketing, Rachel Lawes has succeeded in both simplifying and making a complex subject accessible. This book is a great practical guide to semiotics written in an engaging style. I would highly recommend it to all insight professionals who want to further their under­standing of the subject." * Julie Irwin, Co-Founder and Board Director, Citrine Market Research and Judge, MRS Awards 2022 *"If you're looking for a well-written, easy-to-understand and informative book on the use of semiotics in marketing then look no further. Dr Lawes has taken years of experience and succinctly summarized it into a practical and interesting book. The second edition builds on the first by bringing an explanation of semiotics in relation to recent yet rapid changes to western-influenced culture. Dr Lawes continues to deliver further knowledge to the reader and practical responses that brands can make to meet the changing expectations of their market and consumers." * Steven Darby, Director, AURA *"If you read just one book about the shifting consumer culture and what it means for brands, make it this one! Dr Lawes sets out the criticality of semi­otics in this powerful, practical and immensely insightful second edition. It brilliantly elevates semiotics from a 'nice to have' to a 'must have' for all insight and marketing practitioners. It bravely challenges old ways of think­ing and catapults us into a state of readiness for the future. It's an essential, enlightening and hugely enjoyable read." * Sandra Grandsoult, Co-Founder and Equity Architect, Equitas Insight *"This is a weighty tome of information and thought-provoking content. What is most relevant and fruitful for me is the way Rachel Lawes helps marketers (in the broadest sense) understand that semiotics can make tangi­ble what their customers are thinking and feeling in ways that are much more insightful than the kind of answers we tend to get in Q&A market research." * Hilary Woods, Strategic Partner, Crater Lake & Co and Agency for the Third Age *Table of Contents Chapter - 00: Introduction to the new edition; Chapter - 000: Introduction to the first edition; Chapter - 01: Semiotics will change your career in marketing or market research; Chapter - 02: An explosion of semiotics in business; Chapter - 03: How to do research using semiotics – A blueprint for marketers; Chapter - 04: Images, language and other semiotic signs; Chapter - 05: Society, culture and other big influences on consumers; Chapter - 06: Creativity and innovation – Semiotic tools for thinking; Chapter - 07: How to do semiotic field trips; Chapter - 08: Combining semiotics with ethnography and discourse analysis; Chapter - 09: Data – insight – strategy; Chapter - 10: Sharing the findings of semiotic research; Chapter - 11: Industry debates and the future of semiotics; Chapter - 12: Inspiration – How to continue teaching yourself to do semiotics; Chapter - 13: Consumer needs in the 2020s; Chapter - 14: Brands and businesses; Chapter - 15: Marketing and communications; Chapter - 16: Acknowledgements; Chapter - 17: Glossary; Chapter - 18: References;

Read more less

Book SynopsisRobert A. Yelle is Assistant Professor at the Department of History and the Helen Hardin Honors Program, University of Memphis, USA.Trade ReviewA deep and engaging book sure to pique the interests of researchers in both semiotics and religion. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, faculty. -- J. L. Best, St. Thomas University * CHOICE *As Robert Yelle compellingly argues in his compact, meaty monograph, a semiotic approach to religion (magic, ritual, myth) requires attention to both semiotic form and semiotic ideology - the poetics of rhyme and repetition, but equally the underlying nominalist ideology that naming invokes the ghost ... [T]he cogent ways in which he pulls together countless familiar piecemeal insights and well-known cases and debates in the anthropology of religion make his book worthwhile reading for linguistic anthropologists ... In sum, this groundbreaking interdisciplinary work provides a compelling argument for the tools of our trade by someone firmly situated in a different discipline. * Linguistic Anthropology *This important work takes up the almost forgotten task of advancing the study of religion to a place of deeper comprehension in which the tasks of comparison and broad categorical analysis are possible. The means of advance, as the title indicates, is semiotics ... [T]his [is a] carefully plotted argument, making Semiotics of Religion a highly recommended work of theory and method. * Religious Studies Review *In [Yelle's] book he suggests a more radical reorientation for the study of religious phenomena that shifts focus from attempts to uncover the underlying cosmology of religious and magical rituals - that is, the particular ‘semantic or symbolic’ meaning of such practices - to an approach that gives closer attention to the semiotics of ritual repetition and form ... Yelle’s willingness ... to take religious discourse on its own terms as well as his explanations of the complex language ideologies at work in South Asian religious ritual and practice provide a valuable contribution to both the study of language and the study of religion. * Language in Society *Students of semiotics, semiotic anthropology, cultural anthropology, religious studies, anthropology of religion, and especially semiotics of religion, have long waited for a publication of this kind ... [This book] revitaliz[es] the domain of semiotics, and in particular that of the semiotics of religion, with new themes, insights, sensibility and, last but not least, a new style ... Another merit of Yelle’s book, perhaps the greatest one, is to demonstrate with lucidity and efficacy that the semiotic ideologies that underpin religious traditions did not vanish in the era of supposed secularization but mutated, instead, into often neglected aspects of secular, modern, and even post-modern semiotic ideologies. * Religion [from a review symposium in 44:1] *[B]road in scope and ambitious. ... According to Yelle’s compelling argument, religions develop their own poetics that promote the use of signs and languages as non-arbitrary and motivated entities; as such, religious uses are related to poetry and performance, rather than history or philosophy. ... Yelle’s book is a landmark in semiotics and religious studies, and will be the basis of many research developments for several years. * Religion [from a review symposium in 44:1) *[Yelle's] extremely interesting engagement with ritual language with regard to magic in particular provides a different reading of magic, one that takes for granted its rationality and takes seriously its discursive poetics as an aspect of its efficacy and not an aspect of its being ‘science gone wrong.’ In this kind of approach, Yelle provides a fresh and insightful reading of magic, something quite unique in the study of systems of belief and practice. * Religion [from a review symposium in 44:1) *Robert A. Yelle’s Semiotics of Religion lays important groundwork for a revival of semiotics in the study of religion. In an admirably clear and straightforward manner, he examines a number of semiotic ideologies and their implications for ritual actions and historical interpretation. ... Yelle’s account of Protestant literalism, with its entailments especially in the sphere of law, is remarkably clear and to the point. Despite an inordinately large corpus of material to grapple with, Yelle succeeds admirably in articulating the implications of ‘plain speech’ – and the rejection of ‘vain repetitions’ – within the 16th- and 17th-century moment. * Religion [from a review symposium in 44:1] *This book is vast in scope, deep in implications, and admirably clear and forthright in exposition.The study of religion has needed a work of this kind, which brings together several research traditions and pushes the resulting synthesis in new directions. The result is an agenda-setting project of huge ambition. -- Webb Keane, University of Michigan, USASemiotics of Religion displays sensational semiotic sensitivity in analyzing the practical poetics of performance - the 'pragmatics' of performativity - of various expressions of the religious life.From this perspective and with great erudition, Yelle then engages the four-hundred-year-long European Enlightenment drive both stipulatively and interpretatively to 'semanticize' religious practice - as also language itself - in an ideological project of containment that has been central to institutionalizing 'disenchanted modernity.' In this enchanting book Yelle demonstrates a more inclusive semiotics of religion. -- Michael Silverstein, Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago, USATable of Contents1. Introduction \ 2. Distinctive Features of Religious Symbolism and Language \ 3. Natural and Artificial Languages \ 4. The Semiotics of Ritual Form \ 5. The Attack on Semiotic Form \ 6. Protestant Literalism and Print Culture \ 7. Signs of Salvation \ Bibliography \ Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisOne of the first attempts ever to present in a systematic way a non-western semiotic system. This book looks at Japanese esoteric Buddhism and is based around original texts, informed by explicit and rigorous semiotic categories. It is a unique introduction to important aspects of the thought and rituals of the Japanese Shingon tradition. Semiotic concerns are deeply ingrained in the Buddhist intellectual and religious discourse, beginning with the idea that the world is not what it appears to be, which calls for a more accurate understanding of the self and reality. This in turn results in sustained discussions on the status of language and representations, and on the possibility and methods to know reality beyond delusion; such peculiar knowledge is explicitly defined as enlightenment. Thus, for Buddhism, semiotics is directly relevant to salvation; this is a key point that is often ignored even by Buddhologists. This book discusses in depth the main elements of Buddhist semioticTrade ReviewSumming up, the main strength of this book is its success in offering a new analytical apparatus to clarify the semiotic structures that underlie the transmissions and practices of Shingon lineages, so often dismissed out of hand as rand and irrational. Rambelli manages admirably to avoid two pitfalls: he neither stays too close to the original texts, losing the analytical edge that makes this enterprise valuable, nor does he stray away from them that he ends up constructing a semiotic abstraction that forces alien concepts onto Shingon doctrine. -- Mark Teeuwen, Oslo University, Norway * Monumenta Nipponica 69:2 *Table of ContentsPreface: Semiotics and Buddhism 1. The Episteme of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism 2. Semiotics and Ontology: A Pansemiotic Universe 3. Mantra and Siddham: Esoteric Linguistics and Grammatology 4. The Semantic System of Esoteric Buddhism 5. Mandala and the Representation of Reality 6. Semiotic Soteriology 7. Conclusion: Buddhist Semiurgy Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisDrawings and sequential images are an integral part of human expression dating back at least as far as cave paintings, and in contemporary society appear most prominently in comics. Despite this fundamental part of human identity, little work has explored the comprehension and cognitive underpinnings of visual narrativesuntil now. This work presents a provocative theory: that drawings and sequential images are structured the same as language. Building on contemporary theories from linguistics and cognitive psychology, it argues that comics are written in a visual language of sequential images that combines with text. Like spoken and signed languages, visual narratives use a lexicon of systematic patterns stored in memory, strategies for combining these patterns into meaningful units, and a hierarchic grammar governing the combination of sequential images into coherent expressions. Filled with examples and illustrations, this book details each of these levels of structure, explaiTrade Review[Neil Cohn’s] theory, presented in The Visual Language of Comics, is provocative … If he is right, the hidden logic of cartoon panels could provide new vistas on art, language and creative development. -- David Robson * The Observer *[Cohn's] work exhibits a dogged quest for rigour that gives this book an authoritative tone. [ . . . ] Perhaps the biggest question the book asks is one that demands consideration by any current or future researcher: 'why should the brain create several unique and diverse ways to handle different behaviours when it can efficiently make use of various general underlying structures'? Those with the desire to answer . . . will find this book a thoughtful and useful companion to their studies. -- Anthony Farthing, City University London, UK * The Comics Grid *The most unified and accessible explanation of the theory [of visual "language"] this far. * Scandinavian Journal of Comic Art *Cohn's book represents a major break away from previous discussions of linguistic structures in other media ... He manages to combine a sophisticated theory model with much needed empirical experiments ... This is an innovative approach for comic book research, connecting systematic linguistics and cognitive studies in new ways that are a valuable extension of previous discussions. -- Janina Wildfeuer * Closure (Bloomsbury Translation) *Cohn writes succinctly, using language familiar to discourse analysts ... [and] draws on the work of others as well as his own original research. -- Marilyn Lewis, University of Auckland, New Zealand * Discourse Studies *Neil Cohn thinks about the comics medium and visual literacy on very deep and enlightening levels. In The Visual Language of Comics, Cohn shares his research and insights on how the mind works when processing sequential visuals. It's fascinating reading for anyone interested in visual communication. -- Carl Potts, Former Executive Editor, Marvel Comics and Author of 'The DC Comics Guide to Creating Comics: Inside the Art of Visual Storytelling'Neil Cohn is diving deeper into comics and the brain than anyone I know now. -- Scott McCloud, author 'Understanding Comics'Neil Cohn's The Visual Language of Comics is a smart, carefully organized, and exceptionally well-argued work of comics scholarship. I suspect it will become one of a very small number of truly crucial texts in the burgeoning field of comics studies. The book provides an original yet persuasive account of the relationship of comics and language and introduces key terms and conceptual distinctions that are likely to become part of the common sense of comics analysis and criticism. It also explores the ways in which comics have been used as tools of communication and self-expression across a variety of cultural contexts. Over the past decade Neil Cohn has published a number of important research articles on comics that make use of his training in linguistics, psychology, and neuroscience. The Visual Language of Comics builds on this interdisciplinary scholarship but it also offers new insights and opens up new avenues of inquiry. Recommended for anyone with an interest in comics, language, and what Richard Gregory calls "the eye-brain system." -- Kent Worcester, Professor of Political Science, Marymount Manhattan College, USABeing able to tell stories with images is an important and perhaps unique human ability. Neil Cohn has done us all a favor, by analyzing how we can use a visual language theory to analyze comics and other forms of graphic communication; to think deeply about language and the mind. His years of deep thinking, and research, show in this new and provocative book -- Frederik L. Schodt is an award-winning writer and translator, whose books on Japanese manga helped trigger their current popularity abroadIn this pioneering book, Neil Cohn opens up a whole new domain of cognitive science: the study of how we derive meaning from sequential images.While borrowing much of his approach from theoretical linguistics and psycholinguistics, Cohn is careful to let the character of the phenomena speak for themselves, appealing to a rich and fascinating selection of examples from a wide range of graphic traditions.His results illuminate the parallels and sharpen the differences among different human cognitive systems. -- Ray Jackendoff, Seth Merrin Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, Tufts University, USAThis book offers more than the title implies, transcending The Visual Language of Comics to reveal the structural, rule governed system that constitutes the visual language used in many forms of contemporary communication. One of the most interesting aspects of Cohn's work is his exploration of the lexicon and grammar of visual language as employed in "dialects" that vary across cultures. Cohn's arguments are rigorous, but clearly, even entertainingly, supported with scores of visual examples and explanations. -- Randy Duncan, Professor of Communication & Theatre Arts, Henderson State University, USA andAfter reading this book you’ll never look at comics the same way, and your view of language will be broadened as well. Neil Cohn is a linguist, a cognitive psychologist, and a graphic artist. In this pathbreaking book he brings his diverse skills together to explore and reveal underlying structures of visual language. Careful study of visual narrative in several cultures shows that comics are beautifully patterned and generative, comparable to language and music. Cohn elaborates what he calls the “visual-graphic modality of language,” pointing to a wealth of research possibilities in cognitive neurology, psycholinguistics, and cultural anthropology. -- Dan I. Slobin, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley, USANeil Cohn introduces a new and rigorous set of tools for discussing comics and visual narrative that will influence practitioners as well as academics. His arguments confirm many intuitions of cartoonists about the way comics work while at the same time deflating numerous others. I believe it will significantly enrich the discourse in this still-developing area of study. -- Matt Madden, author of 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style and co-author with Jessica Abel of the textbooks Drawing Words & Writing Pictures and Mastering ComicsCombining expertise in psychology and linguistics with skills in draftsmanship, Cohn explores the analogies between comics and verbal language with exciting results. By unveiling patterns in all stylistic dimensions of comics’ visuals, this book is not just indispensable reading for comics scholars, but also constitutes a major contribution to the discipline of visual studies more generally. -- Charles Forceville, Associate Professor, Department of Media Studies, University of Amsterdam, The NetherlandsVery useful to introduce students to the core elements of comics and to show them how meaning is conveyed by pictorial elements. * Jutta Rymarczyk, Heidelberg University of Education, Germany *Very coherent good level of theory and terminology. * Patricia Kennon, Maynooth University *Table of ContentsChapter 1. Introducing Visual Language SECTION 1: STRUCTURE OF VISUAL LANGUAGE Chapter 2. The Visual Lexicon, Part 1: Visual morphology Chapter 3. The Visual Lexicon, Part 2: Panels and Constructions Chapter 4. Visual Language Grammar: Narrative Structure Chapter 5. Navigation of External Compositional Structure Chapter 6. Cognition of Visual Language SECTION 2: VISUAL LANGUAGE ACROSS THE WORLD Chapter 7. American Visual Language Chapter 8. Japanese Visual Language Chapter 9. Central Australian Visual Language Chapter 10. The Principle of Equivalence

Read more less

Book SynopsisRoland Barthes was one of the most widely influential thinkers of the 20th Century and his immensely popular and readable writings have covered topics ranging from wrestling to photography. The semiotic power of fashion and clothing were of perennial interest to Barthes and The Language of Fashion - now available in the Bloomsbury Revelations series - collects some of his most important writings on these topics. Barthes'' essays here range from the history of clothing to the cultural importance of Coco Chanel, from Hippy style in Morocco to the figure of the dandy, from colour in fashion to the power of jewellery. Barthes'' acute analysis and constant questioning make this book an essential read for anyone seeking to understand the cultural power of fashion.Trade ReviewNo one can claim that translating Barthes is easy. Nor is it easy to assemble, as Stafford and Carter have done, such a chronologically revealing series of essays, to footnote their French sources and explain the citations in them so fully, to provide a glossary of writers to help explain the evolution of Barthes's thought, and to frame the whole with a theoretically acute history of twentieth-century social theory, dress history, and his assessment by friends and foes. The Language of Fashion is paradoxically (as Barthes would say) reader-friendly but also respectful of the difficulties of his thought, an excellent advanced introduction to his writing on la mode. -- Ann Rosalind Jones * H-France Review *Table of ContentsPreface \ I. Clothing History \ 1. History and Sociology of Clothing: Some Methodological Observations \ 2. Language andClothing \ 3. Towards a Sociology of Dress \ II. Systems and Structures \ 4. 'Blue is In Fashion This Year': A Note on Research into Signifying Units in Fashion Clothing \ 5. From Gemstones to Jewellery \ 6. Dandyism and Fashion \ 7. [An Early Preface to] The Fashion System \ 8. Fashion, a Strategy of Desire: Round-table Discussion with Roland Barthes, Jean Duvignaud and Henri Lefebvre \ 9. Fashion and the Social Sciences(interview) \ 10. On The Fashion System \ III.Fashion Debates and Interpretations \ 11. The Contest Between Chanel andCourreges, Refereed by a Philosopher \ 12. A Case of Cultural Criticism \ 13.Showing How Rhetoric Works \ Afterword: Clothes, Fashion and System in the Writings of Roland Barthes: 'Something Out of Nothing', Andy Stafford \ Editor's Note and Acknowledgements \ Bibliography \Glossary of Names \ Index.

Read more less

Book SynopsisFerdinand de Saussure is commonly regarded as one of the fathers of 20th Century Linguistics. His lectures, posthumously published as the Course in General Linguistics ushered in the structuralist mode which marked a key turning point in modern thought. Philosophers such as Jacques Derrida and Roland Barthes, psychoanalysts such as Jacques Lacan, the anthropologist ClaudeLevi-Strauss and linguists such as Noam Chomsky all found an important influence for their work in the pages of Saussure''s text. Published 100 years after Saussure''s death, this new edition of Roy Harris''s authoritative translation is now available in the Bloomsbury Revelations series with a substantial new introduction exploring Saussure''s contemporary influence and importance.Table of ContentsIntroduction to the Bloomsbury Revelations Edition Preface to the First Edition Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the Third Edition Editor's Introduction, Roy Harris Introduction 1. A Brief Survey of the History of Linguistics 2. Data and Aims of Linguistics: Connexions with Related Sciences 3. The Object of Study 4. Linguistics of Language Structure and Linguistics of Speech 5. Internal and External Elements of a Language 6. Representation of a Language by Writing 7. Physiological Phonetics Appendix: Principles of Physiological Phonetics 1. Sound Types 2. Sounds in Spoken Sequences Part One: General Principles 1. Nature of the Linguistic Sign 2. Invariability and Variability of the Sign 3. Static Linguistics and Evolutionary Linguistics Part Two: Synchronic Linguistics 1. General Observations 2. Concrete Entities of a Language 3. Identities, Realities, Values 4. Linguistic Value 5. Syntagmatic Relations and Associative Relations 6. The Language Mechanism 7. Grammar and Its Subdivisions 8. Abstract Entities in Grammar Part Three: Diachronic Linguistics 1. General Observations 2. Sound Changes 3. Grammatical Consequences of Phonetic Evolution 4. Analogy 5. Analogy and Evolution 6. Popular Etymology 7. Agglutination 8. Diachronic Units,Identities and Realities Appendices Part Four: Geographical Linguistics 1. On the Diversity of Languages 2. Geographical Diversity: Its Complexity 3. Causes of Geographical Diversity 4. Propagation of Linguistic Waves Part Five: Questions of Retrospective Linguistics Conclusion 1. The Two Perspectives of Diachronic Linguistics 2. Earliest Languages and Prototypes 3. Reconstructions 4. Linguistic Evidence in Anthropology and Prehistory 5. Language Families and Linguistic Types Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisPaul Bouissac is Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto (Victoria College), Canada. He is a world renowned figure in semiotics and a pioneer of circus studies. He runs the SemiotiX Bulletin [www.semioticon.com/semiotix] which has a global readership.Trade ReviewOne of the major contributions of the book is that, after reading it, watching clown performances can never be the same: the author guides us through the semiotics of clowning in such detail that every move and feature of clown acts will be overloaded with meaning(s) for the readers ... [A] reader-friendly book and an invaluable ethnographic approach to an area of study that has been most neglected by (humour and other) scholars ... particularly interesting for humour researchers, especially those who investigate clown performances in or, mostly nowadays, outside circuses. * European Journal of Humour Research *An important addition to literature on clowns and laughter, and an ambitious attempt to address in transcendent terms the negotiation of meaning at the heart of clown-generated laughter ... Valuable insights into practice abound ... Bouissac’s knowledge of and sensitivity to a breadth of cultural contexts allows for fascinating and relevant examinations of time-honored clown routines ... Indeed his book finds its full value in a sustained reflection from a perspective we don’t usually encounter: the sign-rich soil beneath our social interaction and the precise manner of its playful overturning by the classic circus clown. * Humor *In this book, Paul Bouissac, pioneer and master of the scientific approach to circus arts, demonstrates in a complete and brilliant way, by semiotic, anthropological and cognitive approaches, how the clowning art is a multimodal and complex act of communication, which produces laughter and sense through cognitive and cultural constructions shared by artists and spectators. THE definitive reference to understand clowning! -- Philippe Goudard, Professor of Performing Arts, Université Paul Valéry Montpellier, FranceBouissac brings his customary rigour and a true respect and love for the art of clowning to the task of discussing what clowns actually do and what it might mean. The full force of semiotic analysis bears generous fruit as Bouissac bases any theoretical analysis or deductions upon actual detailed descriptions of clowns in action. A hugely valuable contribution to the growing field of clown studies and an antidote to the lazy off-the-shelf popular mythologizing about clowning which passes for commentary in many quarters. -- Jon Davison, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, UKTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. The Faces of the Clown Appearance and identity The making of a face Kinds and scales of facial transformations in clowns The crafting of a clown’s make-up The face of dominance Interpreting the face of a clown The modern face of the clown When clowns go post-modern 2. The Costumes of the Clowns The clowns’ trunks Splendor and sophistication of the whiteface The auguste’s misfits and tatters Sociosemiotics and biosemiotics of clown costumes Clowns in drag: cross-dressing and transvestism 3. The Clown’s Workshop The semiotics of artifacts A visit to Charlie Cairoli’s workshop When clowns play magic Clowns as craftsmen and engineers The clown’s barnyard 4. The Semiotics of Gags What is a gag? Gags in context Rob Torres: a solo clown act in New York The semiotic anatomy of gags The physics of gags 5. The Game of the Rules The language of clowning The straight, the tight, and the loose Identity: one in two, two in one 6. Clown and Trickster Master of tricks Too good to be true Transgression and consequences Master of fire The trickster and his avatars Understanding tricksters and clowns Peering in the cultural past: a reasoned speculation 7. Clowns and Gender Play: Politics and Economy of Sex Beyond sex and gender Images of desire An odd couple A “normal” couple A bird tale Gender play 8. Clowns, Death, and Laughter Death at the circus Death of the auguste Realm of the macabre: ghosts, corpses, and skeletons Clowns and death in the arts: laughter at the edge 9. Profaning the Sacred The avatars of Clown A grand narrative and its fractal performances The sacred and the profane Putting things inside out and upside down 10. Clowns without Borders Mapping clowns on the world Clowns without borders? Clowning beyond the cultural fences Clowning in Java The gentrification of clowns Clowns with a mission Conclusion: Contribution to the Theory of Laughter What is laughter? The meaning of laughter Senseless laughing Laughter as addiction: a hypothesis and an agenda References

Read more less

Book SynopsisPaul Bouissac is Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto (Victoria College), Canada. He is a world renowned figure in semiotics and a pioneer of circus studies. He runs the SemiotiX Bulletin [www.semioticon.com/semiotix] which has a global readership.Trade ReviewOne of the major contributions of the book is that, after reading it, watching clown performances can never be the same: the author guides us through the semiotics of clowning in such detail that every move and feature of clown acts will be overloaded with meaning(s) for the readers ... [A] reader-friendly book and an invaluable ethnographic approach to an area of study that has been most neglected by (humour and other) scholars ... particularly interesting for humour researchers, especially those who investigate clown performances in or, mostly nowadays, outside circuses. * European Journal of Humour Research *An important addition to literature on clowns and laughter, and an ambitious attempt to address in transcendent terms the negotiation of meaning at the heart of clown-generated laughter ... Valuable insights into practice abound ... Bouissac’s knowledge of and sensitivity to a breadth of cultural contexts allows for fascinating and relevant examinations of time-honored clown routines ... Indeed his book finds its full value in a sustained reflection from a perspective we don’t usually encounter: the sign-rich soil beneath our social interaction and the precise manner of its playful overturning by the classic circus clown. * Humor *In this book, Paul Bouissac, pioneer and master of the scientific approach to circus arts, demonstrates in a complete and brilliant way, by semiotic, anthropological and cognitive approaches, how the clowning art is a multimodal and complex act of communication, which produces laughter and sense through cognitive and cultural constructions shared by artists and spectators. THE definitive reference to understand clowning! -- Philippe Goudard, Professor of Performing Arts, Université Paul Valéry Montpellier, FranceBouissac brings his customary rigour and a true respect and love for the art of clowning to the task of discussing what clowns actually do and what it might mean. The full force of semiotic analysis bears generous fruit as Bouissac bases any theoretical analysis or deductions upon actual detailed descriptions of clowns in action. A hugely valuable contribution to the growing field of clown studies and an antidote to the lazy off-the-shelf popular mythologizing about clowning which passes for commentary in many quarters. -- Jon Davison, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, UKTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. The Faces of the Clown Appearance and identity The making of a face Kinds and scales of facial transformations in clowns The crafting of a clown’s make-up The face of dominance Interpreting the face of a clown The modern face of the clown When clowns go post-modern 2. The Costumes of the Clowns The clowns’ trunks Splendor and sophistication of the whiteface The auguste’s misfits and tatters Sociosemiotics and biosemiotics of clown costumes Clowns in drag: cross-dressing and transvestism 3. The Clown’s Workshop The semiotics of artifacts A visit to Charlie Cairoli’s workshop When clowns play magic Clowns as craftsmen and engineers The clown’s barnyard 4. The Semiotics of Gags What is a gag? Gags in context Rob Torres: a solo clown act in New York The semiotic anatomy of gags The physics of gags 5. The Game of the Rules The language of clowning The straight, the tight, and the loose Identity: one in two, two in one 6. Clown and Trickster Master of tricks Too good to be true Transgression and consequences Master of fire The trickster and his avatars Understanding tricksters and clowns Peering in the cultural past: a reasoned speculation 7. Clowns and Gender Play: Politics and Economy of Sex Beyond sex and gender Images of desire An odd couple A “normal” couple A bird tale Gender play 8. Clowns, Death, and Laughter Death at the circus Death of the auguste Realm of the macabre: ghosts, corpses, and skeletons Clowns and death in the arts: laughter at the edge 9. Profaning the Sacred The avatars of Clown A grand narrative and its fractal performances The sacred and the profane Putting things inside out and upside down 10. Clowns without Borders Mapping clowns on the world Clowns without borders? Clowning beyond the cultural fences Clowning in Java The gentrification of clowns Clowns with a mission Conclusion: Contribution to the Theory of Laughter What is laughter? The meaning of laughter Senseless laughing Laughter as addiction: a hypothesis and an agenda References

Read more less

Book SynopsisDavid Machin, Department of Media and Communication Studies, Örebro Unversity, Sweden. His books include Global Media Discourse (2007), Introduction to Multimodal Analysis (2007) Analysing Popular Music (2010) and The Language of Crime and Deviance (2012). He is co-editor of the journal Social Semiotics. Gill Abousnnouga works in the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University, UK. She has published numerous papers in international peer reviewed journals on war memorials using a multimodal approach.Trade ReviewFew studies in multimodality have a social critical edge. Few studies in critical discourse analysis tackle multimodal discourse. This book shows how to bridge the gap. -- Theo van Leeuwen, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney, AustraliaThanks to Abousnnouga and Machin, we can no longer keep our eyes wide shut. Their sophisticated yet accessible theoretical framework brings war memorials to life for us like no other study. And like all good books about war should, it makes a timely and indisputable case against it. Highly recommended. -- Adam Jaworski, Professor of Language and Communication, The University of Hong Kong, Hong KongI can't speak highly enough of this book. The Language of War Monuments is a rare thing in that it represents a true advance in semiotic and discourse analysis. Abousnnouga and Machin demonstrate the theoretical rigour and analytic vitality of Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis and - most importantly - offer a thorough empirical examination of commemorative war monuments, the ways they cover over or ignore appalling effects of war, and so the ways they function to legitimise war discourses. Packed with contextual and comparative detail throughout, Abousnnouga and Machin's systematic analysis simultaneously demystifies the features and materials of war memorials (and whose interests they support) and offers a toolbox we can apply when examining the semiotics of material objects more generally. Readers will not be able to view war memorials in the same way ever again. -- John Richardson, Senior Lecturer in Communication and Media Studies, Loughborough University, UKTable of Contents1. Introduction 2. Researching Monuments 3. A Social Semiotic Approach to Three Dimensional Objects 4. The Social Goings on Behind Monuments 5. The Iconography of the War Monument 6. Form and Materials 7. Roles and Actions: the Case of Women 8. Word, Image and Materiality: The Role of the Inscription Conclusion Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book explores the influential currents in the philosophy of language and linguistics of the first half of the twentieth century, from the perspective of the English scholar C. K. Ogden (1889 1957). It reveals links between early analytic philosophy, semiotics and linguistics in a crucial period of their respective histories.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe go-to introductory guide to semiotic theory and practice, this second edition features a new chapter on semiotics in the digital age and sheds light on how we grasp for meaning in the modern world.Table of ContentsPreface 1. What Is Semiotics? 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Historical Sketch 1.3 The Science of Meaning 1.4 Two Fundamental Models of the Sign 1.5 The Current Practice of Semiotics 1.6 Semiotics in the Global Village 1.7 Further Reading 2. Signs 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Defining the Sign 2.3 Symptoms and Signals 2.4 Icons 2.5 Indexes 2.6 Symbols 2.7 Names 2.8 Body, Mind, and Culture 2.9 Further Reading 3. Structure 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic Structure 3.3 Associative Structure 3.4 Structural Economy 3.5 Post-Structuralism 3.6 Modeling 3.7 Further Reading 4. Codes 4.1 Introduction 4.2 What Is a Code? 4.3 Opposition and Markedness 4.4 Types of Codes 4.5 Codes and Perception 4.6 Further Reading 5. Texts 5.1 Introduction 5.2 What Is a Text? 5.3 Narrative Texts 5.4 Visual Texts 5.5 Digital Texts 5.7 Texts, Mind, and Culture 5.8 Further Reading 6. Representation 6.1 Introduction 6.2 What Is Representation? 6.3 Representation and Myth 6.4 Online Knowledge Representation 6.5 Representation and Reality 6.5 Further Reading 7. Semiotics in the Internet Era 7.1 Introduction 7.2 The Simulacrum 7.3 Memes 7.4 Emojis 7.5 The Global Brain 7.6 Posthumanism 7.7 Further Reading 8. Applications 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Clothing 8.3 Food 8.4 Visual Rhetoric 8.5 The Quest for Meaning 8.6 Further Reading Glossary of Technical Terms Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisDating back to antiquity, semiotics is both a technique and a science that aims to understand the nature of meaning. An academic discipline in its own right, semiotics uses signs, such as words and symbols, to think, communicate, reflect, transmit, and preserve knowledge. Since the initial publication of The Quest for Meaning in 2007, the world has changed dramatically with the advent of online culture, new technologies, and new ways of making signs and symbols. Updated to reflect these many changes, the second edition includes a comprehensive chapter on the use of semiotics in the Internet age. Written in a student-friendly style, featuring examples from everyday life, the book explains what semiotics is all about and why it is so important for gaining insights into our elusive and mysterious human nature.Table of ContentsPreface 1. What Is Semiotics? 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Historical Sketch 1.3 The Science of Meaning 1.4 Two Fundamental Models of the Sign 1.5 The Current Practice of Semiotics 1.6 Semiotics in the Global Village 1.7 Further Reading 2. Signs 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Defining the Sign 2.3 Symptoms and Signals 2.4 Icons 2.5 Indexes 2.6 Symbols 2.7 Names 2.8 Body, Mind, and Culture 2.9 Further Reading 3. Structure 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic Structure 3.3 Associative Structure 3.4 Structural Economy 3.5 Post-Structuralism 3.6 Modeling 3.7 Further Reading 4. Codes 4.1 Introduction 4.2 What Is a Code? 4.3 Opposition and Markedness 4.4 Types of Codes 4.5 Codes and Perception 4.6 Further Reading 5. Texts 5.1 Introduction 5.2 What Is a Text? 5.3 Narrative Texts 5.4 Visual Texts 5.5 Digital Texts 5.7 Texts, Mind, and Culture 5.8 Further Reading 6. Representation 6.1 Introduction 6.2 What Is Representation? 6.3 Representation and Myth 6.4 Online Knowledge Representation 6.5 Representation and Reality 6.5 Further Reading 7. Semiotics in the Internet Era 7.1 Introduction 7.2 The Simulacrum 7.3 Memes 7.4 Emojis 7.5 The Global Brain 7.6 Posthumanism 7.7 Further Reading 8. Applications 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Clothing 8.3 Food 8.4 Visual Rhetoric 8.5 The Quest for Meaning 8.6 Further Reading Glossary of Technical Terms Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Recipe reveals the surprising lessons that recipes teach, in addition to the obvious instructions on how to prepare a dish or perform a process. These include lessons in hospitality, friendship, community, family and ethnic heritage, tradition, nutrition, precision and order, invention and improvisation, feasting and famine, survival and seduction and love. A recipe is a signature, as individual as the cook's fingerprint; a passport to travel the world without leaving the kitchen; a lifeline for people in hunger and in want; and always a means to expand one's worldview, if not waistline.Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewFascinating. . . . [Bloom] explains how recipes unite us, contain lessons about hospitality, and can be a signature as individual as fingerprints. * Globe and Mail *Lynn Bloom’s Recipe celebrates the complications and contradictions, the serious and play, the bounty and scarcity, represented by the simple instructions that put food on the table. This book, like the object itself, 'exists as much in the imagination' as on the plate, a satisfying examination of the marvelous 'process and promise' of the humble recipe. * Karen Babine, author of All the Wild Hungers: A Season of Cooking and Cancer and Water and What We Know: Following the Roots of a Northern Life *A really great read. * Randomly Yours, Alex *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Secret Life of Recipes 1. “First, Turn and Face the Stove.” The Recipe as an Instruction Guide 2. “You say toma¯to, I say tomahto”: The Recipe as Conversation 3. A Taste of Home: The Recipe for Comfort Cooking in Tough Times 4. Joys of Cooking—and Eating: The Great American Thanksgiving Celebration Recipe 5. “Please, sir, I want some more.” The Recipe as a Manifestation of Power, Politics Poverty, and Punishment 6. Play With Your Food, the Recipe as Jazz Lagniappe: The Best Blueberry Pie Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. OK as a word accepts proposals, describes the world as satisfactory (but not good), provides conversational momentum, or even agrees (or disagrees). OK as an object, however, tells a story of how technology writes itself into language, permanently altering communication. OK is a young word, less than 200 years old. It began as an acronym for all correct when the steam-powered printing press pushed newspapers into the mainstream. Today it is spoken and written by nearly everyone in the world. Drawing on linguistics, history, and new media studies, Michelle McSweeney traces OK from its birth in the Penny Presses through telephone lines, grammar books, and television signals into the digital age. Nearly ubiquitous and often overlooked, OK illustrates the never-ending dance between language, technology, and culture, and offers lessons for our own techno-historical moment. ObjecTrade Review[A] slim and lucid addition to the Object Lessons series. . . . McSweeney traces the word's evolution through the present, illuminating the ways in which its meaning developed over time. * The Millions *More than just OK. . . . A quick and fascinating read. . . . Short, but mentally nutritious. * The DreamCage *A concise yet wide-ranging tour though the history of how technology has influenced the way we talk with each other. * Gretchen McCulloch, linguist and author of Because Internet *OK is more than just okay—it's the handiest and most up-to-date account of this mysterious yet deathless little expression available. Witness the history of something we say all day every day that's actually new enough that it would have left Thomas Jefferson scratching his head. * John McWhorter, Associate Professor of Linguistics, Columbia University, USA, author of Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter Then, Now and Forever and host of the podcast Lexicon Valley *Table of Contents1. Ok (Introduction) 2. Oll Korrect (Origins) 3. Ok? (Alternative Origins) Grains of Truth An Exotic Loanword Food 4. Olde Kinderhook (Branding) Ok Products 5. Okay (Literature) 6. Oh-kay (Telephone) A Modern Ok 7. Ok! (Television) Culture, Technology, and War 8. K (the Internet) Bulletin Board Systems 9. Kk (Social Media) English 10. [OK emoji] (Gesture) 11. O.k. Ok, Ok, Lol (Conclusion) Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Glitter reveals the complexity of an object often dismissed as frivolous. Nicole Seymour describes how glitter's consumption and status have shifted across centuriesfrom ancient cosmetic to queer activist tool, environmental pollutant to biodegradable accessoryalong with its composition, which has variously included insects, glass, rocks, salt, sugar, plastic, and cellulose. Through a variety of examples, from glitterbombing to glitter beer, Seymour shows how this substance reflects the entanglements of consumerism, emotion, environmentalism, and gender/sexual identity. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewHard facts, philosophical musings, and trivia galore commingle in this madcap toss of shimmery delight. * Passport Magazine *Nicole Seymour peers beyond the surface of glitter and finds a material that is irreverent and political, sticky and elusive, that shapes communities as it challenges preconceptions. Glitter shines with new ways of thinking. * David Farrier, Professor of Literature and the Environment, University of Edinburgh, UK *Glitter is an original, nuanced and thorough analysis that examines glitter’s significance beyond its usual connotations of frivolousness at best and environmental disaster at worst. As vibrant as the substance itself, Seymour’s thoughtful exploration situates glitter in current cultural and political contexts without dulling its shine. Positively dazzling! * Hillary Belzer, Founder and Curator, The Makeup Museum *Table of ContentsDiary Entry: Glitter in Quarantine 1. The Great Glitter Backlash Glitter Bar: A Makeover Takeover! 2. “Feel the Rainbow!”: Glitter as Tactic Poetry Reading: CAConrad 3. “Too Much Bling”: Glitter in Children’s Entertainment Interview: Machine Dazzle 4. Recrafting Glitter: The Sustainable Turn Taste Test: Glitter Beer 5. Conclusion: Facing the Plasticene Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.We think we know the trench coat, but where does it come from and where will it take us? From its origins in the trenches of WW1, this military outerwear came to project the inner-being of detectives, writers, reporters, rebels, artists and intellectuals. The coat outfitted imaginative leaps into the unknown. Trench Coat tells the story of seductive entanglements with technology, time, law, politics, trust and trespass. Readers follow the rise of a sartorial archetype through media, design, literature, cinema and fashion. Today, as a staple in stories of future life-worlds, the trench coat warns of disturbances to come.Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewTrench Coat maps the extraordinary lives of this seemingly simple garment, which emerged from early industrialized warfare to become the screen for a multitude of projected dreams, fears and desires across the 20th century to the present. Jane Tynan’s material and cultural history charts the evolution of a coat that is practical yet cryptic, hyper-visible but concealing, possessed of vitality whilst also a form of camouflage. * Rachel Woodward, Professor of Human Geography, Newcastle University, UK *Jane Tynan’s Trench Coat is a delight – richly informative and written in prose as stylish as the object it describes. Uncovering the ‘dark and dangerous energy’ behind this icon of modernity, Tynan vividly captures the trench coat’s perennial appeal. * Catherine Spooner, Professor of Literature and Culture, Lancaster University, UK, and author of Fashioning Gothic Bodies *Really interesting. . . . There's so many iconic moments that this analysis helps us peer more closely into. * New Books Network *Another engaging, thought-provoking paperback in Bloomsbury's excellent 'Object Lessons' series. * The Irish Scene *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Substance 2. War 3. Mobility 4. Insurgency 5. Reportage 6. Heroes or Villains 7. Outsiders 8. Style Conclusion Postscript Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.While wine drunk millennia ago was the humble beverage of the people, today the drink is inextricable with power, sophistication, and often wealth. Bottles sell for half a million dollars. Point systems tell us which wines are considered the best. Wine professionals give us the language to describe what we taste.Agricultural product and cultural commodity, drink of ritual and drink of addiction, purveyor of pleasure, pain, and memory - wine has never been contained in a single glass. Drawing from science, religion, literature, and memoir, Wine meditates on the power structures bound up with making and drinking this ancient, intoxicating beverage.Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewA beautifully written, soulful narrative that goes straight into the heart and soul of the complexities, joys, and wisdom of wine. * Alice Feiring, author of To Fall in Love, Drink This: A Wine Writer's Memoir *Meg Bernhard’s Wine is a beautiful gem of a book, thankfully free of what we find in so much wine writing. This wine book is anything but typical. Bernhard covers a lot of ground in a short number of pages with her unique mix of memoir, travel writing, natural history, sensory science, and reporting on the social issues surrounding wine. But the beating heart of this book is Bernhard’s experiences working at Spanish wineries and in the vineyards of Castilla-La Mancha and Catalonia, which she memorably brings to life. * Jason Wilson, author of Godforsaken Grapes and creator of the newsletter “Everyday Drinking” *Table of ContentsPreface 1. Winter 2. Spring 3. Summer 4. Fall Epilogue Acknowledgements Works Consulted Glossary Works Cited Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisAmanda Parrish Morgan is a Writing Instructor at Fairfield University and a Westport Writers' Workshop Instructor. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Guernica, The Millions, The Rumpus, The American Scholar, Women's Running, JSTOR Daily, Ploughshares, and N+1, among other places.Trade ReviewFor Morgan, strollers aren't just tools we use, or products we buy; they're dense symbols, with no single or settled meaning, of our relationships to parenting. * New Yorker *Designed objects tell stories, and the stroller is no different - except perhaps that it's a typology that has received little sustained critical framing until this text. A compelling writer, Amanda Parrish Morgan deftly weaves together conversations around aspiration, accessibility, and aesthetics as they relate to this accouterment of modern parenthood and posits the stroller as a complex and sometimes confounding topic worthy of our attention and inquiry. This is an immensely readable volume, and we’re proud to have it on our bookshelves. * Michelle Millar Fisher and Amber Winick, authors of Designing Motherhood: Things That Make and Break Our Births *Part object history, part capitalist critique, a consistently acute and deeply felt depiction of the pleasures, traps, thrills, and dangers of early parenthood, Amanda Parrish Morgan's Stroller compellingly depicts the history and taxonomy of this most weighty and unruly device, ally, and antagonist. * Lynn Steger Strong, author of Want *Table of Contents1. Child-Friendly and Child-Centric 2. Carry the Baby 3. The Pram in the Hall 4. Prams of Good and Evil 5. The Years of Magical Worrying 6. Get Your Body Back 7. Strolling 8. A Taxonomy of Stroller as Metaphor Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. When you are born, the first thing you do is scream. Be it a response to fear, anger, sadness, or happiness, the scream is a declaration of being alive. The metal vocalist cupping the microphone blares out a deafeningly harsh scream. The drill instructor screams out commands to their soldiers. And then there's the bloodcurdling screams we know from horror films. A scream has many meanings, but it is an instinctive and reflexive action that, at its core, reveals raw emotion. Investigating popular and alternative cultures, art, and science, Michael J. Seidlinger tracks the resonance of the scream across media and literature and in his own voice. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewA comprehensive and deeply personal trip through the cultural history of the scream. From Slipknot to Edvard Munch to John Carpenter and back into his own body, Michael Seidlinger reminds us all why we scream. As a singer, this one really hit home! * Geoff Rickly, singer of Thursday *Michael J. Seidlinger dissects the emotional complexity of the scream and—using examples from history, pop culture, and his own life—analyzes the way it highjacks the rational mind. Scream is an unforgettable ode to auditory extremes. * Jim Ruland, author of Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise & Fall of SST Records *Table of ContentsVoice (Prologue) 1. A Scream in the Night 2. Stand and Deliver 3. Speak Up, Shout Out 4. Howl at the Wall 5. A Rollercoaster of Emotions 6. “OMG I’m Screaming” The Body (Epilogue) Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.A cylinder of baked graphite and clay in a wood case, the pencil creates as it is being destroyed. To love a pencil is to use it, to sharpen it, and to essentially destroy it. Pencils were used to sketch civilization's greatest works of art. Pencils were there marking the choices in the earliest democratic elections. Even when used haphazardly to mark out where a saw's blade should make a cut, a pencil is creating. Pencil offers a deep look at this common, almost ubiquitous, object. Pencils are a simple device that are deceptively difficult to manufacture. At a time when many use cellphones as banking branches and instructors reach students online throughout the world, pencil use has not waned, with tens of millions being made and used annually. Carol Beggy sketches out how the lowly pencil is still a mighty useful tool. Object Lessons is pTrade ReviewA fascinating voyage of discovery demonstrating why, in an age of electronic everything, the pencil still grips us. * Daniel Rosenberg, Professor of History, University of Oregon, USA, and author of Cartographies of Time: A History of the Timeline *This tribute to the lowly pencil is a celebration of the life of the mind and hand. Born in the sixteenth century, this familiar writing instrument lives on in our digital age as a tool of thought, indispensable for some, an object of nostalgia for others, collectible or disposable, a bond of community or a companion in solitude. Carol Beggy captures the presence of pencils in our lives with enthusiasm and wit. Her book is an object lesson in how to see and appreciate the humblest elements of existence and not to take anything for granted. * Robert A. Gross, author of The Transcendentalists and Their World (2021) *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Variations on a Theme 2. Making Their Mark 3. Tools of the Trade 4. People and Their Pencils 5. To Boldly Go 6. Collectors Versus Users 7. Pencils in the Wild 8. A Thoreau Job 9. Pencils Up 10. #FindYourPeople Afterword Notes Acknowledgments Selected Bibliography and Suggested Further Reading Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Barcodes are about as ordinary as an object can be. Billions of them are scanned each day and they impact everything from how we shop to how we travel to how the global economy is managed. But few people likely give them more than a second thought. In a way, the barcode's ordinariness is the ultimate symbol of its success. However, behind the mundanity of the barcode lies an important history. Barcodes bridged the gap between physical objects and digital databases and paved the way for the contemporary Internet of Things, the idea to connect all devices to the web. They were highly controversial at points, protested by consumer groups and labor unions, and used as a symbol of dystopian capitalism and surveillance in science fiction and art installations. This book tells the story of the barcode's complicated history and examines how an object so crucial to so many parts of ourTrade ReviewJordan Frith’s engaging storytelling and analysis makes Barcode a page-turner. He transforms the technical into the human, bringing lively cultural, political, and social analysis to something most of us overlook every day. But beware: After reading this book, you’ll want to talk about barcodes all the time. * Torie Bosch, Editor, First Opinion, STAT *Table of Contents1. The little black lines that changed the world 2. How we almost ended up with a bullseye barcode 3. An early bridge between the digital and the physical 4. Consumer protests, labor rights, and automation 5. President Bush and the barcode 6. Barcodes and the Bible 7. The cultural imaginary of the barcode 8. The long and winding road of the QR Code 9. Barcodes and fifty years of misplaced eulogies Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.In 1971, the first lunar rover arrived on the moon. The design became an icon of American ingenuity and the adventurous spirit and vision many equated with the space race.Fifty years later, that vision feels like a nostalgic fantasy, but the lunar rover's legacy paved the way for Mars rovers like Sojourner, Curiosity, and Perseverance. Other rovers have made accessible the world's deepest caves and most remote tundra, extending our exploratory range without risking lives. Still others have been utilized for search and rescue missions or in clean up operations after disasters such as Chernobyl. For all these achievements, rovers embody not just our potential, but our limits. Examining rovers as they wander our terrestrial and celestial boundaries, we might better comprehend our place, and fate, in this universe. Object Lessons is published in p

Read more less

Book SynopsisExplores the central theme of Romantic poetry in the works of the most important German Romantic poet of all. Goethe, in association with his younger Romantic compatriots the Schlegels, Novalis, Fichte, and Schelling, struggled with the subject-object dichotomy, and tried to bridge the gap between self and other, consciousness and nature.His theory and practice prefigured the Romantics' determination to display and interrogate the linguistic and cultural structures informing their own thinking and modes of representation--what Goethe calls one's "Vorstellungsart." His work exploits, subverts, and supplants inherited conventions and signs, demonstrating with virtuosic irony that literature is a system of texts, pre-texts, and pre-established but dynamic conceptual models. Love and Deathin Goethe:"One and Double" explores Goethe's use, in a wide range of his poetry and prose, of the theme of Liebestod (love and death) and related embodiments of the paradox of unity in duality. Ellis Dye also examinesGoethe's use of other themes related to love and death--the femme fatale, the vagina dentata, Frau Welt, the Lorelei, venereal disease, the Lustmord--and considers issues of selfhood and individuation as wellas the possibility that the love-death theme contains an implicit gender bias toward the existential fact of personal separateness. Poems, plays, and novels are dealt with, nevertheless, as works of art, not only as illustrationsof an idea or as points of intersection in a system of rhetorical conventions, and are examined for intellectual cohesiveness, elegance, and integrity of design as well as special meanings and effects. Love and Death in Goethe:"One and Double" explores the meaning of the central theme of Romantic poetry in the works of the most important Romantic poet of all. Students of literary culture, both the lay reader and the Goethe specialist, will be enlightened by its approach and find pleasure and instruction in its revelations. Robert Ellis Dye is Professor of German at Macalester College.Trade ReviewIn this impressive study one encounters a densely woven tapestry of argument from a scholar of literature and philosophy...Dye offers valuable commentary on the perspectives of major Goethe scholars and makes lively reference to contemporaneous popular culture. Essential. * CHOICE *Solid scholarship and well-made books, not short-lived provocation is what we have come to expect from the series 'Studies in German literature, linguistics, and culture' by Camden House. This volume is an important contribution to the study of Goethe as an essential part of and even pioneer of European Romanticism. * GERMAN QUARTERLY *By showing the parallels between Goethe's worldview and Romantic irony, [Dye] is able to firmly connect the dots between Goethe and his younger Romantic contemporaries. Scholars will find this innovative approach to Goethe both refreshing and insightful. * GERMAN STUDIES REVIEW *Ellis Dye has ... made an extremely important contribution to contemporary Goethe studies, drawing upon a vast array of Goethe's works, and offering interpretations that are often bold and compelling. * SPRACHKUNST *Table of ContentsIntroduction Issues: Some Implications of the Link between Love and Death Incorporating Tradition Frau Welt. Veneral Disease. Femmes Fatales Die Leiden des jungen Werthers Stella: Eine Schauspiel für Liebende Intrusions of the Supernatural Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre: Identity and Difference Poetic Ambiguity: "Selige Sehnsucht" Die Wahlverwandtschaften: Romantic Metafiction Love and Death in Faust Truth, Paradox, Irony Virtuosity Works Cited Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisA genuinely accessible introduction to Freud's theory and its application to literary and cultural studies. Few figures have had as much influence on Western thought as Sigmund Freud. His ideas permeate our culture to such a degree that an understanding of them is indispensable. Yet many otherwise well-informed students in the humanities labor under misconceptions about Freudian theory. There are countless introductions to Freudian psychoanalysis but, surprisingly, none that combine a genuinely accessible account of Freud's ideas with an introduction to their use in literary and cultural studies, as this book does. Written specifically for use by advanced undergraduate and graduate students in courses dealing with literary and cultural criticism, it is also of interest to the general reader. The first part of the book explains Freud's key ideas and refutes many popular misconceptions, using examples throughout. The assumption underlying this account is that Freud offers not simply a model of the mind, but an analysis of the relation between the individual and society. The second part addresses the implications of Freudian psychoanalysis for the study of literature and culture, again using plentiful examples. Existing books focus either onFreudian psychoanalysis in general or on psychoanalytic literary or cultural criticism; the latter tend to be abstract and theoretical in nature. None of them are suitable for readers who are interested in psychoanalysis as a tool for literary and cultural criticism but have no firm knowledge of Freud's ideas. Freud's Theory and Its Use in Literary and Cultural Studies fills this gap. Henk de Berg is Professor of German at the Universityof Sheffield, UK.Trade ReviewThis is as good an introductory text as one can possibly hope for. - -- Peter Gay[Henk de Berg] pairs a brief, clear introduction to Freud and a demonstration of how thinking about Freud can enrich literary and cultural studies. His Freud is one of the most convincing assessments of that oft-maligned thinker in years... The book reconstructs a Freud of deep human sympathies, wide reading, and wide-ranging importance... Well researched and including a brief bibliography.... Highly recommended. * CHOICE *[The book] is clearly and forcefully written, keeps technical language to a minimum, brings in numerous real-life examples ... and firmly opposes many of the current cliches about Freud and psychoanalysis. * AMERICAN IMAGO *[de Berg's] narrative map for psychoanalysis has just the right navigational markers. * GERMAN STUDIES REVIEW *...clear, lively, unpedantic... It serves its purpose well. * GERMAN QUARTERLY *[A] new standard work that provides an introduction to the bases of Freudian literary interpretation.... * GERMANISTIK *[A]n incisive, clearly structured yet never simplified introduction to Freud....Throughout, this is a critical guide in the very best sense and an invaluable text for teachers of cultural studies to recommend to students new to Freud or sceptical of his theories. * FORUM OF MODERN LANGUAGE STUDIES *[T]his introduction to Freud succeeds brilliantly in presenting complex ideas lucidly. * MODERN AUSTRIAN LITERATURE *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA new analysis of one of the most loaded terms in the German language: Heimat, or Homeland. The idea of Heimat (home, homeland, native region) has been as important to German self-perceptions over the last two hundred years as the shifting notion of the German nation. While the idea of Heimat has been long neglected in English studies of German culture--among other reasons because the word Heimat has no exact equivalent in English--this book offers us the first cross-disciplinary and comprehensive analysis, in English or German, of this all-pervasive German idea. Blickle shows how the idea of Heimat interpenetrates German notions of modernity, identity, gender, nature, and innocence. Blickle reminds us of such commonplace expressions of Heimat sentimentality as Biedermeier landscapes of Alpine meadows and castles on the Rhine, but also finds the Heimat preoccupation in Hegel, Nietzsche, and Freud. Always aware of the many literary representations of Heimat (for instance in Schiller, Hölderlin, Heine, Kafka, and Thomas Mann), Blickle does not argue for the fundamental innocence of Heimat. Instead he shows again and again how the idealization of a home ground leads to borders of exclusion. Peter Blickle is associate professor of German at Western Michigan University.Trade ReviewThis volume will be a must for scholars working on Heimat and a welcome addition to any library. * MICHIGAN ACADEMICIAN *For anyone interested in German notions of Heimat, Blickle's study, an impressive scholarly accomplishment, is indispensable reading. * GERMAN QUARTERLY *Blickle has rendered an important service in providing a lucid and provocative study on a topic that has elicited profuse commentary in recent years. * MONATSHEFTE *

Read more less

Book SynopsisNew, carefully focused essays providing a thorough examination of Hemingway's groundbreaking non-fictional work. Published in 1932, Death in the Afternoon reveals its author at the height of his intellectual and stylistic powers. By that time, Hemingway had already won critical and popular acclaim for his short stories and novels of the late twenties. A mature and self-confident artist, he now risked his career by switching from fiction to nonfiction, from American characters to Spanish bullfighters, from exotic and romantic settings to the tough world of theSpanish bullring, a world that might seem frightening and even repellant to those who do not understand it. Hemingway's nonfiction has been denied the attention that his novels and short stories have enjoyed, a state of affairs this Companion seeks to remedy, breaking new ground by applying theoretical and critical approaches to a work of nonfiction. It does so in original essays that offer a thorough, balanced examination of a complex, boundary-breaking, and hitherto neglected text. The volume is broken into sections dealing with: the composition, reception, and sources of Death in the Afternoon; cultural translation, cultural criticism, semiotics, and paratextual matters; and the issues of art, authorship, audience, and the literary legacy of Death in the Afternoon. The contributors to the volume, four men and seven women, lay to rest the stereotype of Hemingway as a macho writer whom women do not read; and their nationalities (British, Spanish, American, and Israeli) indicate that Death in the Afternoon, even as it focuses on a particular national art, discusses matters of universal concern. Contributors: Miriam B. Mandel, Robert W. Trogdon, Lisa Tyler, Linda Wagner-Martin, Peter Messent, Beatriz Penas Ibáñez, Anthony Brand, Nancy Bredendick, Hilary Justice, Amy Vondrak, and Keneth Kinnamon. MiriamB. Mandel teaches in the English Department of Tel Aviv University.Trade ReviewMandel and her scholarly companions traverse a vast territory in this, the most extensive exploration to date of Hemingway's longest and most complex work of non-fiction. * THE HEMINGWAY REVIEW *

Read more less

Book SynopsisFocuses on the cultural, philosophical, political, and scholarly uses of "orientalism" in the German-speaking and Central and Eastern European worlds from the late eighteenth century to the present day. The concept and study of orientalism in Western culture gained a changed understanding from Edward Said's now iconic 1978 book Orientalism. However, recent debate has moved beyond Said's definition of the phenomenon, highlighting the multiple forms of orientalism within the "West," the manifold presence of the "East" in the Western world, indeed the epistemological fragility of the ideas of "Occident" and "Orient" as such. This volume focuses on the deployment -- here the cultural, philosophical, political, and scholarly uses -- of "orientalism" in the German-speaking and Central and Eastern European worlds from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Its interdisciplinary approach combines distinguished contributions by Indian scholars, who approach the topic of orientalism through the prism of German studies as practiced in Asia, with representative chapters by senior German, Austrian,and English-speaking scholars working at the intersection of German and oriental studies. Contributors: Anil Bhatti, Michael Dusche, Johannes Feichtinger, Johann Heiss, James Hodkinson, Kerstin Jobst, Jon Keune, Todd Kontje, Margit Köves, Sarah Lemmen, Shaswati Mazumdar, Jyoti Sabarwal, Ulrike Stamm, John Walker. James Hodkinson is Associate Professor in German Studies at Warwick University. John Walker is Senior Lecturer in EuropeanCultures and Languages at Birkbeck College, University of London. Shaswati Mazumdar is Professor in German at the University of Delhi. Johannes Feichtinger is a Researcher at the Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften.Trade ReviewThis book expands and deepens our understanding of European orientalist discourses by not only examining the relatively neglected field of Germanophone orientalism, but also by looking further East to encompass the utterly overlooked orientalisms of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Russia. This collection is required reading for anyone interested in orientalism, travel writing, and the cultural history of Central and Eastern Europe. -Robert Lemon, University of Oklahoma, author of Imperial Messages: Orientalism as Self-Critique in the Habsburg Fin-de-Siècle -- Robert Lemon, University of Oklahoma, author of Imperial Messages: Orientalism as Self-Critique in the Habsburg Fin-de-SiècleTable of ContentsPreface Introduction (Re)translating the West: Humboldt, Habermas, and Intercultural Dialogue Friedrich Schlegel's Writings on India: Reimagining Germany as Europe's True Oriental Self Germany's Local Orientalisms Tales from the Oriental Borderlands: On the Making and Uses of Colonial Algiers in Germanophone Travel Writing from the Maghreb around 1840 The Jew, the Turk, and the Indian: Figurations of the Oriental in the German-Speaking World M. C. Sprengel's Writings on India: A Disenchanted and Forgotten Orientalism of the Late Eighteenth Century Occident and Orient in Narratives of Exile: The Case of Willy Haas's Indian Exile Writings Distant Neighbors: Uses of Orientalism in the Late Nineteenth-Century Austro-Hungarian Empire Modes of Orientalism in Hungarian Letters and Learning of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Where the Orient Ends? Orientalism and Its Function for Imperial Rule in the Russian Empire Noncolonial Orientalism? Czech Travel Writing on Africa and Asia around 1918 Oriental Sexuality and Its Uses in Nineteenth-Century Travelogues Notes on the Contributors Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe changes taking place in our aesthetic and emotional sensibility: a deep mutation in the psychosphere, caused by semio-capitalism.Franco “Bifo” Berardi''s newest book analyzes the contemporary changes taking place in our aesthetic and emotional sensibility—changes the author claims are the result of semio-capitalism''s capturing of the inner resources of the subjective process: our experience of time, our sensibility, the way we relate to each other, and our ability to imagine a future. Precarization and fractalization of labor have provoked a deep mutation in the psychosphere, and this can be seen in the rise of psychopathologies such as post-traumatic stress disorder, autism, panic, and attention deficit disorder. Sketching out an aesthetic genealogy of capitalist globalization, Berardi shows how we have arrived at a point of such complexity in the semiotic flows of capital that we can no longer process its excessive currents of information. A swarm effect now rules: it has become impossible to say “no.” Social behavior is trapped in inescapable patterns of interaction coded by techno-linguistic machines, smartphones, screens of every size, and all of these sensory and emotional devices end up destroying our organism''s sensibility by submitting it to the stress of competition and acceleration.Arguing for disentanglement rather than resistance, Berardi concludes by evoking the myth of La Malinche, the daughter of a noble Aztec family. It is a tale of a translator and traitor who betrayed her own people, yet what the myth portends is the rebirth of the world from the collapse of the old.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe body is a site bearing multiple signs of cultural inscriptions. People's postures, use of space, dress codes, speech particularities, facial expressions, tone qualities, gaze, and gestures are codes that send messages to observers. These messages differ across cultures and times. Some of these non-verbal messages are taken to be conscious or subconscious projection of a sense of personal or collective identity. The various forms of "body talk" may flag personal distinction, style, uniqueness or politics, in which case, the body and its presentations become stances of the self. Different from this, body talk may exhibit a society's or culture's standardized norms of valuation with respect to what conforms or deviates from expectations.The subject of this anthology is non-verbal communication signals with contributing studies from societies and cultures of Africa and African Diapora. The goals are to document popular gestures, explore their meanings, and understand how they frame interactions and colour perception.The anthology is also aimed at offering interdisciplinary perspectives on the problematics of non-verbal communication by making sense of the various ways that different cultures speak without "voice", and to examine how people and groups make their presence felt as social, cultural and political actors. Some of the contributions include case studies, descriptive codification, theoretical analyses and performative studies. The issues highlighted range from film and literature studies, gender studies, history, religion, popular cultural, and extends to the virtual space. Other studies provide a linguistic treatment of non-verbal communication and use it as means of explicating perception and stereotyping.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Body Talks, Non-verbal communication in some African Societies and Institutions Augustine Agwuele Part One: Body Talk in Arts and Literature 1. What Traditional Dances Tell Us about African Cultural Identity in Puerto Rico and Trinidad" Ann Albuyeh, University of Puerto Rico 2. Fela's Clenched Fists: The Double Black Power Salute and Political Ideology from Afrobeat to Occupy Nigeria" Dotun Oyebade, University of Texas (PhD candidate) 3. Dressed-to-Kill: Don Mattera's Sophiatown Michael Sharp, University of Puerto Rico 4. Body Arts, Body Decoration, and Identity in Yorubaland Bukola Adeyemi Oyeniyi, Missouri State University 5. Bodies in Motion: Gestures and Performance of Identity in Tess Onwueme's Shakara Dance Hall Queen Maureen N. Eke, Central Michigan University Part 2: Non-Verbal communication and Cultural Diversity 6. The convergence of language and culture in Malawian gestures: Handedness in Everyday Rituals Karen W. Sanders, Tulane University 7. Nonverbal communication codes among the Hamar: structures and functions Moges Yigezu, Addis Ababa University 8. So That We Might Find Ourselves: Refashioning Embodied Beauty and Collective Identity in Yoruba Culture Abimbola A. Adelakun, Independent scholar 9. Nonverbal Message: Yoruba view of 'deviant' male hairstyles Augustine Agwuele 10. "Embodying Holiness: Gender, Sex and Bodies in a Neo-Pentecostal Church in Kenya" Damaris Seleina Parsitau, Egerton University

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe body is a site bearing multiple signs of cultural inscriptions. People's postures, use of space, dress codes, speech particularities, facial expressions, tone qualities, gaze, and gestures are codes that send messages to observers. These messages differ across cultures and times. Some of these non-verbal messages are taken to be conscious or subconscious projection of a sense of personal or collective identity. The various forms of "body talk" may flag personal distinction, style, uniqueness or politics, in which case, the body and its presentations become stances of the self. Different from this, body talk may exhibit a society's or culture's standardized norms of valuation with respect to what conforms or deviates from expectations.The subject of this anthology is non-verbal communication signals with contributing studies from societies and cultures of Africa and African Diaspora. The goals are to document popular gestures, explore their meanings, and understand how they frame interactions and colour perception.The anthology is also aimed at offering interdisciplinary perspectives on the problematics of non-verbal communication by making sense of the various ways that different cultures speak without "voice", and to examine how people and groups make their presence felt as social, cultural and political actors. Some of the contributions include case studies, descriptive codification, theoretical analyses and performative studies. The issues highlighted range from film and literature studies, gender studies, history, religion, popular cultural, and extends to the virtual space. Other studies provide a linguistic treatment of non-verbal communication and use it as means of explicating perception and stereotyping.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Body Talks, Non-verbal communication in some African Societies and Institutions Augustine Agwuele Part One: Body Talk in Arts and Literature 1. What Traditional Dances Tell Us about African Cultural Identity in Puerto Rico and Trinidad" Ann Albuyeh, University of Puerto Rico 2. Fela's Clenched Fists: The Double Black Power Salute and Political Ideology from Afrobeat to Occupy Nigeria" Dotun Oyebade, University of Texas (PhD candidate) 3. Dressed-to-Kill: Don Mattera's Sophiatown Michael Sharp, University of Puerto Rico 4. Body Arts, Body Decoration, and Identity in Yorubaland Bukola Adeyemi Oyeniyi, Missouri State University 5. Bodies in Motion: Gestures and Performance of Identity in Tess Onwueme's Shakara Dance Hall Queen Maureen N. Eke, Central Michigan University Part 2: Non-Verbal communication and Cultural Diversity 6. The convergence of language and culture in Malawian gestures: Handedness in Everyday Rituals Karen W. Sanders, Tulane University 7. Nonverbal communication codes among the Hamar: structures and functions Moges Yigezu, Addis Ababa University 8. So That We Might Find Ourselves: Refashioning Embodied Beauty and Collective Identity in Yoruba Culture Abimbola A. Adelakun, Independent scholar 9. Nonverbal Message: Yoruba view of 'deviant' male hairstyles Augustine Agwuele 10. "Embodying Holiness: Gender, Sex and Bodies in a Neo-Pentecostal Church in Kenya" Damaris Seleina Parsitau, Egerton University

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe insight that institutions, and the communicative practices that create, sustain, and challenge them, are multimodal accomplishments has garnered increasing attention from scholars in organization and management research over the last decade. Traditional understanding of social knowledge and meaning as being constituted primarily through verbal discourse has been challenged and extended by work that has promoted the centrality of visual, material, and other sign systems (e.g., audio, gestures, layout) for constructing social reality. While some discursive approaches to organizations and institutions have acknowledged the existence and relevance of modes other than the verbal for some time, systematic research on multimodality has remained rather sparse. In particular, the interaction and orchestration of multiple modes remains terra incognita with considerable empirical, methodological, and theoretical stakes. Together, 54A and 54B of Research in the Sociology of Organizations investigate these issues with innovative research that focuses on the relationship between different modes in the emergence, diffusion, maintenance, and challenge of social meanings and institutions. Individual contributions demonstrate the potential of multimodal approaches to rejuvenate and extend the study of institutions, they revisit research on classic phenomena in organization theory through a multimodal lens, and advance the design of relevant and rigorous methods of analysis for the study of multimodal communicative practices.Trade ReviewPresenting their research in the sociology of organizations, scholars of business and organizations cover multimodal perspectives on institutional persistence and change, and the multimodal construction of identities. Among their topics are the multimodal construction of a rational myth: industrialization of the French building sector from 1845 to 1970, dirty oil or ethical oil: visual rhetoric in legitimation struggles, companies on the runway: fashion companies' multimodal presentation of their organizational identity in job advertising, and the architecture of city identities: a multimodal study of Barcelona and Boston. -- Annotation ©2018 * (protoview.com) *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Multimodality, Meaning, And Institutions; Markus A. Höllerer, Thibault Daudigeos and Dennis JancsaryPart One: Pushing Forward the Multimodal Agenda in Organization Studies 1. Multimodal Imaginaries and The “Big Worm”: Materialities, Artefacts and Analogies in São Paulo’s Urban Renovation; Felippe De Medeiros Oliveira, Gazi Islam and Maria Laura Toraldo 2. A Call for "Strong" Multimodal Research in Institutional Theory; Tammar B. Zilber Part Two: Methodological Advances in Multimodal Research 3. Institutions as Multimodal Accomplishments: Towards The Analysis of Visual Registers; Dennis Jancsary, Renate E. Meyer, Markus A. Höllerer and Eva Boxenbaum 4. Protest in Style: Exploring Multimodal Concision in Rhetorical Artifacts; Wenyao (Will) Zhao Part Three: Multimodality and The Institutionalization of Innovations 5. Towards A Multimodal Model of Theorization Processes; Mélodie Cartel, Sylvain Colombero and Eva Boxenbaum 6. A Multimodal Investigation of the Institutionalization of Aesthetic Design as A Dimension of Competition in The Pc Industry; Micki Eisenman 7. Let The Games Begin: Institutional Complexity and The Design of New Products; Raissa Pershina and Birthe Soppe

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe insight that institutions, and the communicative practices that create, sustain, and challenge them, are multimodal accomplishments has garnered increasing attention from scholars in organization and management research over the last decade. Traditional understanding of social knowledge and meaning as being constituted primarily through verbal discourse has been challenged and extended by work that has promoted the centrality of visual, material, and other sign systems (e.g., audio, gestures, layout) for constructing social reality. While some discursive approaches to organizations and institutions have acknowledged the existence and relevance of modes other than the verbal for some time, systematic research on multimodality has remained rather sparse. In particular, the interaction and orchestration of multiple modes remains terra incognita with considerable empirical, methodological, and theoretical stakes. Together, 54A and 54B of Research in the Sociology of Organizations investigate these issues with innovative research that focuses on the relationship between different modes in the emergence, diffusion, maintenance, and challenge of social meanings and institutions. Individual contributions demonstrate the potential of multimodal approaches to rejuvenate and extend the study of institutions, they revisit research on classic phenomena in organization theory through a multimodal lens, and advance the design of relevant and rigorous methods of analysis for the study of multimodal communicative practices.Trade ReviewContributed by business and management researchers from North America, Europe, Israel, and Australia, the eight articles in this volume explore the relationship between different modes of communication in the emergence, diffusion, maintenance, and challenge of social meanings and institutions, focusing on organizations and industries. They examine the use of multiple modes of communication to socially construct the rational myth of industrialization in the French construction sector after World War II, and the roles of visual and verbal communication in this process; the institutional persistence of a tradition in the Bordeaux wine community in France and the role of community organizations; the visual identity of universities through logos to create visual identities; how organizational actors use images to define a contested industry, namely the use of words and images to reframe the Canadian oil sands industry; fashion companies’ multimodal presentation, through visuals and verbal text, of their organizational identity in job advertisements; how identity elements are referenced in verbal and visual modes of meaning making and how they interrelate with each other and channels of communication, through the example of whisky distilleries; and the identity and meaning created by different groups of professionals to construct city identity. -- Annotation ©2018 * (protoview.com) *Table of ContentsPart One: Multimodal Perspectives On Institutional Persistence and Change 1, Multimodal Construction of a Rational Myth: Industrialization of The French Building Sector in The Period from 1945 To 1970; Eva Boxenbaum, Thibault Daudigeos, Jean-Charles Pillet and Sylvain Colombero 2, Cru, Glue, and Status: How Wine Labels Helped Ennoble Bordeaux; Grégoire Croidieu, Birthe Soppe and Walter W. Powell 3, Where History, Visuality and Identity Meet: Institutional Paths to Visual Diversity Among Organizations; Achim Oberg, Gili S. Drori and Giuseppe Delmestri 4, Dirty Oil or Ethical Oil? Visual Rhetoric in Legitimation Struggles; Lianne M. Lefsrud, Heather Graves and Nelson Phillips Part Two: The Multimodal Construction of Identities 5, Companies On the Runway: Fashion Companies’ Multimodal Presentation of Their Organizational Identity in Job Advertisements; Bernadette Bullinger 6, Message in A Bottle: Multiple Modes and Multiple Media in Market Identity Claims; Bernard Forgues and Tristan May 7, The Architecture of City Identities: A Multimodal Study of Barcelona and Boston; Candace Jones and Silviya Svejenova Afterword: Multimodality in Organization Studies; Theo Van Leeuwen

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn insightful lens into the contemporary state of post-factual politics, this timely book explores the perceived binary nature of facts and emotions, suggesting ways to integrate them. Anna Durnová shows that in order to understand post-factual politics, we must unveil the role of emotion in the discursive registers through which politics is constructed and knowledge is legitimized. By analysing and comparing scientists' protests against the Trump presidency with famous scientific controversies in modern medicine, this book redefines truth as a negotiation in public discourse between the interplay of values, beliefs and facts. Chapters examine the ways in which people see emotions as being opposed to facts, unpacking how this ultimate opposition limits public discussion on science in the wake of alternative facts and 'fake news'. Political science students and academics will find the new discussion of post-factual politics through the lens of emotions a timely and important read. This book is also ideal for social movements scholars with the March for Science a key case study used to examine the gap between emotions and facts in modern day times.Trade Review'The defense of science as being free of human passions is worse than ineffective. It is part of the problem, driving public alienation from the scientific enterprise, while blinding us to the causes of that alienation. Durnova's original analysis points to a way forward that refuses to censor the emotions that lie at the heart of the production of truth.' --Daniel Breslau, Virginia Tech, US'How do we negotiate the topsy-turvy world of 'the post-factual condition'? That's the timely question Anna Durnová poses with her important new book. Citizens responding to brazen demagoguery must now protest 'for reality'. It can get emotional, as the quest for truth usually is. Durnová offers insights crucial to the way ahead.' --Douglas Torgerson, Trent University, Canada, and author of The Promise of Green Politics: Environmentalism and the Public Sphere'Social research should provide counterintuitive insights, and this book does precisely that, questioning how we tend to juxtapose emotions and facts. Whilst developing broader historical insights, it is also remarkably relevant to the current era.' --Patrick Baert, University of Cambridge, UKTable of ContentsContents: Introduction To Post-Factual Politics 1. The Lost Battle On Truth 2. Vexatious Knowledge 3. The Partisans Of Truth 4. Understanding Emotions In The Post-Factual World Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis Special Issue of Cybernetics and Human Knowing contains rare material related to G. Spencer-Brown''s book Laws of Form and its contents.In 1973 there was a conference at Big Sur at which Spencer-Brown discussed his calculus with a group of scientists. This was the AUM Conference at Esalen, and the scientists consisted in an assortment of remarkable individuals exploring the cutting edge of human consciousness and culture, including Alan Watts, Ram Dass, John Lilly, Heinz von Foerster, Kurt von Meier, and others. One of the participants, Walter Barney, has written about this conference and has long been a keeper of the transcripts of Spencer-Brown's talks. In this issue we print Barney's transcripts of the conference and an article by Walter Barney and Kurt von Meier reflecting on the AUM conference. The transcripts are a remarkable amalgam of the thinking of Spencer-Brown and the questions and comments of the participants in AUM. The transcripts carry the same lucidity that infuses Laws of Form.The other articles in this issue include a paper on Flagg Resolution by James Flagg and Louis Kauffman, a paper on Paper Computers and the Emergence of Fermions by Louis Kauffman, and a Virtual Logic Column by Louis Kauffman that is a new take on the Barber paradox and the Russell Paradox, based on satire, mirrors, and the key observation of Douglas Harding that no person can (in the absence of mirrors) perceive his or her own head. There is an American Society for Cybernetics Column by Zane Gillespie about the structure of implausibility in music, art, and cybernetics.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe 'law-language-law' theme is deeply engraved in Occidental culture, more so than contemporary studies on the subject currently illustrate. This insightful book creates awareness of these cultural roots and shows how language and themes in law can be richer than studying a simple mutuality of motives. Focusing on the multilevel phenomenon of 'speech', Jan M. Broekman explores the history of this theme, from the West-European Middle Ages, through to today s globalization. Existing philosophical concepts are studied for their views on 'alter', other and otherness in speech, alongside scientific approaches including 'semiotics', 'structuralism' and, in particular, 'legal consciousness'. This state-of-the-art book unveils today s problems with the two faces of language: the analog and the digital, on the basis of which our smart phones and Artificial Intelligence create modern life. Innovative and explorative, Rethinking Law and Language will be of value to law scholars, social scientists and psychologists alike. The investigation of professional language and the impact of digital communication on social relations will also appeal to judges and other officials as well as politiciansTrade Review'Ties between law and language have always been of interest in socially problematic situations as well as in legal and speech events in everyday life. Rethinking them brings us to Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan and later developments in Central European jurisprudence, to Marxian considerations, structuralism and sign theories. Unique in this book is the author's focus on problems with the two faces of language: the analog and the digital, on the basis of which our smart phones and Artificial Intelligence create modern life. How does law answer that challenge and is developing cyberlaw enough? Such questions remain unanswered as long as we do not focus on our personal responsibility for the event we call ''speech'' - the name of the flagship language - no matter whether we speak, Tweet or write on Facebook.' --Frank Fleerackers, KU Leuven, Belgium'A central thesis of this book is its recognition of the double definition of the term ''word'', which has also been neglected in studies of law and language relations. A ''word'' exists in analog and digital types of language, whereas conversions among those types seem to catastrophically diminish the appreciation and effects of a renewed appeal to personal responsibility inherent to speech. Any philosophy of the language-law relationship, the book suggests, should establish ''digit studies'': a branch that studies the digital media structures and its effects on languages around the globe.' --Anne Wagner, Lille University, France'I am struck by the way in which the book very convincingly weaves the idea of ''legal consciousness'' into the larger framework of legal semiotics, making the former inescapably an essential element of the latter. By all rights: that should serve as the headwater of a broad flow of discourse on the nature of law and language. Let's hope that this endeavour finds a good number of intelligent readers who are moved to respond.' --Philip T. Grier, Dickinson College, USTable of ContentsContents: 1. Rethinking Speech 2. Hobbes’ Frontispiece 3. Von Savigny’s ‘People’ 4. Signs Signify 5. Structuralism And Law 6. Alter’s Presence 7. What Language, What Law? 8. Word, Seme, Digit 9. The Flagship’s Wreckage References Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book opens readers’ eyes to something they see all the time but take for granted: street signs. It is a portrait of the signs on modern English streets: what they look like, who and what they are for, how they link to English history and how they form part of life in multilingual England today. It describes how their shapes, materials, letters, vocabulary, and grammar differ from other forms of written English, using a framework based on linguistics, typography and writing systems research. It provides readable and entertaining insights into an important use of written English, illustrated with over 400 examples of street signs. The book represents a starting point for the study of street signs as an academic area in its own right.Trade Review‘Fifth Avenue’ – what could be more tedious! Other than Manhattan and Kyoto where streets are just numbered, notable cities use street names. And they know why, as did Vivian Cook. Street signs are a treasure trove of linguistic, societal, historical, political and commercial knowledge. In this book he takes us on a multidisciplinary adventure trip to decode the wonders of written signs in public places. Trust the guide! * Florian Coulmas, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany *Vivian Cook has given us an excellent primer for the study of displayed writing. Based on a wealth of examples collected from two English cities, it will be a long-standing reference for novices and seasoned scholars of public signage in linguistics and other disciplines. * Adam Jaworski, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong *In this fascinating book, Cook takes readers for a walk in two British towns to discover street sign research. With encyclopaedic knowledge, enthusiasm and his signature humour, Cook analyses a wealth of fascinating examples – from hand-scribbled notices to stone-engraved mottos – drawing from his quarter-of-a-century-long inquiry into written language, discussing linguistics, psychology, marketing, aesthetics, politics and more. Our mindless wanderings around town will never be the same again. * Bene Bassetti, University of Birmingham, UK *The Language of the English Street Sign [...] is a comprehensive account of the signs on the streets of two English cities, Newcastle upon Tyne and Colchester, where Vivian spent most of his working life, including letters, numbers, characters, and symbols, handwritten, carved in stones, designed, printed, digitally displayed, etc. It delves into the history and functions of street signs, and opens up a range of avenues for innovative and interdisciplinary research. -- Li Wei, Institute of Education, UCL, UK * Applied Linguistics, 2022 *Cook’s survey is remarkably comprehensive; in years to come, anyone wanting to study the nature of street signage in England at this point in history will do well to consult this book. -- Geoffrey Sampson, University of Sussex, UK * LINGUIST List 33.2244 *Table of ContentsPreface Chapter 1. Describing Street Signs Chapter 2. The Writing System of the Street Chapter 3. The Language System of the Street Chapter 4. The Material of the Street Sign Chapter 5. Naming the Street Chapter 6. Controlling Signs Chapter 7. Connotations of Letter Forms in Street Signs Chapter 8. Street Signs in Other Languages Chapter 9. The Nature of Street Signs References Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book, which takes the form of a graphic novel, looks at political activism in the public landscape. It has a particular focus on the UK activist group Led By Donkeys which has, since late 2018, been running a campaign to expose hypocrisy in the political classes. Their approach to activism involves the use of large posters and other forms of public display, which highlight the gap between the rhetoric and actions of politicians, and how language and communication is used to manipulate opinion. The activism discussed in the book includes four major issues: Brexit, Trump, Covid and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The book is both an innovative visual approach to the presentation of academic research and thought, and an exploration of how the linguistic landscape can be a key resource for the communication of political activism.Trade ReviewThis is a brilliant non-academic academic book. An afternoon of deeply pleasurable reading is guaranteed for anyone who picks it up. In an act of public service the authors allow the reader to become immersed in a highly innovative style of visual and discursive representation revealing the power of semiotic landscapes in political dissent and democratic activism. * Angela Creese, University of Stirling, UK *In a truly multimodal treatment of a multimodal subject matter, Seargeant grapples with the complex questions of political activism in the public space and presents them here in both a sophisticated and accessible way. This book not only critiques recent torrid political events but also slakes the public’s thirst for understanding visual communication in protest and activist movements. * Robert Blackwood, University of Liverpool, UK *Table of ContentsSetting the Scene A: Accountability B: Brexit C: Covid D: Democracy E: Emplacement F: Freedom of Expression G: Grassroots Campaign H: Hypocrisy I: Intertextuality J: Just Joking L: Law M: Metalinguistic Landscape N: Narrative O: Online–Offline Nexus P: Place (and Space) Q: Quotation R: Rule of Law S: Social Media T: Twitter U: Urban Environments V: Victory? Z: Zed Afterword A Second, More Word-Based Afterword Appendix A Model of Context for Grassroots Political Protest Bibliography Cast and Crew

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book outlines the future of semiotic research in the study of urban spaces, with chapters authored by leading scholars in the field. It offers thought-provoking explanations of semiotic theory, methodology and applications with the goal of exploring recently developed approaches to the interpretive aspects of urban space.Capturing the advances in research techniques within the field, this book will introduce the reader to key contemporary debates within the study of urban spaces. Chapters focus on the important topics of meaning-making and interpretation within cities. State-of-the-art approaches are presented to provide an enlightening outlook into this ever-evolving subject area.Semiotic Approaches to Urban Space will be a valuable resource for both undergraduates and postgraduates in the fields of semiotics and urban studies, alongside those in disciplines such as visual studies and human geography. Researchers in these fields will find the cutting-edge research within this book to be of great interest.Trade Review‘This is an important, innovative book that provides a toolbox for the study of the city as a semiotic object. Showcasing key contributions by semiotic scholars, the book unveils the different meanings of urban space, from the intentions of city planning to the reinterpretations of real users.’ -- Patrizia Violi, University of Bologna, Italy‘This kaleidoscopic volume consolidates the semiotics of urban space through a collection of outstanding original contributions on educational space, monuments, planning, settlement, boundaries and others. The helmsmanship of the editors has ensured that this will be a landmark volume in the field for many years to come.’ -- Paul Cobley, Middlesex University, UK‘This book enriches our comprehension of cities as complex semiotic objects. In confronting space as a text in which multiple languages interact, the book provides an understanding of urban space and semiotics from post-war seminal thinkers to the present day. The contributions of prominent voices in the field make it an invaluable resource for academics and researchers across various disciplines.’ -- Agustín Cocola-Gant, University of Lisbon, PortugalTable of ContentsContents: Introduction to Semiotic Approaches to Urban Space 1 Federico Bellentani, Mario Panico and Lia Yoka PART I CONCEPTS 1 The semiotics of settlement space 16 Alexandros Ph. Lagopoulos 2 Ten theses for a semiotic study of the city: notes, observations, proposals 32 Gianfranco Marrone 3 Devices for the representation and the spectacularisation of urban space: views, landscapes and logo-monuments 67 Isabella Pezzini 4 Urban landscape as text 82 Olga Lavrenova 5 The complexity of cities and the semiotic gaze: keeping the ‘thickness’ of urban spaces 98 Francesco Mazzucchelli PART II MODELS 6 Semiotic models of settlement space 111 Alexandros Ph. Lagopoulos 7 Dynamics of madrasa learning institutions in the Ayyubid and Mamluk capital cities 137 Manar Hammad 8 Mental models of urban space and their semiotic means 157 Leonid Tchertov 9 Reworking boundaries: from gates to the architecture of openness 174 Charikleia Pantelidou 10 Semiotic space for native biota in the city 192 Riin Magnus, Tiit Remm and Kalevi Kull PART III ACTIVATIONS 11 Envisaging the city: roadmap for an interdisciplinary study of urban ‘facescapes’ 209 Massimo Leone 12 Spatial practices: convergences and dialogues between semiotics and urban planning 220 Pierluigi Cervelli 13 Resemiotisation of urban landscapes: relational geographies and signification processes in post-socialist cities 230 Mariusz Czepczyński 14 When schools intersect the everyday world of the city: educational space as a dialogical-transformative quality of the urban 244 Kyriaki Tsoukala 15 Urban activated public spaces in the contemporary city 257 Nikolaos-Ion Terzoglou 16 Metropoesis: semiotics, fictional cities and speculative urban design 266 Mattia Thibault, Vincenzo Idone Cassone and Gabriele Ferri Index 289

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis Research Handbook offers a comprehensive study of jurilinguistics that not only presents the latest international research findings among academics and practitioners, but also provides a new approach to the phenomena and nature of communicative flexibility, legal genres, vulnerability of interlingual legal communication, and the cultural landscape of legal translation.Chapters explore the theory of jurilinguistics investigating the features of a broad range of national discourses. Offering a unique perspective on the complex and dynamic relationship between language and the law, the impressive selection of contributors discuss the efficiency, flexibility and vulnerabilities of communication in legal settings. Anne Wagner and Aleksandra Matulewska approach the topic from a multidimensional standpoint, dealing with a myriad of topics, notably the general theory of jurilinguistics, the genres and characteristics of legal language, and the improvement of the quality of legal language.This discerning Research Handbook will appeal to a variety of academics and researchers in law, translation, jurisprudence, applied linguistics, and rhetoric, looking to broaden their understanding of jurilinguistics as an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural operation. It will also serve as both a theoretical and practical resource for lawyers, legislators, lawyer-linguists, and legal translation specialists alike.Trade Review‘Featuring contributions from a distinguished group of scholars in the field from around the world, the international breadth and scope of the chapters in this collection is particularly valuable in a field which has increasing importance for global justice.’ -- Janet Ainsworth, Seattle University School of Law, US‘With its focus upon the forefront of current research in language and law and its special focus upon critical aspects this Research Handbook is a gateway to the state of the art in the field. This characteristic is guaranteed through the choice of high-profiled researchers as authors.’ -- Jan Engberg, Aarhus University, DenmarkTable of ContentsContents: Foreword xvii Prospects and retrospects of jurilinguistics 1 Anne Wagner and Aleksandra Matulewska PART I JURILINGUISTICS AND ITS COMMUNICATIVE FLEXIBILITY 1 Researching the language of law 17 Marcus Galdia 2 Contributions of jurilinguists to law and its language: a threefold research strategy 35 Jean-Claude Gémar 3 Critical approaches to comparative legal linguistics 52 Jaakko Husa 4 Legal pragmatics 70 Dennis Kurzon 5 Legal lexicography 88 Máirtín Mac Aodha and Tanja Wissik 6 Corpus linguistics, methodology of jurilinguistics 104 Stanisław Goźdź-Roszkowski 7 Two strata of flexibility in jurilinguistics 117 Anne Wagner and Aleksandra Matulewska 8 Legal interpretation and the relevance of corpora 130 José Manuel Aroso Linhares 9 Approaching (in)determinacy and ultimacy in interpretation 144 Daniel Green PART II CONUNDRUM OF LEGAL GENRES 10 Legal genres in interdiscursive contexts 160 Vijay K. Bhatia 11 Genres and legal translation: A rationale and an agenda for legal transgenre studies 180 Esther Monzó-Nebot 12 Legal languages’ features 193 Paula Trzaskawka 13 Directions, tools, and risks in the study of metaphor in law 206 Michele Mannoni 14 Plain legal language campaigns 223 Eamonn Moran 15 Jurilinguistics and co-drafting in Canada 239 Marie-Hélène Girard 16 The language of the court 251 James Archibald 17 Persuasive or coercive? Cultural and institutional factors behind penalty-free laws in Japan and implications for management of COVID-19 264 Richard Powell PART III VULNERABILITY OF INTERLINGUAL LEGAL COMMUNICATION 18 Interlingual legal communication: valleys, hills and mountains of social inequality in legal translation and interpretation 282 Aleksandra Matulewska and Anne Wagner 19 Legal systems exposed: translation and vulnerabilities 301 Juliette Scott and John O’Shea 20 The day-to-day practice of jurilinguistics at the European Court of Human Rights: challenges and constraints for translators 322 James Brannan 21 Minority issues in legal communication 336 Andrés M. Urrutia Badiola 22 Social issues in legal communication on the internet 348 Ruth Breeze 23 Translation hindrances and linguistic (im)possibilities to challenge the Hungarian legal language 360 Réka Somssich PART IV CULTURAL LANDSCAPE OF LEGAL TRANSLATION 24 Perpetual pendulum in law 374 Anne Wagner, Sarah Marusek, Aleksandra Matulewska 25 Cultural constraints of legal interpretation and legal translation 390 Mario Ricca 26 Understanding translated language in the legal context: the Chinese challenge 406 Deborah Cao 27 Legal translation and interpreting in China: Practices, theoretical studies and future trends 419 Youping Xu and Wei Yu 28 Issues addressed in Arabic legal translation: a future perspective 437 Sonia A. Halimi and Rafat Y. Alwazna 29 Legal translation and court interpreting in Africa 452 Zakeera Docrat and Russell H. Kaschula 30 Translating the Civil Code of Louisiana into French and Spanish: a jurilinguistic exercise 471 Olivier Moréteau and Mariano Vitetta 31 Comparison of key clusters of translated Korean laws and untranslated American and British laws 486 Jeongju Yoo Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis comprehensive Research Handbook explores the wide variety of work conducted in legal semiotics, providing a thorough understanding of how the law works through signs and symbols. Demonstrating that the law is a strategical system of fluctuating signs, contributors critically analyse the ever-evolving conceptualisations of law and legal discourse.Bringing together leading international experts, this Research Handbook focuses on the material, everyday forms of law comprised by non-verbal legal semiotics. Contributors conduct culturally nuanced semiotic analyses of the modern world, covering topics from COVID-19, religion, and human rights, to comic books and music. Chapters consider the foundations of semiotics, as well as the philosophy of law, identifying the cross-cultural similarities in how legal semiotics and visual legal semiotics intersect. Ultimately, the Research Handbook demonstrates that the law is in a state of perpetual flux, with many unique dimensions only made visible by semiotic analysis.The Research Handbook on Legal Semiotics will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of law, jurisprudence, legal culture, linguistics, and semiotics. It will also be an important guide for legal practitioners seeking to better understand the nuances of the legal system. >Trade Review‘This volume is an interdisciplinary tour de force. Scholars from around the world insightfully explore diverse signs and symbols of law. For those seeking to understand law in the evolving fullness of lived experience (including its cognitive, affective, social, cultural, and political dimensions) here is the place to begin.’ -- Richard K. Sherwin, New York Law School, US‘This book provides new legal semiotics on the one hand, and fields of a deepened and revisited understanding of rules in law and legal thought formation on the other. It distances itself from traditional ideas, inviting the reader to wander in new dimensions of space, images and perspectives which were hitherto unknown in legal research.’ -- Jan M. Broekman, KU Leuven, Belgium‘Law has not only a language but also a semiotics, a system of signs, texts and meanings that seek to bring order to the relationships among human beings. Never before this volume has an attempt been made to provide an all-encompassing tool for the study of such a system. Anyone working within the perimeter of linguistic, semiotic, and social studies of law will find this volume a distinctly useful starting point and reference.’ -- Massimo Leone, University of Turin, ItalyTable of ContentsContents: Foreword xviii John Brigham Preface xxiv Acknowledgements xxv Introduction: law as a strategical system of fluctuating signs 1 Anne Wagner and Sarah Marusek PART I LEGAL SEMIOTICS AS AN ARENA FOR LEGAL THOUGHTS 1 Understanding legal semiotics 11 Paolo Heritier 2 From analytical philosophy of law to legal semiotics 32 Marek Zirk-Sadowski 3 Legal philosophy and the promise(s) of legal semiotics 47 José Manuel Aroso Linhares 4 Legal semiotics, globalization, and governance 61 Larry Catá Backer 5 Legal semiotics and synaesthesia 86 Rostam J. Neuwirth 6 Constitutional semiotics as a post-positivist and post-modern approach to constitution and constitutionalism based on the linguistic, visual and emotional turns 105 Martin Belov 7 Semiotics and the space-time ingredients of legal experience 120 Mario Ricca 8 Narrative identity and human beings’ legal subjectivity 135 Bartosz Wojciechowski 9 Classical rhetoric, legal argumentation and the semiotics of law 146 Miklós Könczöl 10 Legal semiotics and Chinese philosophy 158 Magdalena Łągiewska PART II CULTURE-BOUND LEGAL SEMIOTICS, THE BACKBONE OF THE LAW 11 Law and religion in the United States and Japan: a comparative semiotic perspective 171 Frank S. Ravitch 12 The view: propertizing the visibility of distance 184 Sarah Marusek and Anne Wagner 13 Semiotic insecurity and fake news law 193 Ahmad Pakatchi 14 Beware of (bad and dangerous) metaphors: remarks made at the intersection of cognitive linguistics and law 209 Angela Condello 15 Semiotics of international law 220 Michael Salter 16 Introducing forensic semiotics in criminal investigations 237 Marcel Danesi 17 Legal semiotics and types of arguments in human rights cases in Russia 254 Anita Soboleva 18 Semiotics and cultural heritage law 267 Kamil Zeidler 19 Semiotics of trademark law and brand intellectual property 278 Kristian Bankov 20 Legal semiotics, culture and femi(ni)cide 289 Farid Samir Benavides Vanegas 21 Sex trafficking of girl children: a legal semiotics study of the Convention on the Rights of the Child 300 Clara Chapdelaine-Feliciati 22 Coloniality, international human rights and legal semiotics from the margins 313 Elisabeth Roy Trudel and Amy Swiffen PART III VISUAL LEGAL SEMIOTICS AS A FIGURATIVE SIGN-SYSTEM 23 Imaginal law 327 Peter Goodrich 24 The two-sided E-Agora 2.0: demojicracy and demonjicracy 338 Anne Wagner, Wei Yu, and Sarah Marusek 25 Photography, art, crime and law 353 Anita Lam 26 Image and the law – a Peircean approach to Mask Required posters during the COVID-19 pandemic 366 Nathalie Hauksson-Tresch 27 Cars and hate: legal semiotics of automobility and combustion masculinity 376 Kieran Tranter and Sarah Marusek 28 Legal semiotics, signs of colonization, signs of independence in India 394 Parineet Kaur 29 Comics and the law: jurisprudence with a comic face 404 Guilherme Vasconcelos Vilaça and Mark Thomas 30 Legal and social semiotics of environmental challenges 419 Dariusz J. Gwiazdowicz and Aleksandra Matulewska 31 Semiotic (de)construction of judges’ identities in China’s internet courts 433 Youping Xu 32 Legal scenographies and courts: tensions between past and present 447 Patrícia Branco 33 Law, music and semiotics 460 Robbie Sykes and Julia J.A. Shaw Index 479

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe importance of rhythm spans time and space, its significance both natural and constructed. As contemporary society challenges us to search for connection, the question of rhythm is profoundly and uniquely capable of managing the exchange and dialogue between deep narrativity and surface figurativeness. A semiotic examination of the regulative efficacy of rhythm is at the centre of The Sense of Rhythm, which frames rhythm as a characteristic of texts and narratives in order to organize and sense meaning. Rhythm is capable of creating and conveying a passionate tone, and of fostering cross-disciplinary and cross-textual convergences. An awareness and recognition of rhythmic structure allows for potential to cross-code between perception and sensation across cultures. This new edition, published for the first time in English, brings semiotician Giulia Ceriani’s research to English-speaking students and researchers across disciplines. The Sense of Rhythm serves as a foundation for interdisciplinary research, creative practices, and a unique semiotic approach to the study of rhythm.Table of ContentsIntroduction to the New Edition Chapter 1. The Rhythmic ‘Device’ Chapter 2. The Theory of Cultural and Surface Rhythms Chapter 3. The Semiotic Approach Chapter 4. The Rhythmic Gestalt: Constraints and Consequences Chapter 5. The Cognitive Pragmatics of Rhythm Chapter 6. Rhythm as an Aesthetic Tactics Conclusions

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book explores resistance as a widespread motif in medieval romance to consider themes of consent, gender, and desire. Medieval romance is usually considered a genre that celebrates love, desire, and sexuality within marriage. However, moments of resistance within it offer a point of tension, where normative scripts and expectations are exposed and opened up to challenge. This book explores such resistance as a widespread motif in the genre, tracing the subversive possibilities it presents, and through them uncovering how romance constitutes particular kinds of love as desirable, shaped by intersecting factors, including gender, status, race, religion, and morality. Drawing upon contemporary work on consent, the politics of desire, and asexuality, it examines how resistance is often transformed into acceptance, through consensual negotiation or coercive force: the romances discussed here demonstrate that a certain level of force, pressure, and persuasion is accepted as a means of forming relationships within the genre, but this reliance on coercion reveals the effort to which romances must go to uphold normative structures of desire. Considering a variety of works, from Marie de France's twelfth-century Guigemar to Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur, Geoffrey Chaucer's Franklin's Tale to William Caxton's fifteenth-century prose romances, this book argues that romance teaches its readers what and whom to desire, as well as how to behave when negotiating their desires, and explores the wider implications for understanding consent, gender, and desire in medieval England. This book is available as an Open Access ebook under the Creative-Commons License CC-BY-NC-NDTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. 'Ar ye a knyght and ar no lovear?' Men Who Resist Love 2. 'But of love to lere': The Proud Lady in Love 3. 'Ne feolle hit þe of cunde / To spuse beo me bunde': Resisting Mésalliance 4. 'What wonder is it thogh she wepte'? Hierarchies of Desire, Race, and Empathy 5. 'What deyntee sholde a man han in his lyf / For to go love another mannes wyf'? Resisting Adultery, Resisting Rape Culture Conclusion: The Ends of Romance Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis title details the key terms, thinkers and texts in systemic functional linguistics. The field of Systemic Functional Linguistics is a social semiotic approach to language pioneered by M. A. K. Halliday, which has assumed a central importance in linguistics in recent years, anchored by a growing body of work. This book details the key terms, the key thinkers and the key texts in this field in an approachable, easy to understand and accessible manner. It is authored by leading names in the field and is aimed at undergraduates and postgraduates studying linguistics and language studies. "The Key Terms" series offers undergraduate students clear, concise and accessible introductions to core topics. Each book includes a comprehensive overview of the key terms, concepts, thinkers and texts in the area covered and ends with a guide to further resources.Trade Review"This volume is a rich resource for anyone who wishes to find out how Systemic Functional Linguistics approaches the task of describing language, or to deepen their understanding of key concepts in SFL and the relationships between them. The book is no mere dictionary-type list of entries: there is a consistent and fully-justified emphasis on the central importance of understanding the place of each item in the overall architecture of the theory. This is highlighted not only through a network of cross-references to other entries but through a range of ingenious and effective visual representations of broader areas of the model. The stress on locating concepts in their wider context reflects the fundamentally systemic nature of the enterprise: grammatics (the theory of grammar) is treated in the same way as the grammar (the description of language or languages), as systems of interlocking choices. The book does not attempt to minimise the inherent complexity and extravagance of language, or the corresponding complexity and extravagance required in any adequate descriptive or theoretical account of language; but it establishes clear pathways through the complexity by shunting in an illuminating way between concise, lucid explanations of individual terms and impressively panoramic overviews of the systems in which these terms play a part. The picture that emerges from viewing SFL through the window of technical terms - "those meanings of the theory that have been lexicalised within the register or registers of that theory", as the Introduction puts it - is unexpectedly comprehensive and rewarding. This is a book that sets new standards of coverage, depth and coherence for glossaries of technical terms in any field." - Geoff Thompson is Senior Lecturer and Director of the MA TESOL at the School of English, University of Liverpool, UK‘A much-needed resource bringing together key terms from the broad theoretical and descriptive scope of SFL within a single work. Advanced students who are used to trawling through volumes will find this book indispensible: each entry provides an up-to-date definition and refers the reader to core works in SFL for fuller treatment, while the cross referencing between items will lead to many fruitful hours refreshing connections and discovering new ones.'- Dr Tom Bartlett, Centre for Language and Communication Research Cardiff University, UKTable of ContentsIntroduction; I. Key Terms; II. Key Thinkers; III. Key Texts; Bibliography; Index.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn the newly revised version of The Sourcebook of Magic you will discover afresh the basic 77 NLP patterns for transformational magic. What's new? A change from merely describing the patterns to presenting the key questions that allow you to guide a client. The newly revised version streamlines the patterns so that they are even more succinct and offers some new insights about how the patterns work, that is, the cognitive-behavioural mechanisms that make the neuro-linguistic and neuro-semantic approach so powerful. The Sourcebook of Magic arose in 1997 from a desire to collect in one place the basic or core NLP Patterns. Today it remains an excellent resource for coaches, therapists, psychologists, trainers, and managers. The book uniquely sorts and separates the patterns in key categories, those that deal with Self, Emotions, Languaging, Thinking Patterns, Meaning, and Strategies. This Sourcebook of Magic also provides guidelines for knowing what to do when and why. An excellent gift for those interested in the cognitive-behavioural model called NLP.

Read more less