Establishing authenticity and commodifying difference: a social semiotic analysis of Sámi jeans

2020 ◽  
pp. 147035721989681
Author(s):  
Arlene Archer ◽  
Gustav Westberg
Keyword(s):  
Power Relations ◽  
Social Semiotics ◽  
Fashion Industry ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Multimodal Texts ◽  
Advanced Capitalism

This article investigates a semiotic phenomenon within the global fashion industry: the branding of designer jeans as ‘authentic’ and ‘genuinely local’, focusing on the Swedish brand Sarva. Drawing on a social semiotics approach, the authors see authenticity as a discursive construct and look at the ways in which Sarva authenticate their jeans as Sámi in multimodal texts. The aim is: (1) to reveal how places and narratives are commodified in texts that accompany the jeans; and (2) to explore how authenticity is materially instantiated in the jeans by using different resources. The article focuses on the connotative provenance and affordances of different semiotic materials for the rendering of authenticity. The analysis of the jeans as semiotic entities reveals how the thickness of the garment, texture and leather details, and the choice of materials, languages as well as iconography, evoke ideas about historical and local ‘Sáminess’, whilst at the same time indexing a global ideology that regiments what quality jeans are. The analysis shows how authenticity can be reinvented and relocated in ways that allow a commodity to travel between the local and the global. It also shows how this movement is not neutral or straightforward, but rooted in power relations that underlie globalization and advanced capitalism.

scholarly journals Semiotic Analysis of Media and Visual Jihad of ISIS Group in Photos Released by Them

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-88
Author(s):  
Zeinab Niknejat ◽  
Majid Movahed
Keyword(s):  
Power Relations ◽  
Dual Space ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Social Semiotics ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Islamic Fundamentalism ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Defined Media ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
The Social

Jihad is a central but variable concept in the Islamic fundamentalism discourse. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as the latest product of this discourse defined media jihad as an important aspect of this obligation by conceptual and exemplary development of jihad. In this research, by applying social semiotics method, a semiotic analysis of media jihad was conducted by emphasizing their photographic activities on some published photos of ISIS and also efforts were made to discover the intrinsic meaning of ISIS on this concept. By committing themselves to social semiotics presumptions, the authors tried to explore underlying layers of photos and reveal the social and cultural contexts, as well as power relations as the background of this semiotics. In this study, some codes such as companionship of ISIS soldiers with visual and media tools, companionship of media and visual tools with military and violent weapons and active participation of women in the jihad media, which consists of a system of signs were analyzed and such analyses were discussed in social and cultural contexts such as power, dual space, and switch from writing to image. Finally, the meaning that is generally understood of media jihad was quite different from what exists in Islam about jihad.

A critical multimodal framework for reading and analyzing pedagogical materials

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-69
Author(s):  
Shin-ying Huang
Keyword(s):  
Power Relations ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Multimodal Texts ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Ideological Perspective ◽  
Interpretive Practices ◽  
L1 And L2

Purpose This paper aims to propose a critical multimodal framework to understanding pedagogical materials that focuses on not only the verbal or the visual components but also the interaction between the two semiotic resources that constructs power relations as a result of intermodal interaction, and it further provides an example of an in-depth analysis of one text using this approach. Design/methodology/approach The paper proposes a critical multimodal framework that draws from Serafini (2010) and Royce (1998). Details about how the two works complement to form a critical multimodal framework are discussed, after which the paper analyzes one example from an English-language textbook using the proposed framework to demonstrate its strengths. Findings The findings highlight the power relations constructed in texts as a result of the interaction between the verbal and visual components, specifically how the visual mode functions to rationalize the power relations constructed in the verbal mode. These findings also establish the significance for considering the larger context of materials production and reception identified in the ideological perspective to appreciate how texts reflect discourses in diverse locales. Originality/value This paper argues that even though critical multimodality has often been discussed conceptually in L1 literacy scholarship, how to put these conceptualizations into practice has not been addressed systematically. The paper also contends that critical perspectives to understanding multimodal texts are also important in L2 English-language teaching. The critical multimodal framework proposed thus serves as a conceptual and methodological framework for multimodal reading and interpretive practices in both L1 and L2 contexts.

The Social Semiotic Analysis of Translation of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Based on Peircean Model

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 1281
Author(s):  
Iraj Noroozi ◽  
Somayeh Tork
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Social Semiotics ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Persian Version ◽  
The Social ◽  
Heart Of Darkness ◽  
Persian Translation

The aim of the present article is to investigate the meaning of the signs in Persian translation of Heart of Darkness. To reach the desired goal, the researcher has used social semiotics and Peirce’s triadic sign model as the theoretical framework. In the current study, Peirce semiotics has been used for detecting signs. After detection 50 signs, the researcher used Peirce’s triadic sign model for analyzing the translation of each sign. The researcher decoded the signs to identify their components and analyzed them in social semiotic level to clarify whether they have the same impression on the Persian version of Heart of Darkness as their English source or not. After performing data analysis, it was cleared that 37 signs (out of 50) in the corpus of the study have the same effect and meaning in the target text as what they have in the source text.

Content Analysis, Semiotics, and Social Semiotics for Cartographic Analysis: Interpreting Geospatial Representations

1998 ◽  
pp. 4-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myke Gluck
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Sense Making ◽  
Social Semiotics ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Personal Expertise ◽  
Ontological Framework ◽  
Work First ◽  
Corporate Annual Reports

Several mutually informing methods for analyzing cartographic and geospatial images are presented and illustrated in this work. First, an apparently objective method, content analysis, is applied to a collection of corporate annual reports' geospatial imagery resulting in a categorization and description of those images. Then a traditional semiotic analysis is conducted on the same data done by experts who describe and express out of their personal expertise and intuitive insights the meaning of signs contained in the imagery. Subsequently, a user/viewer epistemological and ontological framework called sense-making is discussed and combined with semiotic processes enabling social semiotics. Sense-making permits map users to present their point of view providing a method to go beyond the experts' traditional semiotic interpretations. These user/viewer based interpretations incorporate postmodern meanings from the various users of signs exposed by the corporate annual reports' geospatial imagery.

scholarly journals The relationship between gender transformations and the evolution of fashion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iryna Kushchyk
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Analysis ◽  
Human Potential ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Fashion Industry ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Historical Method ◽  
Symbolic Space ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Relationship

The purpose of the article is the formation of a base for fashion research in Ukrainian culturological science. Carrying out a culturological analysis of gender transformations in the evolution of fashion and fashion trends. The methodology of the research is due to the need of using specific culturological methods for the analysis – diachronic and synchronous methods, comparative-historical method, semiotic method. The scientific novelty of the article includes conducting a cultural analysis of the phenomenon of fashion and gender; conducting a semiotic analysis of the fashion industry; identifying the features of the functioning of fashion in the context of the symbolic space of culture. Conclusions. In postmodernism, fashion begins its transformation from a symbolic unit that provides information about certain means to the means of communication that help people realize their own human potential, encourage freedom of choice, self-identification, and self-expression, which is reflected in the gradual leveling of gender and other sociocultural clothes. Modern fashion is beginning to blur the boundaries between social status, gender and age. After all, the transformational processes taking place in society are directly related to the transformation of culture and changes in fashion, because fashion is one of the structural elements of culture.

Media Literacy in a Digital Age

2019 ◽  
pp. 13-26
Author(s):  
Begüm Saçak
Keyword(s):  
Media Literacy ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Multimodal Communication ◽  
Social Semiotics ◽  
Literacy Studies ◽  
New Literacy ◽  
Multimodal Texts ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
Modern Era

New possibilities of representation through the use of multiple modes has challenged language's power as a dominant means to express meanings. Multimodal communication is now becoming the norm in the modern era of communication and Internet. Diverse forms of media exist and are combined in different ways to create new meanings though what constitutes media (media language or visual grammar), and the motivations behind design often remain transparent to users. The increase and diversity in different forms of representation other than written or spoken language also bring along changes in the field of literacy. In this chapter, the main focus is on Multimodal Social Semiotics —the theory of communication formed by Kress and his colleagues. The new language of multimodality and design builds on what it means to be media literate and has significant implications for media literacy education. This chapter's focus is on the basics of reading multimodal texts and the connection between new literacy and media literacy studies based on Multimodal Social Semiotics Theory.

The thematic structure of homepages: An exploratory systemic-functional account

Semiotica ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (210) ◽  
pp. 105-127
Author(s):  
Leong Ping Alvin
Keyword(s):  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Social Semiotics ◽  
Thematic Structure ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Multimodal Texts ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
Semiotic Approach ◽  
Point Of Departure

AbstractThe visual social semiotic approach, based on Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics (SFL), is widely used in studies on multimodal texts. As SFL is a framework focusing on the functions of language, several SFL categories are re-conceptualized in visual social semiotics to handle the analysis and interplay of extra-linguistic features; other categories, however, are excluded. A consequence is that any insights offered by these excluded categories in multimodal texts remain obscured. This paper focused on one such category, theme, as a generator of expectations. It analyzed the thematic structure of twenty homepages to show that the different SFL themes are applicable and evident in such multimodal texts. It underscores the importance of theme as a point of departure of any discourse, textual or otherwise, allowing us to form expectations about how the rest of the discourse may be acceptably developed.

scholarly journals Recontextualizing Literary Classics With Modernity: A Social Semiotic Analysis of a Comic Adaptation of Journey to the West

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402110197
Author(s):  
Zenan Zhong ◽  
Shukun Chen ◽  
Winfred Wenhui Xuan
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Social Semiotics ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
The West ◽  
Global Issues ◽  
Journey To The West ◽  
Literary Classics

A large number of literary classics have been transformed into comic works with varied adaptation strategies. As a typical example, Cai Zhizhong’s comic adaptation of Journey to the West has made successful attempts in rewriting the story with modern elements that carry socio-cultural values. Under the general theoretical frameworks of social semiotics, this article seeks to explain what and how these elements are presented and explore how such elements are infused with values that affiliate people of different communities and provoke thoughts on cultural diversity and global issues. It is found that (a) modern elements have been presented with particular ideational, interpersonal, and textual semiotic options and (b) different values have been implanted into these elements through bondicons, iconization, and visual attitudes.

scholarly journals The political relevance of ‘almost trivial-looking things’. An interview with Theo van Leeuwen (ENG)

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 69-90
Author(s):  
Mercè Oliva
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Participatory Culture ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Semiotics ◽  
Multimodal Texts ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Media

In this interview, Theo van Leeuwen reflects on the role of social semiotics and iconography as research methods for identifying the ideology conveyed by multimodal texts and signifying practices. Van Leeuwen defends the relevance of analyzing and understanding what seems trivial and apolitical, such as images, toys, PowerPoint presentations and spaces, all of which shape our worldview and establish the possibilities and limits of social practices and relationships, as well as their role in legitimating (or challenging) the social order. The last section of the interview is devoted to an analysis of overtly political images: van Leeuwen talks about how politicians present themselves to the media in the current era of politainment; reflects on how social movements use the visual to stir up debate and challenge dominant discourses and, finally, he discusses memes as examples of popular humor and participatory culture and their potential and limitations in terms of challenging and fostering social change.

Semiotic Analysis of Ideology Conflict (Media Analysis of Sociology in General Soedirman's Film)

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-82
Author(s):  
Rudolof Ngalu ◽  
Lasarus Jehamat ◽  
Laurensius D.E.P. Putra
Keyword(s):  
Power Relations ◽  
Conflict Theory ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
Roland Barthes ◽  
Semiotic Analysis

This research is entitled Semiotic Analysis of Ideology Conflict (Media Analysis of Sociology in General Soedirman's Film). This research is based on the consideration that all things including films are not immune to the process and power relations. The presence of a film has a purpose and therefore has a certain meaning. This research focuses on the analysis of interarideological conflicts in the film General Soedirman. It is said, in the film, conflicts often occur in several segments. All conflicts are certainly based on certain roots and causes. Likewise, every conflict always has a certain dynamic. Whatever the reason, the dynamics of the conflict whether socially or symbolically in the film has a certain meaning. Therefore, the dynamics of the conflict can be analyzed and worth checking. The study uses Ralf Dahrendorf's conflict theory. The analysis of this study uses a qualitative interpretive concept. The method used as an analytical machine uses the Roland Barthes semiotics method. Roland Barthes' semiotics focuses the analysis of signs by looking at denotations, connotations and myths. The results showed a number of ideological conflicts that occurred in the film. Some of them are conflicts between narrow ideology of nationalism (chauvinism) vs. fascism, between nationalism vs. colonialism, between nationalism vs. communism, and communism vs. colonialism conflict. Understanding of ideological conflicts is urgently analyzed so that people are not manipulated by various ideas and ideas that emerge from certain regimes can be immediately overcome.

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