scholarly journals Possibilities of Involving the Semiotic Approach to the Urban Space Analysis

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Subject Area ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Symbolic System ◽  
Symbolic Space ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
Semiotic Approach ◽  
Sociocultural Approach ◽  
Theoretical Evolution ◽  
The City

The main focus of the article is on the analysis of the heuristic potential of the semiotic approach in the study of urban space. Having identified the city as a cultural object as a research object, and starting from the methodological orientations of the sociocultural approach and post-structuralist analysis options, it is proposed to perceive the symbolic space of the city through the lens of semiotic optics as a subject area of research. The city as a socio-cultural phenomenon can therefore be considered as a collection of landmark objects. In order to understand the methodological potential of semiotics for city analysis, it is first of all necessary to consider the genesis of semiotic ideas and try to adapt them to city analysis as a landmark space. As a theoretical basis, the evolution of the views of a number of foreign scientists has been traced, in particular the attention has been paid to the scientific works of V. Benjamin, R. Bart, K. Levy-Strauss, C. Jenks, K. Lynch, and G. Simmel. The works of F. de Saussure, C. Pierce, C. Morris, Y. Lotman are distinguished as basic works in the field of semiotic analytics. An important aspect of the theoretical evolution of views on semiotic analysis is the proposed position of F. de Saussure on the basis of structuralism and poststructuralism, allowing the analysis of language, as well as any sign system, in the form of a structure with a fixed correspondence of signs and meanings. This thesis is present within the framework of structuralism and post structuralism. It is analyzed that the ideas of the "Frege triangle" and the "Oden-Richards triangle" in the study of cities significantly expand the potential of urban studies. It is emphasized that the use of tools of the semiotic approach allows to combine the analysis of the symbolic-symbolic system of the city and the space of urban everyday life.

scholarly journals Changes in the national composition and symbols of Zhovkva’s urban space as a result of the Second World War

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 77-87
Author(s):  
Vasylyna PASTERNAK
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Ethnic Composition ◽  
World War ◽  
Interethnic Relations ◽  
Symbolic Space ◽  
Original Culture ◽  
New City ◽  
The City ◽  
Second World

Before the war, urban symbolic space of Zhovkva was divided between several national groups – Ukrainians, Poles and Jews, who created the culture and history of the city. The foundations for such cohabitation were laid during the construction of the city by the Field Crown Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski, and survived until the start of the war, as evidenced by the memories of its inhabitants. Therefore, the article explains how the ethnic composition of the city’s population has changed and its further influence on the symbolism of the urban space. Subsequently of the dramatic events of the Second World War and the processes of resettlement of the population, two of the national groups disappeared from the urban space. The Jewish community was physically destroyed during the war, and the Poles were evicted from Zhovkva to Poland in 1944–1946. The destruction of the Jews meant the death of the whole subethnos with original culture and history. The resettlement of Poles from Zhovkva, from their homes, was extremely difficult psychologically, because they were saying goodbye to their hometown, where they lived for several generations, were deprived of their homes, property that belonged to the ancestors, they were allowed to take out only 2 tons of items social household consumption. Soviet soldiers and functionaries, peasants from the surrounding villages, who got used to living together and rebuilding Zhovkva, became “new” city dwellers. The “new” residents of the city, in cooperation with the Soviet authorities, changed the symbolic space of the city, starting with the change of name from Zhovkva to Nesterov, in honor of the Russian pilot Peter Nesterov, who died near the city in 1914. The city was built on the socialist urban model, which destroyed the historical and architectural environment of Zhovkva, founded in the XVI century. Architectural sights that testified to the multinational of Zhovkvа were destroyed or completely changed their purpose. Polish churches and monasteries were turned into warehouses or barracks for soldiers, and icons, paintings, statues, religious things were destroyed or exported abroad. Keywords Zhovkva, Stanisław Żółkiewski, Jan ІІІ Sobieski, socio-demographic processes, Poles, Jews, interethnic relations, symbolic space.

scholarly journals Laughter as a Semiotic Problem

2021 ◽  
pp. 5-15
Author(s):  
V. A Vershyna ◽  
O. V Mykhailiuk
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Natural Phenomenon ◽  
Cognitive State ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
Sign System ◽  
Semiotic Approach ◽  
Human Laughter

Purpose. The article is aimed to substantiate the view on the phenomenon of laughter as a subject of semiotic analysis, which leads to the following tasks: to reveal the possibilities of semiotics application in the study of laughter nature; to analyze the phenomenon of laughter as a cultural and natural phenomenon, as a sign and as an attribute; to consider the place of laughter in culture, which is understood as a sign system. Theoretical basis. The semiotic approach proceeds from the fact that human lives in the world of signs, all the surrounding reality can be interpreted as a sign system. The basic concept of semiotics is the concept of a sign. The theoretical basis of the article is understanding the culture as a sign-symbolic system. Laughter is considered as a phenomenon ontologically rooted in human culture. At the same time, laughter is on the edge of culture. The research is based on the work of semiotic authors, cultural researchers, and the researchers of laughter. Originality. The originality lies in the application of the semiotic method to the research of laughter phenomenon, consideration of the dialectics of natural and cultural, signedness and non-signedness, manifested in the phenomenon of laughter. Conclusions. Laughter is considered as a psychophysiological phenomenon (attribute) and as a cultural phenomenon (sign). Laughter acts as an emotional manifestation, a physiological reaction, but socially and culturally mediated. In any case, laughter indicates an emotional or cognitive state of a human. Laughter acts as a process and result of the interpretation of a sign, a reaction to a sign. Laughter is a form and a means of communication. Being a natural phenomenon, in the process of social evolution, laughter acquires signedness, is integrated by culture as a sign system, and, at the same time, maintains a connection with nature. Thus, laughter occupies an ambivalent position between nature and culture. In the phenomenon of laughter, the dual state of human is revealed. In laughter, boundaries are blurred, the unity and opposition of natural and cultural, biological and social, soul and body, thought and feeling, sign and attribute are manifested.

scholarly journals «Memory of the city» and «memory in the city»: the heuristic resources of the waven concept of E. Toffler

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 73-81
Author(s):  
Nadiya Mikhno
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
The Past ◽  
Semiotic Approach ◽  
Places Of Memory ◽  
The City

In the article the possibility of application of the futures concept E. Toffler to explain changes in commemorating the objects and practices of the modern urban environment. The theoretical justification of the concept of "space" as one of the central categories of science, and it kind of "social space", that is, of course, the object of the social sciences and humanities, primarily sociological analysis. The proposed explanatory scheme the ratio of physical and social space. Provides an overview of the concept of "urban space" as a specific education between physical and social space. Attention is drawn to the possibility of using a semiotic approach to the identified issues within the urban space. Based on the semiotic approach identified the need in our study to consider certain points in urban space, which are able to perform the function of historical and social translation of the past – "places of memory", and their General set – «landscapes of memory». Moreover that «landscapes of memory» and a separate "places of memory" of urban space is a resource mapping of the historical and social memory in the city. For clarity, the conceptual-categorylink research system, a distinction between "social" and "historical" memory. Outline the General provisions of the wave concept E. Toffler, namely the explanation of the three "waves" which are defined by the author as a large-scale global process of social dynamics. Recorded discussion of memory through the circuit of the wave of change in society. For memory analysis in contemporary urban space using wave concept of E. Toffler made the distinction between the concepts "memory" and "memory in the city", which differ in the locality translocase images of the past: the particular city or events and personalities outside the city. The study carried out analysis of the characteristics of the existence of «places of memory» and related commemorative practices in the contemporary and divergent of the future city, based on the idea regarding relationship E. Toffler’s "Second wave" and "Third wave" in modern society.

scholarly journals Diagnostic model of the city: a chronotopic approach

2021 ◽  
pp. 36-46
Author(s):  
Larisa Gennad'evna Ilivitskaya
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Basic Parameter ◽  
Diagnostic Model ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
Spatiotemporal Parameters ◽  
Existence Set ◽  
The City ◽  
Principle Of Complementarity

The object of this research is the city viewed as a multilayered semantic phenomenon. The needs of transdisciplinary nature determine the vector of its analysis in light of the possibility of application of diagnostic approach, which incorporates the theoretical and practical aspects, cognitive and transformative sides. The goal consists in the development of diagnostic model of the city as a cultural phenomenon. The position is defended on the limitation of classical diagnostic search applicable to the so-called city. The prospects of its research correlate with the nonclassical interpretation of diagnostics, which views it as methodology of cognition. The basic method of this research is modelling. The development of diagnostic model of the city is founded on M. M. Bakhtin’s concept of chronotope. Namely chronotope is determines as the basic parameter underlying its construct. Incorporating the spatiotemporal parameters of the city and their cultural meanings, it allows recording the temporal-topos configurations in city motion, which reflect various qualitative states of its existence, set by the past, present and future. The author offers a ternary model of the city, consisting of historical-cultural, eventful, and innovative chronotopes. The formulated conclusions indicate that the proposed chronotopes can be viewed separately or following the principle of complementarity, which allows assessing the city from the perspective effective arrangement of urban space, as well as the presence of problematic fields therein.

scholarly journals Meta-Modern City: the Problem of Authenticity

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Mental Image ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Stable Sets ◽  
Entire Object ◽  
The City

The aim of the article is to analyze the urban research paradigm that has developed at the turn of the XX and XXI centuries in the works of Western experts and the possibility to use it for domestic research. Methodologically, the author relies on the heritage of the Manchester sociological school, which effectively applied the concepts of actor-network theory to analyze the sociology of a city. The city is considered as a single object complex. Its main characteristics are contingent and contextual. The author analyzes the city as a derivative of stable sets of objects and networks of relations. A change in the components that make up a city leads to a change in the entire object. The article notes that in modern urbanism there is another way of classifying cities not according to the principle of geographical location, economic structure, or national identity, but according to the system of forming networks of relations. The author analyzes the linguistic metaphors system, which is used to describe urban space. The problems of metaphor, code and reading, perception of urban space in the form of text are analyzed. The concept of "language" and "text" allows you to create a system of describing a city as a complex phenomenon. In this case, the constructs "modern", "postmodern", "meta-modern" are presented as a system of grammar and punctuation for interpreting the phenomenon of the city. The article notes the difficulties of using the characteristics of a postmodernist and metamodernist city for domestic research. The author suggests that the development of the domestic city in the twentieth century took place according to the scenario of a more radical modernism. As a result, we got a post-Soviet city with a different rationality, which is combined with the modernist principles of architecture and urban planning. The article provides examples of the semiotic analysis of architectural objects. The author concludes that the mental image of the city restructures the physical space, turning it into a personalized network of human life relations.

scholarly journals The symbolism of urban space: socio-cognitive approach (based on the material of Yakutsk)

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Kiunnei Aidaarovna Pestereva ◽  
Irena Semenovna Khokholova ◽  
Marina Il'inichna Kysylbaikova ◽  
Alina Petrovna Vasilyeva
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Symbolic Space ◽  
Art Objects ◽  
Northern Cities ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
The City

This article is dedicated to the currently relevant direction in the humanities – the study of city monuments as the tools of commemoration that contribute to the formation of historical and cultural memory in the society. The author classifies the monuments and art objects of Yakutsk by designation, as well as presents the survey results of the citizens on perception of the city’s symbolic space of the city. An overview and analysis of the monuments of Yakutsk demonstrated that they reflect history of the city and the republic, as well as contribute to the formation of sustainable representation of the citizens on the historical events. The most remarkable component in the formation of collective memory and historical identity remains the Memorials of Military Glory. This article reviews an example of the memorial complex “Victory Square” as the major memorial site in the city. It is substantiated by the fact that due to the government’s policy of emphasizing and reconsideration of the role of the Soviet people in victory in the Great Patriotic War, the monument retains its functionality and reminds on the tough years of war experienced by the people. The acquired results indicate that the residents are familiar with the history of their city and support the strengthening of commemorative functions assigned to the monuments. The research is carried out within the framework of project No. 20-011-31324 under the Russian Foundation for Basic Research “The Symbolic Space of Northern Cities of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in the context of Sociopolitical Processes”.

scholarly journals A system approach to the study of the city in the social understanding of its phenomenon for modern society

2021 ◽  
pp. 53-58
Author(s):  
Константин Анатольевич Зенин
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Science Studies ◽  
Theoretical Study ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
The Social ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Property Relation ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
The City

В данной статье рассматривается системный подход различных учёных к философскому пониманию феномена городского пространства, даётся обоснование его эвристичности. Современная социальная наука изучает феномен городского пространства не единолично, а находясь в тесной взаимосвязи с другими науками, такими как социология, психология, логистика, политология, география, культурология, практическими разделами архитектуры и т.д. Перечисленные науки изучают город с практической и эмпирической стороны, но теоретическое изучение происходит посредством использования устоявшихся методов философской науки. Отмечается, что применение социологической методологии в изучении городского локуса значительно расширяет возможности социогуманитарных наук в определении взаимозависимости пространственных и популяционных факторов развития городской среды (Т. Парсонс, Н. Луман). На основе обобщения системно-семиотического метода А.И. Уёмова город рассматривается через триаду «вещь», «свойство», «отношение». Антитезой в понимании города выступает концепция А.Э. Гутнова, объясняющего его сущностные характеристики посредством воссоздания пространственной параметрики. Делается вывод о том, что существующие теоретико-методологические подходы к исследованию городского пространства обладают значительным эвристическим потенциалом в экспликации города как целостного (интегрального) социокультурного феномена. Understanding of the phenomenon of urban space provides a justification for its heuristicity. Modern social science studies the phenomenon of urban space not alone, but being in close relationship with other sciences, such as sociology, psychology, logistics, political science, geography, cultural studies, practical sections of architecture, etc. The listed sciences study the city from the practical and empirical side, but theoretical study takes place through the established methods of philosophical science. The application of sociological methodology in the study of the urban locus significantly expands the possibilities of socio-humanities in determining the interdependence of spatial and population factors for the development of the urban environment (T. Parsons, N. Luhmann). Based on the generalization of the system-semiotic method of A.I. Uyomov, the city is considered through the triad "thing," "property," "relation". Antithesis in the understanding of the city is the concept of A.E. Gutnov, explaining its essential characteristics by recreating spatial parametrics. It is concluded that the existing theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of urban space have significant heuristic potential in the explication of the city as a holistic (integral) socio-cultural phenomenon.

Transnational Habitus and Sociability in the City: Zimbabwean Migrants’ Experiences in Johannesburg, South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khangelani Moyo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Field Research ◽  
The South ◽  
Economic Networks ◽  
Social Field ◽  
Transnational Migrants ◽  
Telephone Calls ◽  
The City

Drawing on field research and a survey of 150 Zimbabwean migrants in Johannesburg, this paper explores the dimensions of migrants’ transnational experiences in the urban space. I discuss the use of communication platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook as well as other means such as telephone calls in fostering the embedding of transnational migrants within both the Johannesburg and the Zimbabwean socio-economic environments. I engage this migrant-embedding using Bourdieusian concepts of “transnational habitus” and “transnational social field,” which are migration specific variations of Bourdieu’s original concepts of “habitus” and “social field.” In deploying these Bourdieusian conceptual tools, I observe that the dynamics of South–South migration as observed in the Zimbabwean migrants are different to those in the South–North migration streams and it is important to move away from using the same lens in interpreting different realities. For Johannesburg-based migrants to operate within the socio-economic networks produced in South Africa and in Zimbabwe, they need to actively acquire a transnational habitus. I argue that migrants’ cultivation of networks in Johannesburg is instrumental, purposive, and geared towards achieving specific and immediate goals, and latently leads to the development and sustenance of flexible forms of permanency in the transnational urban space.

Ukraina Wschodnia jako przestrzeń symboliczna w prozie Serhija Żadana – na podstawie powieści Woroszyłowgrad i Mezopotamia

2020 ◽  
pp. 233-248
Author(s):  
Marta Zambrzycka ◽  
Paulina Olechowska
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
City Space ◽  
Current Events ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The City

The subject of the article is an analysis of the three aspects of depicting urban space of Eastern Ukraine, focusing specifi cally on the Donbass region and the city of Kharkov as depicted in the novels Voroshilovgrad (2010) and Mesopotamia (2014) by Serhiy Zhadan. The urban space of Eastern Ukraine overlaps with the most important values that shape a person’s personality and aff ect her or his self-identifi cation. The city space is also a “place of memory” and experiences of generations that infl uence current events. In addition to the historical and axiological dimension, the imaginative aspect of space is also important. This approach is used by the author to describe the urban space as a functioning imagination or stereotypes associated with it as opposed to its realistic depiction.

Revisiting Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker: a Semiotic Study of the Dramatis Personae

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1B) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khaled Besbes
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Analytical Method ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Sign Systems ◽  
Semiotic Approach ◽  
Stage Props

Abstract: The present article sought to offer a semiotic analysis of Pinter’s The Caretaker’s characters as signifers in their own right. The article also aimed at studying the play’s dramatis personae as loci of multi-coded expressions, with a focus on the various modes of signifcation associated with them. Using semiotics as an analytical method, the author explored the linguistic and paralinguistic features of the characters’ discourses as signs in relation to the play’s pivotal themes, their kinesic and body expressions as indexical signs, as well as their distinctive proxemic behavior(s) onstage. Some attention was also given to the characters’ handling of stage props and the special meanings attached to them as replicators of character personality. The results of the discussion showed that using a semiotic approach to analyze The Caretaker’s characters can yield positive outcomes in terms of comprehensive analysis and interpretation of the characters as dynamic unities of interrelated sign-systems. Keywords: Pinter, semiotics, dramatis personae, linguistic, kinesic, proxemic

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