PROPUESTA DE UN MODELO HOLISTICO MULTIMODAL PARA UNA LECTURA CRÍTICA DEL RACISMO DISCURSIVO EN LA PRENSA ESCRITA.

El objetivo de este trabajo es proponer un Modelo holístico multimodal para una lectura crítica del racismo en la prensa escrita. Para ello, desde el Análisis Crítico del Discurso Multimodal (ACDM), usaremos como estrategia teórico-metodológica integradora las aportaciones de Teresa Velázquez (2011) y su modelo semiótico-discursivo; el modelo sociocognitivo de van Dijk (1990, 1997, 2003a, 2003b); el modelo de la semiótica visual de Kress y van Leeuwen (1996) y el modelo intersemiótico de Nikolajeva y Scott (2001). Se validarán las matrices de análisis aplicándolas al llamado conflicto mapuche en Chile para extraer resultados y conclusiones valederas en torno a la representación periodística de las minorías étnicas. Abstract: This work aims to propose a holistic multimodal approach for making critical reading about racism in the written press. In order to achieve this, and taking account the Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis, we use as theoretical and methodological integrative strategies the contributions of Teresa Velázquez and her discursive-semiotic approach (2011), van Dijk’s sociocognitive approach (1990, 1997a, 2003a, 2003b), Kress and van Leeuwen’s visual semiotics approach (1996), and Nikolakeva and Scott’s intersemiotic approach (2001). The analysis matrices are validated using the so-called mapuche conflict in Chile in order to be able to draw conclusive results and conclusions about media representations of ethnic minorities.

Visual Semiotics Analysis on Webtoon Sweet Home

Webtoon is one of the mediums in delivering thoughts, point of view and life values with others; one of them is sweet home webtoon. By using visual Semiotic analysis, this study aimed to identify signs used in the Webtoon Sweet Home and to interpret the meanings of the Semiotic signs used in the Webtoon. The data source of this study is the serial comic entitled Sweet Home in the Webtoon which were technically collected using the qualitative method and visual materials in addition to applying the LINE Webtoon. Twenty six data were analyzed using the Visual Semiotic study proposed by Charles Sanders Peirce, including representamen, object and interpretant. Additionally, this study used three steps in interpreting the signs namely, non-verbal communicative legisign, framing techniques and communicative act. The study found that legisign was used on the panels in the Webtoon Sweet Home has general information in which the writer wishes to tell the readers. The legisign represents the meaning of the images portrayed in the Webtoon. Furthermore, the non-verbal communication legisign was identified based on facial expression, body language, posture and gesture. The framing technique concern what image shows, and the communicative act was analyzed based on the verbal sign found the Webtoon Sweet Home.

The Oxford Handbook of Roman Imagery and Iconography

Roman imagery and iconography are typically studied under the more general umbrella of Roman art and in broader, medium-specific studies. This handbook focuses primarily on visual imagery in the Roman world, examined by context and period, and the evolving scholarly traditions of iconographic analysis and visual semiotics that have framed the modern study of these images. As such topics—or, more directly, the isolation of these topics from medium-specific or strictly temporal evaluations of Roman art—are uncommon in monograph-length studies, our goal is that this handbook will be an important reference for both the communicative value of images in the Roman world and the tradition of iconographical analysis. The chapters herein represent contributions from a number of leading and emerging authorities on Roman imagery and iconography from across the world, representing a variety of academic traditions and methods of image analysis.

Introduction

Roman imagery and iconography are typically studied under the more general umbrella of Roman art in medium-specific studies. This handbook focuses primarily on visual imagery in the Roman world, examined by context and period, and the evolving scholarly traditions of iconographic analysis and visual semiotics that have framed the modern study of these images. As such topics—or, more directly, the isolation of these topics from medium-specific or strictly temporal evaluations of Roman art—are uncommon in monograph-length studies, our goal is that this handbook will be an important reference for both the communicative value of images in the Roman world and the tradition of iconographical analysis. The chapters herein represent contributions from a number of leading and emerging authorities on Roman imagery and iconography from across the world, representing a variety of academic traditions and methods of image analysis.

Reading runes with the sun. A geosemiotic analysis of the Rök runestone

In the field of runestone research, the importance of multimodal understanding has been downplayed although it is obvious that several semiotic resources interact when it comes to carving a stone and erecting it in the landscape. This study examines if it is possible to deal with the methodological challenges of a historical material and make a multimodal approach deepen our understanding of the Rök runestone, one of the most famous and enigmatic Viking Age runestones. The study applies Scollon and Scollon’s geosemiotic framework (2003). Through an investigation of how the visual semiotics interacts with place semiotics and interaction order, it turns out that the marked reading direction of the lines of the inscription symbolizes the movement of the sun, and that the change of font size in two lines probably mimics the change of solar brightness at sunrise and sunset. Further, it is suggested that the big crosses of cipher runes and the small crosses between some information units may represent the sun and stars, respectively. The conclusion is that the monument was risen for the enactment of a counsel of the gods with the aim of securing the rhythm of celestial light. Finally, implications for multimodal research are discussed.

NIETZSCHE’S SELF-IMAGE-FORMING AND ITS REPRESENTATION IN THE POSTMILLENNIAL MEDIA

Рассматривается теоретическая проблема человеческого образа и механизмов его формирования, которая является чрезвычайно актуальной для современной визуальной семиотики из-за глобальных процессов визуализации, вызванных повышением влияния СМИ и сопутствующих интернет-технологий. Визуальные аспекты функционирования пищи как культурного феномена в современной коммуникативной среде анализируются в междисциплинарной перспективе философии и культурных исследований. Авторы рассматривают работу Фридриха Ницше «Ecce Homo» в качестве одного из важнейших источников для понимания процессов само-образования человека в философских и культурных исследованиях, показывая, что этот текст, который объясняет культурную и антропологическую практику формирования человеческого образа, может быть очень актуальным для визуальной антропологии в XXI веке. В Ecce Homo немецкий мыслитель продолжает и развивает традиции античной «заботы о себе» (epimeleia), подчеркивая необходимость в ответственном, сознательном и индивидуальном отношении человека к формированию своего образа в повседневной жизни. Ницше демонстрирует ключевую важность само-образования, особенно с медицинской или даже физиологической точки зрения, подробно останавливаясь на самоформировании посредством сознательного отношения к еде, среде обитания, выбору для себя оптимального климата и способов отдыха. Все эти компоненты, особенно еда, являются центральными механизмами для формирования визуального образа человека в современных СМИ, которые фокусируют внимание не на критической самооценке, а на агрессивно утверждаемом определенном образе. В статье утверждается, что подход Ницше находится в рамках повседневной практики образа жизни, и именно еда, место обитания, климат и режимы отдыха доминируют для само-образования человека XXI века, формируя установки современного постмиллинеального (postmillennial) индивида в его стремлении к почти неограниченному потреблению. Авторы также обсуждают роль и значение визуальных образов продуктов питания в презентации человеческой идентичности и репрезентации культурных реалий постмиллениальной эпохи в функционировании современных СМИ. The paper is devoted to the consideration of the theoretical problem of the human image and the mechanisms of its formation, a topic which is of considerable relevance in present-day visual semiotics due to the totalizing visualization processes brought about through the increasing power of media and internet technologies. The visual aspects of the functioning of food as a cultural element in the postmillennial communicative environment are analyzed through the interdisciplinary perspective of philosophy and cultural studies. The authors identify Friedrich Nietzsche’s work Ecce Homo as one of the most important sources for understanding the processes of self-image-forming in philosophical and cultural studies, and they show that it is a text which explains cultural and anthropological practices that can be applied in 21st century visual anthropology. In Ecce Homo, the German thinker reintroduces the continuation and development of the traditions of ancient “self-care” (epimeleia), emphasizing the need for the responsible, conscious and individual relationship of a human being to his or her integral image as it emerges in everyday life. Nietzsche demonstrates the key importance of self-image-forming from a primarily medical or even physiological point of view, focusing in detail on the formation of the self through the conscious and authentic use of food practices, living environment, climate, and modes of relaxation. All of these components, especially that of food, are central mechanisms in the formation of the visual image of individuals in contemporary media, focusing not on a critical self-evaluation but instead on an aggressively approved image. The paper argues that it is within Friedrich Nietzsche’s everyday practices of lifestyle that we can identify how food, living environment, climate, and modes of relaxation dominate the 21st century self-image-forming of hypermodern postmillennial individuals in their quest for almost unlimited consumption and hypermediation. The authors also discuss the roles of visual food practices in the presentation of human identity and the representation of cultural realities of the postmillennial era in the functioning of hypermodern media.

Exploring Adolescents’ Understandings of Disability in a Blended Environment of Interactions

Understanding how disability is socially constructed is important for establishing inclusive schools, since the ways in which educators and non-disabled nondisabled students understand disability affect their actions towards disabled students. As social interaction today is very often an interplay between online and offline communication activities, this study aimed to explore how young adolescents in Cyprus construct the concept of disability in a blended environment of interactions. A qualitative research approach was adopted involving focus groups with 18 adolescents, online and face to face semi-structured semistructured individual interviews, participant observation on a Facebook group set up for the purposes of the study, and the first author’s reflective diary. A combination of thematic analysis, critical discourse analysis and analytic elements from the field of visual semiotics were used for data analysis. Data analysis indicated that adolescents understand disability mostly through medical and charity models. Based on the data, these understandings arise from the construction of disabled people’s multimodal ‘invisibility/absence’, in both online and offline contexts of adolescents’ everyday reality. Suggestions for further research in disability constructions in blended environments, and implications for the field of inclusive education concerning teachers and pre-service teachers’ educational practice are discussed.

Intervention in new amateur subtitling cultures: a multimodal account

Recent developments in the audiovisual marketplace have led to an increasing compartmentalization of subtitling audiences and the emergence of amateur subtitling cultures that aim to cater for the idiosyncratic demands of their target audience niche. Fansubbing, i. e. the subtitling of Japanese animated films by fans, is one of the most influential and successful of such amateur cultures. This article examines the genealogy of this peculiar phenomenon, describes some of its most distinctive subtitling practices and explores the effects of its interventionist agenda. Drawing on the apparatus of multimodal theory and the insights provided by a small purpose-built corpus, this paper argues that fansubbing exploits traditional meaningmaking codes in a creative manner and, more importantly, criss-crosses the traditional boundaries between linguistic and visual semiotics in innovative ways.

The plastic of clothing and the construction of visual communication and interaction: a semiotic examination of the eighteenth-century French dress

The article presents an account of the visual relations created by garments through their plastic formants, examining the role played by form, material, and composition in creating body hierarchies that produce prescribed behaviors between different subjects. The work dissects the concept of thematic role from the Greimasian theory, investigating the manners in which an eighteenth-century wedding dress presents the chaining of programs governing materials, garments, and the body in the production of narrative interactions between subjects. The work utilizes a combination of Greimas’ method with the Visual Semiotics continued by Floch and Oliveira, as well as Hammad’s Semiotics of Space which permit the exam of optical relations created in the body through its clothing – relations that can be read both as manifesting values that are historically and socially determined, or in the act of apprehension of an object. The eighteenth century provides a type of “original” case, whose results are pertinent to a broader study of the relations between body and dress: the work concludes with the understanding that Fashion changes through the transit of values and roles invested in the body and dress – a set of changes closely linked to the construction of social roles.

Re-contextualisation and the Transformation of Meanings: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Islamic State Pedagogical Discourse in Iraq

This article is an attempt to investigate the recontextualisation and transformation process involved in the pedagogic discourse of Islamic State classroom textbooks during its takeover of some parts of Iraq. The article uses an eclectic analytical framework comprising Bernstein's pedagogical model of recontextualization, Linell's levels of recontextualization, Fairclough's concept of genre mixing, Wodak's discourse-historical approach (DHA), and Barthes' model of visual semiotics. These mixed approaches are applied to the analysis of a variety of visual images of Islamic State published textbooks and classroom pedagogic visual aids downloaded from different websites. It is found that the meaning of the pedagogic discourse is transformed via interdiscursive recontextualisation processed in two reversal directions: a militarization of pedagogic discourse and a pedagogization of decapitation practice. Recontextualisation is exceptionally significant with regard to Islamic State jihadist pedagogic discourse that is reframed historically and ideologically to suit an extreme sense of religious intolerance which Islamic State prioritizes as a foundation of regaining and refreshing their lost Islamic caliphate.