Related Issues in Post-structuralism	General Issues
Further Readings:	Barthes and Foucault(outlines by Allison Lin)
	Barthes's Semiotics Foucault
	Relevant Links

1. Representation: the production of meanings out of the material world through some conceptual frameworks and languages. 
2. Where do meanings lie or happen?  In the outside world, in the producer's mind, or in lanaguage?  three approaches
3. What are the two systems of representation for Hall? 
• Why are our concepts part of a system of representation?  Why is this system of shared meanings culture?  Is "terrorism" a Western concept?  (Ref. "Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.  --FBI Definition  For more, please go to Terrorism Research Center.)
• How are human signs related to our concept maps or the external world? 
• Why is de Saussure influential in the constructionist approaches to representation? 

 
4. What approaches does Cultural Studies take to the issues of representation?
• Semiotic approach 
• Discursive approach 

  Unless otherwise noted, the following information is excerpted from

• Representation: the production and circulation of meaning through "language" as a system of representation.
• Three approaches to language: the reflective, the intentional, the constuctionist.

e.g. 1. Our English Coasts, (or Strayed Sheep)  1852 by William Homan Hunt (see an analysis here.)
       2. Away from the Flock 1994 by Damien Hirst
       3. Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber  1602 by Juan Sanchez Cotan (1521-1627)

What signs or codes do these three paintings use respectively and for what purposes?  What codes do they use to make them "less" a mirror of reality?  Do they "reflect" a certain reality?

The following belong to the constructionist approach--

• Two constructionist approaches to representation: the semiotic and discursive approaches

"the semiotic approach is concerned with the how of representation, with how language produces meaning-- ...poetics; the discursive approach is more concerned with the effects and consequences of representation--politics." (6)

• "cultural codes"--"Member of the same culture must share sets of concepts, images and ideas which enable them to think and feel about the world, and thus to interpret the world, in roughly the same way." (Hall Representation 4)
• two systems of representation: 1. a mental system, a conceptual map, 2. a system of signs

 

 
 
 

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Semiotics (From Language to Culture)
• three kinds of signs: icon, index, symbol
• de Saussure 
• Roland Barthes 
• The process of representation (encoding and decoding) in popular culture:

'"meaning structure 1" and "meaning structure 2" may not be the same.  ...The codes of encoding and deconding may not be perfectly the symmetrical.  The degrees of symmetry--that is, the degrees of 'understanding' and 'misunderstanding' in the communicative exchange--depend on the degrees of symmetry/asymmetry established  between the positions of the ...encoder-producer and decoder-receiver.'  (S. Hall "encoding, decoding" )

• Please visit the semiotics section in lit. crit. databank for
• Saussure's langue and parole; signifier and signified binary opposition;
• Roland Barthes Theories
• a summary of "Myth Today";
• a general introduction to Barthes'  Mythologies.

 
• Semiotic concepts defined and illustrated simple, vivid introduction.  (No theoretical basis or authority is quoted for any of the examples although they are  presented with almost dogmatic certainty. In fact, some of the examples [such as the explanation of indexical signs] are highly debatable.

 
• Semiotics--Relevant links