V3: Representation

Question 1

What is a text?

Answer 1

Everything that generates meaning through signifying practices

(cultural studies = text based discipline)

Question 2

What is the linguistic sign (Ferdinand de Saussure?

Answer 2

Link between concept (signified) and sound pattern (signifier) (or picture)

• referent: represents the sign
• E.g. the word dog refers to the idea of a dog, not a specefic one

Derives value from difference between other signs:

• minimal difference: phonemes (cat and bat)
• semantic difference: semes

Signs are arbitrary (no inherent connection between signified and signifier) and conventional (meaning maintened through social agreement)

Question 3

How are systems of representation constitutated?

Answer 3

• The Signs we use
• “the categorization and classification of signs according to similarity or difference” (signs need to be organised in a signifying system; they cannot exist ‘on their own’)
• “the codes that govern how we assemble the signs to produce meaning”
• “the signifying practices through which meanings are communicated”

Question 4

Is language the only signifying system?

Answer 4

No, images, social behaviour, clothes too (symbloc order) -> language the most complex and flexible though

• members of the same culture must share sets of concepts (to interpret correctly) -> must share cultural codes

Question 5

How do we communicate culture?

Answer 5

• use same linguistic code (e.g. speak the same language)
• read visual imagery similarly
• produce same sounds for music
• interpret body language

Question 6

What is Denotation / Connotation?

Answer 6

Denotation: literal meaning of a word

Connotation: suggestion or implication evoked by a word

• can have a public and private meaning

Question 7

What is Encoding / Decoding?

Answer 7

Encoding: Using signs in particular ways to convey specefic meaning

Decoding Ways:

Dominant reading: decoding how it’s supposed to be decoded

• transparent communication
• Slogan: I’m loving it -> nice food, freindly…

Negotiated Reading:

• understanding the message but questioning and adapting it to fit their beliefs

Oppositional Reading:

• Fully understanding the message, but interpreted in a preffered way -> opposite point of view on topic

Question 8

What kinds of context are there?

Answer 8

Context is everything:

• Presentational context (where it appears)
• Production context (how it was produced)
• Historical context (when it was produced and when we look at it)
• Image in the context of other images (alone or nah)
• Context of reception (where and with who we see it)

Question 9

What aspects are part of the circuit of culture (Paul du Gay)?

Answer 9

• Representation
• Regulation
• Consumption
• Identity
• Production

Question 10

What is discourse (Michel Foucalt)?

Answer 10

Michel Foucalt: Power produces knowledge

• discourse (articulation of power and knowledge) always also has material affects
• Power produces knowledge for power

Minute of Education (Macauley):

• constitued of signifying so simple and basic that it was impossible for them to produce complex thought -> English was required