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ISSS-Info Call for Papers - 10-OEGS-2000
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2000/12/08-10
Vienna: Mythen - Riten - Simulakra. Semiotische Perspektiven / Myths -
Rites - Simulacra. Semiotic Viewpoints. 10. Internationales Symposium der
Oesterreichischen Gesellschaft fuer Semiotik OEGS / 10th International
Symposium of the Austrian Association for Semiotics AAS.
DEADLINE: 15 October 2000
Info: OeGS c/o Institut fur Sozio-Semiotische Studien ISSS, Waltergasse
5/1/12, A-1040 Wien/Oesterreich; Tel. & Fax +43-1-5045344, email:
<gloria.withalm@uni-ak.ac.at>
<http://www.uni-ak.ac.at/culture/withalm/10-OEGS>
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MYTHEN * RITEN * SIMULAKRA
MYTHS * RITES * SIMULACRA
Semiotische Perspektiven / Semiotic Viewpoints
10. Internationales Symposium der
Oesterreichischen Gesellschaft fur Semiotik OEGS
10th International Symposium of the
Austrian Association for Semiotics AAS
In Zusammenarbeit mit der Universitaet fur angewandte Kunst Wien
organisiert vom Institut fur Sozio-Semiotische Studien ISSS, Wien
In cooperation with the University of Applied Arts, Vienna,
organized by the Institute for Socio-Semiotic Studies ISSS, Vienna
Time: Friday to Sunday, 8-10 December 2000
Venue: University of Applied Arts Vienna
Oskar-Kokoschka-Platz 2
A-1010 Wien/Oesterreich
* CALL FOR PAPERS *
In the year 2000, the Austrian Association for Semiotics celebrates
its 25th anniversary (1975 proposers' committee, 1976 formal foundation),
and suggests on this very occasion as the title of its 10th Symposium
"Myths, Rites, and Simulacra", i.e. a semiotically "deep" and "significant"
topic - not least due to the fact that "2000" is certainly a myth in itself!
The notion of "myth" is doubtlessly ambiguous, and thus generally,
as well as (in particular) semiotically, challenging - fiction with "deep
truth"(?). In the classical sense there were, in the beginning, the myths
about gods and heroes, about the creation and the end of the world.
"Mythologies" were understood as ("primitive"?) models of explanation and
appropriation of the world, as early states of consciousness, in close
connection with religious thought. A more secularized view of the myth
comprised also personalities and events pertaining to world history, then a
trivialized view the modern political myths too (e.g. "nation", "empire").
In the end it also became obvious - thanks to semiotics - that we are
living with and in "everyday myths". Moreover, "mythology" means the whole
of the myths of a community on the object level; on the meta-level, their
scientific treatment. Semiotic analysis and elaboration of the notion of
"myth", and what is meant by it in different contexts, is therefore an
important task. Indeed, semiotics has dealt with mythology already broadly
and fundamentally (Vico, Barthes, Levi-Strauss, Cassirer, Langer, Geertz,
Leach, the Moscow-Tartu-School...), and it is obvious that many related
semiotic fields of interest are connected with "myth" (culture, structure,
deep structure, discourse, narration, metaphor, modelling, fictionality,
ideology, media, magic...). There seem to be no limits for the application
of semiotic methods and categories.
The notion of "rite" means first of all the cultic tradition of a
religious community as a whole, while "ritual" indicates singular cultic
practices and liturgical acts. Yet, as the notion of "ritualization" -
coined by J.S. Huxley in 1914 - shows, there were also other currents of
thought, for instance early ethology, signifying therewith certain animal
and later also human patterns of behavior ("displays"), participating in
the construction of a now more manifold meaning. Or take A. van Gennep's
notion of "rites de passage" (already from 1909) in anthropology. Such
terms were then also used in sociology, as can be demonstrated by E.
Goffman's well-known term "interaction ritual". And similar to the case of
"everyday myths", one speaks today about "everyday rituals" even in
colloquial speech, in which the notional extensions from the
liturgial-cultic and the scientific field diffusely intermingle - a
(dis)continuum of notions, from value-neutral (be it biologically or
sociogenetically) "regulated", "ordered" behavior to pejoratively
interpreted patterns of stereotyped, automatized, schematized,
over-regulated behavior. From a semiotic point of view, the topic is
closely connected with that of the "myth", on the one hand, and with many
further important fields of research and interest, on the other (codes,
conventions, speech rituals, gestures, expressive behavior, kinesics,
proxemics...).
The notion of "simulacrum" is, in a way, ambivalent too, insofar as
it first of all meant picture (Lat. image, picture, reproduction), but at
the same time the fictitious, vague, diffused image (Lat. dream image,
mirage, shadow). The latter meaning was centrally established by J.
Baudrillard in postmodern and particularly postmodernism-critical
discourse. In his culture and media semiotics the point of the term is the
increasingly reference-less, "empty" sign in our culture and society,
characterized by "floating significants", which in total tend to make
everyday life as well as history become huge simulacra. In this process,
the media and the ideology of consumerism play outstanding roles, so that
the notion of "simulacrum", as a pendant to "myths" and "rituals", seeks to
encourage practice-oriented semiotic approaches in dealing with genuinely
contemporaneous phenomena.
We invite you to offer theoretical as well as particularly
practice-oriented analytical contributions to the above-mentioned
interrelated topics. Duration of lecture: 30 minutes (+ 15 minutes
discussion).
Please send
a) your registration and the title of your lecture (as soon as possible -
e-mail, fax or an informal letter suffices; please indicate particularly
your email address!), and
b) an abstract of about 100 to max. 150 words
(until October 15, 2000, at the latest!!!).
preferably by email (either in the body or attached: filename:
"lastname-10OEGS".
Congress fee: ATS 500.- (OeGS/AAS Members free of charge).
Congress languages: German, English.
The congress results will be published.
Registrations, abstracts and requests to:
OeGS/AAS c/o Institute for Socio-Semiotic Studien ISSS
Waltergasse 5/1/12, A-1040 Vienna/Austria
Tel. & fax +43-1-5045344: email: <gloria.withalm@uni-ak.ac.at>
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ISSS-Info - der elektronische Newsletter zu Veranstaltungen und
Publikationen im Feld der Semiotik, uebermittelt durch das:
Institut fuer Sozio-Semiotische Studien ISSS
Jeff Bernard
Waltergasse 5/1/12, 1040 Wien
phone+fax: +43-1-5045344
email: <gloria.withalm@uni-ak.ac.at>
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