[ecrea] CFP: Semiotic dimensions of spaces & literacies

From: (semiotics /at/ ut.ee)

*Tartu Summer School of Semiotics *17-20 August, 2019

*Semiotic dimensions of spaces & literacies***

Juri Lotman proposed that the primary semiotic dualism lies in the 
duplication of the world in language and the duplication of the human in 
space: „Genetically speaking, culture is built upon two primary 
languages. One of these is the natural language used by humans in 
everyday communication. […] The nature of the second primary language is 
not so obvious. What is under discussion is the structural model of 
space“ (Lotman 1992: 142). The organizers of the next Tartu Summer 
School of Semiotics find continuous inspiration in this statement and 
call for discussing the functioning of cultural languages as mediators 
of human and non-human environments and as developers of cultural 
competence.

Understanding culture via its spatial organization has been a 
characteristic of Tartu semiotics. The structural models of space 
facilitate making sense of nature, society and culture as living 
environments. The creation of such models is simultaneously creation of 
descriptive languages for conceptualising cultural experience and on a 
more essential level, cultural mediation. The latter affects both 
individual and collective capacity to interpret reality and underpins 
the formation and perception of cultural identity. On the one hand, the 
contemporary cultural dynamics has underlined the necessity of studying 
the cultural environment in relation to the technological advancement: 
from the digitalization of (everyday) culture to cultural polyglotism, 
including improved foreign language skills, digital literacy and 
emergence of transmedial spaces of communication.

On the other hand, the ecological changes in our living environment have 
created the need to analyse the mutual influences of human cultural and 
non-human spaces: the ways that different species both encode and 
interpret their surroundings and contexts. These include the human modes 
of textualising space in artistic and non-artistic languages, other 
species’ modes of learning about their surroundings and the ways their 
agency becomes manifested in their relations with our mutually shared 
environments. At the same time, the scientific understanding of these 
relations clearly needs to be balanced with the development of related 
literacies for mediating the knowledge to the members of culture.

Reference: Lotman, Juri 1992a. Tekst i poliglotizm kul’tury [Text and 
cultural polyglotism]. In: Lotman, Juri, Izbrannye stat’i. Vol. 1. 
Stat’i po tipologii kul’tury. Tallinn: Aleksandra, 142–147.

We invite all the semioticians studying the dynamics of nature, society 
and culture to Tartu in order to discuss a topic simultaneously 
universal and current for the era of the Anthropocene - the semiotic 
dimensions of spaces and literacies. We welcome both 20 minute 
presentations as well as more unconventional formats (à 5-10 minutes) 
that would provoke thoughts by introducing works and ideas in progress. 
300-600 words abstracts (for 20 minute papers) or short comments on why 
you would like to share your work in progress at Tartu Summer School of 
Semiotics should be submitted by January 15th, 2019 to (semiotics /at/ ut.ee) 
<mailto:(semiotics /at/ ut.ee)>. Additional information will be available at: 
tsss.ut.ee <http://tsss.ut.ee>

Topics that we welcome non-exhaustively include:

  * Making sense of digital fragmentation through spatial models and
    metalanguage;
  * Spatial applications for mediating cultural heritage;
  * Developmental changes in the structuring and literacy of space;
  * Animal agencies in adapting to anthropogenic and hybrid environments;
  * Interactions of semiotic and spatial practices in environmental
    education.

The event is supported by the University of Tartu's ASTRA project PER 
ASPERA (European Union, European Regional Development Fund).

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