Semiotics: Culture in Context

This workshop seeks to advance research based on a semiotic framework. Presentations will come from a variety of fields including but not limited to linguistics, psychology, sociology, political science, literary theory, and anthropology. By not limiting the topic of research by area, period or discipline, the workshop encourages discussion to center on how to study social and cultural phenomena as embedded in a meaningful context. By building on many seminal studies that have used semiotic approaches, the goal of the workshop is to continue to develop the rigorous analytic framework that provides the method for clearly defining linkages between the object of analysis and its context.

Workshop Schedule

The workshop meets alternate Thursdays from 4:30-6:00 PM
(With some exceptions, please see calendar below for specific locations)

To download upcoming papers, please click on the linked titles.

For earlier workshop schedules with downloadable papers, see archives.

If you encounter problems with this website, please contact Gabe Tusinski at tusinski@uchicago.edu or Adam Sargent at sargenta@uchicago.edu.

Spring 2008

Thursday, April 10th, Haskell 101
Gabriel Tusinski
Anthropology, University of Chicago
"Houses of Origin, Houses on Fire: Dialectics of Destruction and Desire in the Timorese 'Crize'"
Discussant: Yazan Doughan, Anthropology

Thursday, May 1st, Haskell Mezzanine 102 (Note Location Change)
Alejandro Paz
Anthropology, University of Chicago
"Enregistering Ethnic Difference: Respeto and Educación for Latino Bilinguals in Israel"

Transcription Conventions

Dissertation Outline
Discussant: Matthew Rich, Anthropology

Thursday, May 22nd, Haskell 101
Miyako Inoue
Professor, Anthropology, Stanford University
"Stenography and the Ventriloquistic Imagination of the Modern Japanese Subject in the Late Nineteenth Century"
Discussant: Shunsuke Nozawa, Anthropology

Thursday, June 5th Haskell 101
Alex Blanchette
Anthropology, University of Chicago
"Fecal Matters: Exposés, Anti-Publics and the American Factory Farm"
Discussant: Adam Sargent, Anthropology

Semiotics Links

• The Peirce Edition Project (on-line texts available)


• Semiotics at Indiana University


• Charles S Peirce Studies


• Voice of the Shuttle Home Page (list of links in humanities, including anthropology and linguistics; many on-line papers and other resources)


• Sites of Significance for Semiotics (lists of links to a wide variety of semiotically-linked webpages)

Sign up for the Mailing List

To be added to the list, go to Semiotics mailing list , or send an e-mail to sargenta@uchicago.edu or tusinski@uchicago.edu .

Contact Us

Student Coordinators:
Adam Sargent (sargenta@uchicago.edu)
Gabe Tusinski (tusinski@uchicago.edu)

Faculty Sponsors:
Susan Gal
John Lucy
Michael Silverstein

Web design by Peter Graif