tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/semiotics-25111/articlesSemiotics – The Conversation2021-08-06T12:40:43Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1620712021-08-06T12:40:43Z2021-08-06T12:40:43ZDinosaur bones became griffins, volcanic eruptions were gods fighting – geomythology looks to ancient stories for hints of scientific truth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414601/original/file-20210804-17-1waxsgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=350%2C161%2C5218%2C3826&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A mythical creature born of a misinterpreted fossil?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/statue-of-griffin-or-griffon-a-legendary-creature-royalty-free-image/1148411968">Akkharat Jarusilawong/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Everyone loves a good story, especially if it’s based on something true.</p>
<p>Consider the Greek legend of the Titanomachy, in which the Olympian gods, led by Zeus, vanquish the previous generation of immortals, the Titans. As <a href="https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/theogony.htm">recounted by the Greek poet Hesiod</a>, this conflict makes for a thrilling tale – and it may preserve kernels of truth.</p>
<p>The eruption <a href="https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/greece/gr1040e.html">around 1650 B.C. of the Thera volcano</a> could have inspired Hesiod’s narrative. More powerful than Krakatoa, this ancient cataclysm in the southern Aegean Sea would have been witnessed by anyone living within hundreds of miles of the blast.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414381/original/file-20210803-15-1kd1r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="aerial view of Santorini Caldera" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414381/original/file-20210803-15-1kd1r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414381/original/file-20210803-15-1kd1r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414381/original/file-20210803-15-1kd1r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414381/original/file-20210803-15-1kd1r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414381/original/file-20210803-15-1kd1r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414381/original/file-20210803-15-1kd1r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414381/original/file-20210803-15-1kd1r6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The massive eruption of the Thera volcano more than 3,500 years ago left behind a hollowed out island, today known as Santorini.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/7449551878/">Steve Jurvetson</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/natural-knowledge-preclassical-antiquity">Historian of science Mott Greene argues</a> that key moments from the Titanomachy map on to the eruption’s “signature.” For example, Hesiod notes that loud rumbles emanated from the ground as the armies clashed; seismologists now know that harmonic tremors – small earthquakes that sometimes precede eruptions – often produce similar sounds. And the impression of the sky – “wide Heaven” – shaking during the battle could have been inspired by <a href="https://www.universetoday.com/33431/volcanic-shockwave-captured-by-iss-imagery/">shock waves in the air</a> caused by the volcanic explosion. Hence, the Titanomachy may represent the creative misreading of a natural event.</p>
<p>Greene’s conjecture is an example of geomythology, a field of study that gleans scientific truths from legends and myths. Created by geologist Dorothy Vitaliano nearly 50 years ago, geomythology focuses on tales that may record, however dimly, occurrences like volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and earthquakes, as well as their aftereffects, such as the exposures of strange-looking bones. These events appear to have been, in some cases, so traumatic or wonder-inducing that they may have inspired preliterate peoples to “explain” them through fables.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mqZSQ1QAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">In 2021 I published</a> the first textbook in the field, “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Geomythology-How-Common-Stories-Reflect-Earth-Events/Burbery/p/book/9780367711061">Geomythology: How Common Stories Reflect Earth Events</a>.” As the book demonstrates, researchers in both the sciences and the humanities practice geomythology. In fact, geomythology’s hybrid nature may help to bridge the gap between the two cultures. And despite its orientation toward the past, geomythology might also provide powerful resources for meeting environmental challenges in the future.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414610/original/file-20210804-21-o5ba5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Moken children play on the beach, with small boats tied up in the shallows" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414610/original/file-20210804-21-o5ba5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414610/original/file-20210804-21-o5ba5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414610/original/file-20210804-21-o5ba5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414610/original/file-20210804-21-o5ba5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414610/original/file-20210804-21-o5ba5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414610/original/file-20210804-21-o5ba5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414610/original/file-20210804-21-o5ba5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The legend of a monster wave told by the Moken people gave them a leg up during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-photo-taken-on-september-30-2020-shows-moken-children-news-photo/1229742933">Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Passed-down tales that explain the world</h2>
<p>Some geomyths are relatively well known. One comes from the Moken people in Thailand, who survived the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, a catastrophe that <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30034501">killed some 228,000 people</a>. On that terrible day, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/dec/10/indian-ocean-tsunami-moken-sea-nomads-thailand">Moken heeded an old tale about the “laboon”</a>, or “monster wave,” a legend passed down to them over countless campfires.</p>
<p>According to the fable, from time to time a people-devouring wave would surge and move far inland. However, those who fled to high ground in time, or, counterintuitively, put out into deeper waters, would survive. Following the legend’s advice, the Moken preserved their lives. </p>
<p>Other geomyths might have started as explanations for prehistoric remains that didn’t readily map onto any known creature.</p>
<p>The Cyclopes, the tribe of one-eyed ogres that terrorized Odysseus and his crew, might have sprung from the findings of prehistoric elephant skulls in Greece and Italy. In 1914, <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/animali-del-passato/oclc/878781319?referer=br&ht=edition">paleontologist Othenio Abel pointed out</a> that these fossils feature large facial cavities in front, from which the trunk would have protruded. The eye sockets, by contrast, are easily overlooked on the sides of the cranium. To the ancient Greeks who dug them up, these skulls might have seemed like the remains of monocular, humanoid giants.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythic-creatures/land/griffin-bones">seemingly fanciful griffin</a> – the eagle-headed, lion-bodied hybrid – might have a similar origin story and could be based on the creative misrecognition of <em>Protoceratops</em> dinosaur remains in the Gobi Desert.</p>
<p>Still other geomyths may point to natural events. Indigenous tales tell of “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-32701311">fire devils</a>” that flew down from the Sun and plunged to Earth, killing everything in the vicinity when they landed. These “devils” were probably meteors witnessed by Aboriginal Australians. In some cases, the <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1408.6368">tales anticipate findings of Western science</a> by decades, even centuries.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414646/original/file-20210804-23-xydpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="people on small boat and raft setting up scientific equipment" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414646/original/file-20210804-23-xydpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414646/original/file-20210804-23-xydpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414646/original/file-20210804-23-xydpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414646/original/file-20210804-23-xydpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414646/original/file-20210804-23-xydpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414646/original/file-20210804-23-xydpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414646/original/file-20210804-23-xydpg0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Researchers set up monitoring equipment at Africa’s Lake Nyos that will sound an alarm if carbon dioxide levels become dangerous again.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/multinational-group-of-researchers-set-up-carbon-dioxide-news-photo/585863268">Louise Gubb/Corbis Historical via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Numerous African folktales ascribe mischief to certain lakes, including the lakes’ apparent ability to change color, shift locations and even turn deadly. <a href="https://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/273/1/NP">Such legends have been corroborated by actual events</a>. The most notorious example is the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.236.4798.169">explosion” of Cameroon’s Lake Nyos in 1986</a> when carbon dioxide, long trapped on the bottom, abruptly surfaced. Within a day, 1,746 people, along with thousands of birds, insects and livestock, were <a href="https://youtu.be/o8AonDeS8HY">suffocated by the CO2 cloud the lake burped up</a>. Lakes are sometimes associated with death and the underworld in Mediterranean stories as well: Lake Avernus, near Naples, is mythologized <a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/aeneid.6.vi.html">as such in Virgil’s “Aeneid</a>.”</p>
<p>Animal encounters may inform other geomyths. <a href="https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-the-histories-by-herodotus-53748">Herodotus’ “Histories”</a>, written about 430 B.C., claims that dog-sized ants guard certain gold deposits in regions of East Asia. In his 1984 book “<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/ants-gold/oclc/251832995&referer=brief_results">The Ants’s Gold: The Discovery of the Greek El Dorado in the Himalayas</a>,” ethnologist <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/world/europe/michel-peissel-tibet-scholar-and-adventurer-dies-at-74.html">Michel Peissel</a> uncovered Herodotus’ possible inspiration: mountain-dwelling marmots, who to this day “mine” gold by layering their nests with gold dust.</p>
<h2>Fanciful stories that feed into science</h2>
<p>Geomythology is not a science. The old stories are often garbled or contradictory, and it’s always possible that they preceded the real events that today’s researchers link them with. Imaginative pre-scientific peoples might well have dreamed up various tales out of whole cloth and only later found “confirmation” in Earth events or discoveries. </p>
<p>Yet as noted, geomyths like the griffin and Cyclopes arose from specific geographical regions that feature remains not found elsewhere. The likelihood of preliterate peoples first inventing tales that then somehow corresponded closely to later fossil finds seems like a stunning coincidence. More likely, at least with some geotales, the discoveries preceded the narratives. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414650/original/file-20210804-13508-l8czzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Etruscan pottery with black figures blinding the cyclops with a spear" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414650/original/file-20210804-13508-l8czzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414650/original/file-20210804-13508-l8czzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414650/original/file-20210804-13508-l8czzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414650/original/file-20210804-13508-l8czzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414650/original/file-20210804-13508-l8czzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414650/original/file-20210804-13508-l8czzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414650/original/file-20210804-13508-l8czzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Pottery from the fifth century B.C. depicting the blinding of a Cyclops.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/etruscan-civilization-5th-century-b-c-black-figure-pottery-news-photo/122214433">DEA/G. Nimatallah/De Agostini Editorial via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Either way, geomythology can serve as a valuable ally to science. Most often, it can help to corroborate scientific findings.</p>
<p>Yet geomyths can sometimes go further and correct scientific results or raise alternative hypotheses. For example, geologist <a href="https://www.geosociety.org/awards/16speeches/mgpv.htm">Donald Swanson</a> argues that the Pele legends of Hawaii suggest that the Kilauea volcanic caldera was formed considerably earlier than previous studies had indicated. He alleges that “volcanologists were led astray” in their research on the caldera’s age “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2008.01.033">by not paying close attention to the Hawaiian oral traditions</a>.”</p>
<p>Though focused on the past, geomythology may also help to set future scientific agendas. Today’s researchers might become familiar with myths that feature weird creatures or extreme weather, and then examine the stories’ places of origins for geological and paleontological clues. Such tales might provide invaluable links with real occurrences that took place long before there was a scientist around to record them. Indeed, such stories could have endured precisely because they memorialized a traumatic or wrenching incident and were thus passed down from one generation to the next as a literal cautionary tale. </p>
<h2>Creating geomyths today for future generations</h2>
<p>Another exciting area for geomythical study is not just the researching of old myths but the creation of new ones that could alert future generations of potential dangers, whether these peoples might live in tsunami-prone regions, near nuclear waste sites like Yucca Mountain, or in some equally risky area. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414374/original/file-20210803-25-1fhv9fb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="warning sign for radioactive waste" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414374/original/file-20210803-25-1fhv9fb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414374/original/file-20210803-25-1fhv9fb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414374/original/file-20210803-25-1fhv9fb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414374/original/file-20210803-25-1fhv9fb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414374/original/file-20210803-25-1fhv9fb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414374/original/file-20210803-25-1fhv9fb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414374/original/file-20210803-25-1fhv9fb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">What if, millennia from now, no one can read or understand a sign like this?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WIPP_-_Small_Subsurface_Markers.svg">Department of Energy – Carlsbad Field Office</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Nuclear waste can remain radioactive for mind-boggling amounts of time, in some cases <a href="https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/radwaste.html#waste">up to many tens of thousands of years</a>. While placing warning labels on deposits of radioactive materials seems sensible, languages morph constantly and there’s no guarantee that present-day ones will even be spoken, let alone be understandable, in the distant future. Indeed, even stranger to contemplate is the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/03/were-underestimating-the-risk-of-human-extinction/253821/">extinction of the human race</a>, an event that some philosophers see as potentially closer than we might think. How, if at all, might we warn our distant progeny or, beyond them, our eventual post-human successors? </p>
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<p>Creating notification systems that persist throughout time is an area in which myths could be useful. Famous tales often last for many generations, sometimes proving more durable than the languages in which they were first told or spoken. Indeed, C.S. Lewis wrote that one hallmark of myth is that it “would <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/george-macdonald-c-s-lewis?variant=32117835202594">equally delight and nourish</a> if it had reached [us] by some medium which involved no words at all – say by a mime, or a film.”</p>
<p>Because they are less tied to language than literature is, myths may be easier to transmit across cultures and time. The oldest one currently on record is an <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/02/aboriginal-tale-ancient-volcano-oldest-story-ever-told">Aboriginal tale concerning a volcano</a>; it may be 35,000 years old.</p>
<p>Geomythology could thus contribute to a linguistic field known as nuclear semiotics, which <a href="https://mosaicscience.com/story/how-do-you-leave-warning-lasts-long-nuclear-waste/">grapples with the problem of</a> <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200731-how-to-build-a-nuclear-warning-for-10000-years-time">warning distant generations about hazardous waste</a>. An intentionally created geomyth might preserve and transmit crucial information from the nuclear age to our descendants, with considerable effectiveness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162071/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy John Burbery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>People tell tales to explain what they see – centuries later, scientists try to map handed-down myths onto real geological events.Timothy John Burbery, Professor of English, Marshall UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1530062021-02-22T11:54:08Z2021-02-22T11:54:08ZShould politicians showcase their own vaccinations to convince the rest of us?<p>Several political leaders have put out pictures of themselves getting a Covid-19 vaccine hoping to reassure and persuade citizens to follow suit. Could it work? If the goal is to spread the message widely and quickly, the answer is yes.</p>
<p>However, it shouldn’t be surprising that this strategy is causing a stir – particularly in countries where politicians traditionally prefer oral debate over emotion-based communication using the body as a prop.</p>
<p>Why have ritualised, in-person demonstrations by celebrity bodies become such a widespread tool for influence and persuasion?</p>
<h2>Using emotion to encourage participation</h2>
<p>French sociologist Gabriel Tarde’s foundational works of the 19th century – specifically <a href="http://classiques.uqac.ca/classiques/tarde_gabriel/lois_imitation/lois_imitation.html"><em>The Laws of Imitation</em></a> – established that a public figure’s physical representation can be used to provoke an emotional response and encourage public action dates. </p>
<p>In fact, the practice dates back <a href="https://www.augustins.org/documents/10180/15842787/corpsdoc01.pdf">even longer than this</a>. Representations of Jesus Christ and saints, kings and queens, and even deceased civilians, have all been used at different times to mobilise groups.</p>
<p>Using emotion to provoke action relies on our social need to imitate in order to feel like we are part of the group. Every community identifies with a certain charismatic figure or trusted leader. The choice to take action and follow the leader’s instructions spreads from one person to another due to this need to imitate, which makes people feel like they belong to the community.</p>
<p>This anthropological framework has been used for more than two decades in emotional marketing, which uses communication techniques developed by media according to the sociologist <a href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elihu_Katz">Elihu Katz</a>, who himself drew on Gabriel Tarde’s ideas.</p>
<h2>Turning appearance into spectacle</h2>
<p>Communications having been turned into an industry, a leader’s emotional power is enhanced by making an event out of their appearance. It’s even easier to provoke emotional projection when an image of a leader has been semiotically designed to trigger reassuring emotions.</p>
<p>Former French president François Mitterrand’s “Quiet Strength” election campaign of 1981 (created by Jacques Séguéla) blazed the trail for using a physical representation in this way. The mechanism was also at work in the recent display of Queen Elizabeth II’s image to boost British morale during the current health crisis. Images of athletes, actors and other celebrities are regularly used like this in communication campaigns to encourage imitation.</p>
<p>Social media exploits the desire to put oneself on display to provoke an emotional response. Performing our private lives online is an act intended to arouse feelings in others.</p>
<p>French President Emmanuel Macron is well versed in such communication. In a <a href="https://www.elysee.fr/en/emmanuel-macron/2020/12/18/yesterday-morning-i-tested-positive-for-covid-19-emmanuel-macron">highly commented-upon selfie</a>, sent when he tested positive for Covid-19, he placed himself in front of a carefully orchestrated, social media-friendly backdrop (French flag, hand sanitiser on desk). It’s all designed to make viewers sense Macron’s kindness, accessibility, authenticity, vulnerability and compassion.</p>
<p>Indeed, it’s hard to resist the emotions presented on the faces of such personalities. We feel moved despite ourselves.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L5Kcae-5pPQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">When French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for Covid-19, he used the opportunity to talk to the public, a relatively rare act for French presidents.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When a viewer is anxious, worried, or even scared of a situation that is out of their control, this mechanism works even more effectively. If they are not capable of making a decision for themselves, feeling emotionally fragile, they will place their trust more easily in a public figure that they believe in or deem to be authentic. Their judgement is therefore based on the emotions they feel, and this acceptance prevails over spoken arguments.</p>
<h2>Using physical representations as a communication tool</h2>
<p>In a crisis, when collective anxieties are high, using representations of public figures as part of an emotional communication strategy seems to work very well.</p>
<p>Does this mean that modern society has failed? Do science-based arguments no longer convince the public? This is a very controversial hypothesis that might be considered completely unacceptable in the modern era. </p>
<p>Yet the controversy around the publicisation of politicians getting vaccinated shows how <a href="https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/carnet-de-philo/carnet-de-philo-du-lundi-14-decembre-2020">relevant</a> it is.</p>
<p>On one side, we have Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro promoting the vaccine as if he were advertising a product for a major brand. On the other, we have the media seizing on an <a href="https://www.lci.fr/sante/le-pdg-de-pfizer-a-t-il-refuse-de-se-faire-vacciner-comme-le-dit-nicolas-dupont-aignan-2173571.html">interview with Pfizer’s CEO</a> in which he states that he won’t be jumping the queue for his company’s vaccine and reporting on it as though it is evidence of him believing the vaccine should not be trusted. This particular example also shows how a leader’s example can work as communication technique but cause mistrust.</p>
<p>So, why don’t tertiary institutions or the school system educate people to understand emotional communication? </p>
<p>As a university professor who has taught for more than 20 years, I cannot help but notice the glaring lack of instruction in this field. Somatic and emotional education is too often lumped in with <a href="https://www.sfsic.org/publication/laventure-du-corps">personal development</a>, and therefore left out of the curriculum.</p>
<p>Yet students are very interested in learning how to identify, dissociate, and name their sensations, impulses, emotions and feelings. They want to know how to analyse the ways in which a communication strategy, via different types of media, targets emotions and provokes instinctive reactions.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Translated from the French by Rosie Marsland for <a href="http://www.fastforword.fr/en">Fast ForWord</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153006/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fabienne Martin-Juchat ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Using the physical representation of a public figure to provoke an emotional response and encourage a certain action is a well-known strategy. Can it work for the COVID-19 vaccine?Fabienne Martin-Juchat, Professeure en sciences de l'Information et de la communication, Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1069292018-11-19T22:58:55Z2018-11-19T22:58:55ZThe trouble with saying ‘it’s okay to be white’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246294/original/file-20181119-76147-1um2aec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The 'It's okay to be white' poster campaign, seen in the context of reacting to 'Black Lives Matter,' cannot be seen as benign.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recently, posters were <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/hate-messages-university-manitoba-campus-1.4889084">discovered</a> on several walls at the University of Manitoba with the statement, “It’s okay to be white.” Other similar incidents were reported in <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/okay-to-be-white-halifax-1.4887174">Halifax</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/it-s-okay-to-be-white-poster-pops-up-at-u-of-r-security-investigating-1.4415514">Regina</a> and elsewhere around the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-01/its-okay-to-be-white-signs-appear-outside-mps-offices/10457140">world</a>. Most who saw the paper print-outs denounced them as hate propaganda from <a href="https://www.themanitoban.com/2018/11/decolonization-white-supremacy-and-its-okay-to-be-white/35889/">white nationalists</a>.</p>
<p>Following the incident, some media outlets, including the <a href="https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/police-searching-for-u-of-m-poster-suspects-499723481.html"><em>Winnipeg Free Press</em></a>, received an email from the alleged poster, who claimed he was a University of Manitoba student who papered the walls. </p>
<p>The student said the posters were a “protest of racially discriminatory ideology” taught at the university. He said “many professors explicitly teach in their courses that it is not okay to be white.” He added that he felt the over-reaction to the posters proves the presence of a “white-phobia” on campus.</p>
<p>One <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/metacanada/comments/9tbt1r/cbc_took_the_bait_with_the_its_okay_to_be_white/">Reddit post</a> argued that “CBC took the bait” when reporting on the posters. To people like those commenting on the Reddit thread, the poster campaign was a benign act meant to highlight liberal bias in mainstream media. But is saying “It’s okay to be white” benign? </p>
<h2>Making myths</h2>
<p>Meaning is never produced in a vacuum. Statements have historical and cultural contexts and ideology is embedded in the language we use. Written texts can produce meaning, using rhetorical devices, like metaphor and irony. </p>
<p>Things start getting complicated when we mix up the cultural meanings of things for the literal meanings. The French philosopher <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Roland-Gerard-Barthes">Roland Barthes</a> said “myths” are created when we confuse cultural meanings for literal ones. We start to believe that culture is literal instead of made. This is known as denotation versus connotation. </p>
<p>When this happens, a statement that is filled with cultural, historical and contextual biases appears natural and ahistorical. </p>
<p>“It’s okay to be white,” appears to be a literal, or denotative, message, but when we read it in context — against the backdrop of institutionalized <a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/the-equity-myth">Eurocentrism</a> and current anti-racist political movements like Black Lives Matter — we see that it is far from benign. </p>
<p>The poster believes that white identities are no longer accepted at the university. He believes a double standard exists in conversations of cultural diversity. This attitude is aligned with the alt-right, a U.S.-based white nationalist movement.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246288/original/file-20181119-76150-fqpfq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246288/original/file-20181119-76150-fqpfq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246288/original/file-20181119-76150-fqpfq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246288/original/file-20181119-76150-fqpfq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246288/original/file-20181119-76150-fqpfq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246288/original/file-20181119-76150-fqpfq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246288/original/file-20181119-76150-fqpfq3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It’s okay to be white poster photographed on the University of Toronto campus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://thevarsity.ca/2017/11/08/group-spotted-putting-up-its-okay-to-be-white-posters-on-campus/">Tom Yun/The Varsity</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The culture wars</h2>
<p>I believe the self-proclaimed alt-right, an offshoot of conservatism that combines elements of racism, white nationalism and populism, is <a href="http://winnspace.uwinnipeg.ca/handle/10680/1465">a symptom of postmodern politics of transgression and subversion</a>. It is a symptom of the diffusion of rebellion into mainstream political rhetoric and discourse. My research looks into the ideologies of <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/postmodern-theory-and-blade-runner-9781501311796/">postmodern culture and the media</a> that includes examining debates about identity politics.</p>
<p><a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-politics/">Identity politics is political or social organizing “intimately connected to the idea that some social groups are oppressed.”</a> University identity politics challenged the modern, the dominant white male narratives, that helped to shape and normalize the culture of colonialism and patriarchy. This challenge has been called <em>postmodern</em>.</p>
<p>The far right as a whole is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfHacDV-oSo">critical</a> of postmodern identity politics, but they unknowingly identify with its practices of expression. What they demonstrate is not a new rise of conservatism, but rather, according to the <em>Washington Post</em>, “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2017/11/03/where-the-alt-right-wants-to-take-america-with-or-without-trump/?utm_term=.614c42690232">a co-opting of 1960s-style liberalism</a>.” </p>
<p><a href="http://www.zero-books.net/books/kill-all-normies">Angela Nagle</a> writes that the online alt-right world is not evidence of the return of conservatism but a turn away from “church-going, upstanding, button-down, family-values conservatism.” It is “the absolute hegemony of the culture of non-conformism, self-expression, transgression and irreverence for its own sake.” </p>
<h2>Consumer culture helps build rebels</h2>
<p>Postmodern identity politics have been incorporated into popular media through consumer culture. Identity is a big part of branding campaigns, diffusing the politics of new social movements into commercial demands for representation, inclusion, diversity and tolerance. </p>
<p>Consumerism also preaches an ethic of non-conformity. Non-conformists are never satisfied with the status quo, continually seeking new ways to subvert it. For the consumer society, a non-conformist creates demand for new commodities. </p>
<p>Therefore, to be a rebel, to transgress and subvert the perceived status quo, is the dominant popular mode of identity. </p>
<p>If postmodern identity politics means subverting the Eurocentric, patriarchal and capitalist ideologies, what results from the subversion of subversion? </p>
<h2>Co-opting the resistance</h2>
<p>This month’s <a href="https://regina.ctvnews.ca/maclean-s-cover-sparking-online-controversy-1.4169525">cover</a> of <em>Maclean’s</em> magazine features an image of Canadian conservative political leaders, including the premiers of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, along with the leader of the federal conservatives, Andrew Scheer, and the leader of the Alberta conservatives, Jason Kenney. The caption that appeared across these men read, “The resistance.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1060218161654628352"}"></div></p>
<p>When the left is positioned as the status quo, those opposing them appear as “resisting.” But resisting what? This “resistance” is the basis of the <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/2748-for-a-left-populism">populist moment</a> in politics.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.lacan.com/zizpopulism.htm">Populism is a conservative ideology</a> currently reigning contemporary political discourse. Its strategy is to draw attention away from the real problem and shift it onto a false enemy or intruder whose purging will bring renewed harmony. </p>
<p>In the process, the reigning power is depicted as the resistance, appearing sympathetic towards “the people” against an imagined elite. </p>
<p>In contrast, democratic socialists like Bernie Sanders or Jeremy Corbyn, described as “left populists,” oppose the prevailing neoliberal capitalism. They assign blame to the contradictions <em>within</em> the system, rather than some enemy or intruder who disrupted the harmony of the system. “Left populism” is, therefore, a misnomer. </p>
<p>Populism is the strategy of the right in the Trump era. Whether it is the “fake media,” political correctness or migrant labour, Trumpian politics always locates some enemy or intruder. This is the populist strategy of reproducing dominance <em>in the guise of resistance</em>.</p>
<p>This is what is truly troubling about the “It’s okay to be white” campaign. It creates the confusing myth that the ruling ideology is the resistance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106929/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Flisfeder does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Posters with the phrase “It’s okay to be white” were found around the campus of the University of Manitoba. What does it really mean?Matthew Flisfeder, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Communications, University of WinnipegLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/996772018-08-03T03:23:40Z2018-08-03T03:23:40ZSeven beautiful images that share new stories of science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230148/original/file-20180801-136667-164euvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Clotted' by Eli Moore reveals microscopic details of red blood cells in a clot, and was the winning entry in the 2018 UniSA Images of Research competition. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">UniSA </span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>No one would doubt the importance of images in our contemporary culture. We live every day surrounded by them, saturated by them, trading in them. </p>
<p>As a way to tap into the power of the image, the University of South Australia runs an annual research photography competition that is open for submissions from all students and staff.</p>
<hr>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Njr8cGAJWos?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>Of 18 photos that made the finalist round, the winner of the <a href="http://www.unisa.edu.au/research/photocomp/">2018 Images of Research competition</a> is “Clotted” by <a href="http://people.unisa.edu.au/Eli.Moore">Eli Moore</a>. It reveals the microscopic details of a blood clot caused by a medical device designed to treat cardiovascular disease (shown at top).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230151/original/file-20180801-136667-t1ko8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230151/original/file-20180801-136667-t1ko8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230151/original/file-20180801-136667-t1ko8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230151/original/file-20180801-136667-t1ko8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230151/original/file-20180801-136667-t1ko8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230151/original/file-20180801-136667-t1ko8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230151/original/file-20180801-136667-t1ko8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘A journey into Australia’s tumultuous geological past, and into a groovy future’ – an image by Jan Varga that was awarded second prize in UniSA’s 2018 Images of Research competition.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UniSA</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The runner up, shown above, was submitted by Jan Varga. Jan said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>See that cracked, brown, slightly oblique and high-relief grain near the bottom left? That is the mineral kyanite, and it tells an important story related to the conditions at which this rock formed through time. </p>
<p>In fact, this rock has been dated to 1.78 billion years old, and experienced high temperatures and pressures around 380 million years ago forming the Alice Springs mountain belt.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Each image of the <a href="http://www.unisa.edu.au/research/photocomp/">18 finalists</a> provides a window on applied research related to social issues, health concerns, wicked problems and ordinary people. Importantly, they are removed from the stereotype of the isolated researcher working alone in an ivory tower. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230160/original/file-20180801-136667-f6qwt6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230160/original/file-20180801-136667-f6qwt6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230160/original/file-20180801-136667-f6qwt6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230160/original/file-20180801-136667-f6qwt6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230160/original/file-20180801-136667-f6qwt6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230160/original/file-20180801-136667-f6qwt6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230160/original/file-20180801-136667-f6qwt6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Corinna Di Niro’s ‘The Virtual Actor’ image poses the question whether there is more to being an audience member than just sitting in the dark.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UniSA</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/neuroscience-in-pictures-the-best-images-of-the-year-89077">Neuroscience in pictures: the best images of the year</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A blissful clarity</h2>
<p>We understand the importance of images in communication through a field known as <a href="http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/sem01.html">semiotics</a>, which began around 60 years ago. </p>
<p>In the late 1950s, French theorist <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/roland-barthes-myths-we-dont-outgrow">Roland Barthes</a> wrote of images’ ability to distil complex ideas and details into “a blissful clarity” creating “a world wide open and wallowing in the evident” where “things appear to mean something by themselves”. </p>
<p>Barthes followed <a href="https://www.shmoop.com/saussure/">Ferdinand de Saussure</a> and <a href="https://www.economist.com/obituary/2009/11/12/claude-levi-strauss">Claude Lévi-Strauss</a> in the field of semiotics, studying the social condition through the interrelated concepts of the sign, the signifier and the signified. These terms provide a toolkit for understanding how images function.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230152/original/file-20180801-136646-1osoaf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230152/original/file-20180801-136646-1osoaf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230152/original/file-20180801-136646-1osoaf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230152/original/file-20180801-136646-1osoaf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230152/original/file-20180801-136646-1osoaf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230152/original/file-20180801-136646-1osoaf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230152/original/file-20180801-136646-1osoaf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">UniSA researcher Ashleigh Smith’s photograph ‘Intergenerational instruction’ comes from her work exploring the benefits of children and people with dementia spending time together.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UniSA</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For semiologists, signs are units of meaning composed of two elements: a physical element (the image that you can see, called the signifier) and a mental element represented by that image (what the image makes you think about or feel, called the signified). </p>
<p>These two elements are a part of every sign, every image. You can never have a signifier without a signified, or a signified without a signifier. The process where they work together to produce meaning is called signification.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230165/original/file-20180801-136661-16cv8i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230165/original/file-20180801-136661-16cv8i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230165/original/file-20180801-136661-16cv8i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230165/original/file-20180801-136661-16cv8i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230165/original/file-20180801-136661-16cv8i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230165/original/file-20180801-136661-16cv8i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230165/original/file-20180801-136661-16cv8i2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nadeem Nazaar’s image ‘Umbilical cord’ is a representation of feticide.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UniSA</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/museum-or-not-the-changing-face-of-curated-science-tech-art-and-culture-95507">Museum or not? The changing face of curated science, tech, art and culture</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Ideologies in disguise</h2>
<p>Barthes’ primary interest in images was around exploring the political subtexts of consumerism and nationalism in the 1950s, particularly where they intersected in magazine covers and photography. </p>
<p>Barthes argued that they produced ideologies that were so widely accepted, so familiar, that they were no longer recognised as ideologies. He referred to such ideologies as myths – what we might call the “isms” like consumerism and nationalism or imperialism and capitalism. Those systems that simultaneously provide us with ways of understanding the world while also being imposed upon us.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230157/original/file-20180801-136679-10sp70u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230157/original/file-20180801-136679-10sp70u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230157/original/file-20180801-136679-10sp70u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230157/original/file-20180801-136679-10sp70u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230157/original/file-20180801-136679-10sp70u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230157/original/file-20180801-136679-10sp70u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230157/original/file-20180801-136679-10sp70u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Hairy worms’ by Genevieve Secker highlights features in the skin of a developing mouse embryo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UniSA</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since Barthes, each advance in technology has added to the visual vocabulary of images available to us. </p>
<p>For example, a digital language based around images rather than words has evolved into texting conventions such as :-) and emojis. These are very basic signifiers and signifieds we all employ as mobile phone users today. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-i-use-emoji-in-research-and-teaching-75399">Why I use emoji in research and teaching</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Images as a currency</h2>
<p>Signification is the space where advertisers and public relations professionals work, encouraging you to think “McDonalds” rather than “hamburger” or “Google” rather than “search”. </p>
<p>It is also the currency of social media: from the ephemeral images of Snapchat capturing a moment (or body part), to carefully constructed selfies and memes designed to go viral, to the strategic use of filters and framing to develop the fun and/or sexy images that populate Instagram, Tinder and Grindr. </p>
<p>Moving from entertainment to news media, signification is just as vital a part of journalism. Nick Ut’s 1972 photo of Kim Phuc – naked, burned by Agent Orange, running down a road – is one of the most common images we think of when we think about the Vietnam War.</p>
<p>Indeed, public sentiment around armed engagement in Vietnam changed because of the nature and power of the images the news media provided, leading to that conflict being described as the war that was lost in the living rooms of America.</p>
<p>What links all of these uses of images is Barthes’ underlying idea of the image being able to convey complex ideas, details and emotions quickly and succinctly. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230141/original/file-20180801-136652-ao3s53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230141/original/file-20180801-136652-ao3s53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230141/original/file-20180801-136652-ao3s53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230141/original/file-20180801-136652-ao3s53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230141/original/file-20180801-136652-ao3s53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230141/original/file-20180801-136652-ao3s53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230141/original/file-20180801-136652-ao3s53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aeroplane safety guides are designed to be simple and clear.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/doha-qatar-november-2017-guide-emergency-1047987202?src=sbTydMjC6sgxxOrITEwF_A-1-4">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Barthes’ blissful clarity has great utility for government, technology, legal and health organisations – where complicated and unfamiliar jargon can often lead to misunderstandings. </p>
<p>Think for example of the attempt at clarity provided by the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Security’s use of comics to <a href="http://junkee.com/government-teaches-the-world-that-australia-is-terrible-in-one-convenient-comic-book/28896">dissuade asylum seekers from paying people smugglers to travel to Australia</a> or, more successfully, the clarity provided by the safety guide in the seat pocket of an aeroplane. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/refugee-crisis-the-immediate-and-lasting-impacts-of-powerful-images-98312">Refugee crisis: the immediate and lasting impacts of powerful images</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Better use of images is incredibly important for academic researchers, where fields of knowledge each have their own distinct and complex vocabularies that can inhibit or delay the translation of research findings to broader audiences. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230158/original/file-20180801-136670-u68njh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230158/original/file-20180801-136670-u68njh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230158/original/file-20180801-136670-u68njh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230158/original/file-20180801-136670-u68njh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=266&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230158/original/file-20180801-136670-u68njh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230158/original/file-20180801-136670-u68njh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230158/original/file-20180801-136670-u68njh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Moein Kashani’s image ‘A Butterfly in Microchannel’ reveals how liquids flow in tiny channels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UniSA</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Here, images can provide a common language that engages the general public with something they know, something that is already familiar to them, while providing a new perspective on, or contribution to, knowledge in that area. </p>
<p>In this way, the image becomes an important way to close the gap between academy and community, putting researchers in direct contact with the general public.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99677/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Bainbridge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Images taken out of a research context and shared with the public offer a way to connect scientists with the broader world – and vice versa. These photos are stunning examples.Jason Bainbridge, Professor of Media and Communication, Head of the School of Creative Industries, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/552522016-02-24T10:30:28Z2016-02-24T10:30:28ZUmberto Eco’s true achievements were era-defining – but no one seems to understand them<p>Amid the sadness following the death of Umberto Eco, it is dispiriting to find that so many obituary writers are not clear on what he actually did. </p>
<p>Certainly Eco is recognised as a major novelist, despite his subsequent novels never matching the success of his first, The Name of the Rose. He has also been feted as a philosopher, a historian and one of a dying breed of public intellectuals. Yet it is his underpinning role as a professor of semiotics that has proved most troublesome for the popular press to assess.</p>
<p>The problem is that many are not quite sure what semiotics is. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/20/arts/international/umberto-eco-italian-semiotician-and-best-selling-author-dies-at-84.html?_r=0">The New York Times</a> obituary refers to it as an “arcane field”. <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-umberto-eco-writer-1-4035398">The Scotsman</a> refers to “the esoteric theory of semiotics”, while <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/umberto-eco-best-selling-author-of-the-name-of-the-rose-dies-at-84/2016/02/20/88831008-d7e0-11e5-9823-02b905009f99_story.html">The Washington Post</a> has it that semiotics is “the study of signs, symbols and hidden messages” which, when coupled with the reporting of Eco’s specialism in the history of the Middle Ages, makes him seem like a character in a Dan Brown novel.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/20/umberto-eco-obituary">The Guardian</a> does no better, disdainfully suggesting that semiotics is “an abstruse branch of literary theory”, the exact phrase that is used in the obituary in <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/12166142/Umberto-Eco-obituary.html">The Telegraph</a>. <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/umberto-eco-author-and-semiotician-who-shot-to-global-fame-with-his-medieval-murder-mystery-the-name-a6887621.html">The Independent</a> marks a slight improvement, with semiotics as “the study of signs and meaning in communications”. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35620368">The BBC</a>, for reasons which can only be guessed at, does not even mention semiotics, noting only that Eco was professor emeritus at the University of Bologna.</p>
<h2>Eating peas</h2>
<p>They may not know what semiotics is, but many are quick to condemn it. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/12166142/Umberto-Eco-obituary.html">The Telegraph</a> is predictably swift in pouring scorn on Eco as such an influential left-of-centre voice, referring further to semiotics as according “world-historical significance to trivia” and dubbing Eco as “a sort of portmanteau intellectual, giving his views on everything from how to eat peas with a plastic fork to changing concepts of beauty”.</p>
<p>Far from according world-historical significance to trivia, semiotics has consistently led the way in eradicating subjective value judgements from all cultural artefacts, including those which have been said to have been born with, achieved or had greatness thrust upon them. Semiotics, as Eco formulated it, is a matter of understanding how sign systems work. </p>
<p>One of the key concepts of semiotics, <a href="http://mimesisinternational.com/the-invention-of-the-text/">invented</a> concurrently by <a href="http://www.britannica.com/biography/Roland-Gerard-Barthes">Roland Barthes</a> and <a href="https://www.ut.ee/SOSE/lotman_eng.html">Juri Lotman</a> in the early 1960s, is “the text”. Rather than a “work”, which indicates some higher purpose of an authorial genius, “the text” indicates a fabric of devices designed through habitual use of signs to reach a particular audience. Any collection of signs is a text. The concept was in the vanguard of the dismantling of the imaginary dividing line between so-called “high” and popular culture.</p>
<p>For those with a vested interest in high culture, the abolition of the great divide still rankles. The Telegraph derides Eco’s novels for being too difficult while lamenting the “infection” resulting from his democratisation of the process of interpretation. It’s the classic bourgeois demand that culture be reserved for an elite but without requiring too much effort from them to enjoy it. The alternative to such philistinism in the face of closed cultural divides seems to have been the middle-class colonisation of popular culture in the post-Hornby romance with football, for example, or with the ubiquity of Coldplay on BBC executives’ iPhones.</p>
<h2>What is semiotics?</h2>
<p>But, in drawing attention to sign systems, semiotics does not simply represent a mission to abolish cultural hierarchies. It has much bigger fish to fry. This makes its vision difficult to pin down and to sum up. So, just to be clear, what is semiotics?</p>
<p>Well, among other things, it’s “the theory of semiosis (the action of signs)”. But latterly it has evolved into the study of the “objective world” that is constructed by all species out of their own signs. This comprises the signification of all living things. </p>
<p>Eco tracked the definition of semiotics by reference to the shelving of semiotics books in a Harvard bookshop. First, they were in linguistics; then, in cultural studies; by 1999, when he addressed the <a href="http://www.iass-ais.org">International Association for Semiotic Studies</a> in Dresden, the books were filed under “cognitive science” – although he did worry that, the next time he looked, they would be under “New Age”.</p>
<p>But while this worry might only be relevant in the context of some hapless obituarists, a greater concern occupied Eco in his final years. That concern, expressed in his “<a href="http://www.wordeffects.com/notes-quotes-and-chatter/uberto-eco-letter-to-my-grandson">Letter to my grandson</a>” was that people are losing their memory. The availability of the internet, he explains, could entail that people cease to engage in mnemonics to store their knowledge and memories in their brains. So he exhorts his grandson to try to remember football teams from different eras; those aboard La Hispaniola when it went in search of Treasure Island; the names of the servants of the Three Musketeers and d’Artagnan; who the Hittites and Camisards were; the names of Columbus’ three ships; when the dinosaurs became extinct; whether there was a steering wheel on Noah’s ark, and so on. </p>
<p>His advice foreshadows the interdisciplinary breadth of vision that semiotics demands. It also offers a strong sense of semiotics’ contemporary bearing – not just as a thorn in the side of elitists but as a key to understanding the relation of culture and cognition.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55252/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Cobley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>He offered a glorious insight into the wonders of semiotics.Paul Cobley, Professor in Language and Media, Middlesex UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.