Juri Lotman and the Semiotics of Culture: Contemporary Applications

Semiotic theory of culture & applications of the theory
The course gives an overview of relevant theoretical and philosophical perspectives necessary for appreciating Lotman’s theory and intellectual approach, from Russian literary theory and various semiotic theories to the theory of complex systems etc. However, the course puts an emphasis on the ways Lotman’s ideas are used and developed further in order to analyse a variety of processes in contemporary culture and society.

Languages of culture as modelling systems
Theory of modelling systems is one of the most important contributions of Tartu-Moscow School to semiotic theory. Understanding diverse cultural languages as modelling systems used for creating world models (texts), and learning to evaluate the modelling capacity of these systems is central for understanding information processes and mechanisms in culture. The course introduces Lotman’s approach to semiotic mechanisms shared by arts and media as cognitive-semiotic systems. Theoretical overviews are accompanied with practical analysis.

Textuality of culture: texts and textualization
Textuality of culture was one of the central approaches of Lotman that helped to connect the analysis of individual texts as information bearing models and their interrelationships to the broader functioning of culture as a mechanism that creates, stores and communicates information. We learn how to use textuality as a tool for analysing culture, cultural memory as well as social and environmental spaces. In addition, the course addresses new textual formats and functioning of new media spaces.

Relations between languages and texts in culture: translation, inter- and transmediality
Lotman’s understanding of communication as translation, the role of translatability and untranslatability as mechanisms of cultural cohesion and as cultural innovation has been used fruitfully in translation studies and in media studies. The course introduces Lotman’s approach to translation and its application in contemporary research in contemporary translation and media studies including topics like transmediality and new media.

Cultural memory, history and affective communication
Lotman’s writings on history and memory can serve as a valuable dialogue partner for contemporary history theory, cultural history and cultural memory studies, and enhance  understanding of intercultural relations. His focus on the dynamic nature of collective memory and emphasis on the creative function as well as the importance of forgetting remain topical among contemporary memory scholars. We apply Lotman’s ideas for the analysis of present-day historical cultures, processes of remembering and forgetting and memory conflicts. Also, Lotman’s approach to semiotics of fear is applied to analyse various contemporary socio-cultural discourses.

Semiosphere, cultural autocommunication and self-models
The central topic and gathering point of all the above mentioned topics is Lotman’s theory of culture, his model of semiosphere and discussion of continuous and explosive processes in culture. Understanding culture as complex self-descriptive and self-organizing system combines the issues of history and cultural memory, textuality and sign systems, providing thus tools for holistic cultural analysis across all the levels of culture. But it also offers a practical tool for analysing and designing cultural innovations.