Anthropology 430
Signs
Full course for one semester. This course is a critical
introduction to anthropological analysis of sign systems. We begin
with a close examination of the power and limits of the basic idea
of anthropological structuralism, as fashioned by Lévi-Strauss in
an attempted adaptation of breakthroughs in phonology to the study
of cultural process at large: the idea that the significance of a
sign rests in its positional value within a system of other
elements. We then examine some alternative or complementary
approaches to signs, which are all broadly "pragmatic" in the sense
that they focus more squarely on problems in the relation between
sign systems and sign use. Prerequisite: Anthropology 211 or 311 or
Linguistics 311. Conference.
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