Edusemiotics


Book Description

Edusemiotics addresses an emerging field of inquiry, educational semiotics, as a philosophy of and for education. Using "sign" as a unit of analysis, educational semiotics amalgamates philosophy, educational theory and semiotics. Edusemiotics draws on the intellectual legacy of such philosophers as John Dewey, Charles Sanders Peirce, Gilles Deleuze and others across Anglo-American and continental traditions. This volume investigates the specifics of semiotic knowledge structures and processes, exploring current dilemmas and debates regarding self-identity, learning, transformative and lifelong education, leadership and policy-making, and interrogating an important premise that still haunts contemporary educational philosophy: Cartesian dualism. In defiance of substance dualism and the fragmentation of knowledge that still inform education, the book offers a unifying paradigm for education as edusemiotics and emphasises ethical education in compliance with the semiotic unity between knowledge and action. Chapters contain accessible discussions in the context of educational philosophy and theory, crossing the borders between logic, art, and science together with a provocative theoretical critique. Recently awarded a PESA book award for its contribution to the philosophy of education, Edusemiotics will appeal to an academic readership in education, philosophy and cultural studies, while also being an inspiring resource for students.




Edusemiotics – A Handbook


Book Description

Edusemiotics is a pioneering area of study that connects semiotics – the science of signs – with educational theory and the philosophy of education. This volume reflects cutting-edge research by scholars in education and in semiotics worldwide, bridging the two discourses to present the state of the art in this new transdisciplinary field. The book’s emphasis is on educational theory as based on semiotic philosophy: as such, it challenges the current conception of semiotics in education as merely a sub-branch of applied semiotics. It presents edusemiotics as a novel unified conceptual framework at the interface of theoretical semiotics and educational philosophy, based on both theoretical and empirical studies from around the world. The chapters in this handbook also bring to the fore the intellectual legacy of Charles S. Peirce, John Dewey, Gilles Deleuze, Umberto Eco, Julia Kristeva, Mikhail Bakhtin, Paul Ricoeur, Martin Heidegger and other thinkers, pointing out the implications of edusemiotics for meaningful pedagogy and experiential learning in diverse contexts.




The Edusemiotics of Images


Book Description

Semetsky’s new book offers a bracing account of Tarot semiotics in view of its deep significance for educational experience. Analyzing the symbolic language of Tarot images that express the intimations of the unconscious, she invites readers to explore novel ways of learning about the nature of ourselves and the world we are situated in. Combining thorough research with an accessible style, this groundbreaking book is essential reading for present and future generations of practitioners, academics and students across disciplines. Pia Brînzeu, Professor of English Literature and Vice-Rector of the Universityof Timis ̧oara, Romania; author of Corridors of Mirrors. A sequel to the author’s Re-Symbolization of the Self: Human Development and Tarot Hermeneutic and Semiotics Education Experience, Semetsky’s new book presents the Tarot sign-system as a school of ethical living. Bringing the philosophies of Peirce, Deleuze, Dewey, Whitehead and Gebser in a dialogue with the cutting-edge science of coordination dynamics, she grounds the art of Tarot in the logic of signs acting across nature, culture and human mind. Building on Noddings’ “maternal factor”, Semetsky demonstrates how the lessons embodied in Tarot symbolism recover the feminine value of relations and contribute to Self~Other integration. Such is the message of Tarot images. The Image is the Message. Igor Klyukanov, Professor of Communication, Eastern Washington University, USA; editor, Russian Journal of Communication; author of A Communication Universe: Manifestations of Meaning, Stagings of Significance. Semetsky’s amalgamation of the techniques of visual communication with the emerging field of edusemiotics is an absolute masterpiece in transdisciplinarity. By forging diverse strands of inquiry into an overall model of how images enhance learning, Semetsky’s new book provokes us to take a fresh look at iconic information and is a required reading for everyone who is engaged with the art and science of visual semiotics at the intersection of nature and culture. Marcel Danesi, Professor of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Canada; editor-in-chief, Semiotica; author of The Quest for Meaning: A Guide to Semiotic Theory and Practice. Finally. An in-depth look at Tarot from within the field of semiotics, a perspective that had been inexplicably overlooked until now. As a language of exile from language, Tarot cards are silent words that became images. Here is a book that turns our thirst for symbols into a learning tool. The sign sings in Inna Semetsky’s work. Enrique Enriquez, (con)temporary tarot, www.tarologyfilm.com; author of Tarology.




Pedagogy and Edusemiotics


Book Description

This book represents an essential resource exploring semiotics for education: Edusemiotics. It opens new pathways of engaging with signs inside/outside schools and across theory, practice, poetry, art, technology and politics. Peter Pericles Trifonas, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto. Author of Reading Culture and Deconstructing the Machine (with Jacques Derrida) This trenchant collection of essays successfully integrates the scientific rigors of semiotics with a sophisticated application of creative arts in the context of both formal and informal pedagogy. The groundbreaking research in this volume represents a long- overdue inquiry into multiple relations and cross-currents in education worldwide and as informed by such luminaries as Peirce, Bahktin, Greimas, Kristeva, Havel, and other thinkers. A must to read! Thomas E. Peterson, University of Georgia (USA). Author of The Revolt of the Scribe in Modern Italian Literature and numerous essays in Educational Philosophy and Theory The book comprises a series of ingenious semiotic approaches to educational theory, practice and research. It represents a synthesis of analytic reason with poetics and images to enrich the meaning of education. John Deely, Professor of Philosophy, University of St. Thomas (Houston, USA). Author of Four Ages of Understanding: The First Postmodern Survey of Philosophy from Ancient Times to the Turn of the Twenty-First Century




Semiotic Subjectivity in Education and Counseling


Book Description

Semiotic Subjectivity in Education and Counseling demonstrates the importance of addressing the concept of the unconscious in learning. Exploring the innovative concept of edusemiotics, it challenges the received notion of learning as solely academic and linguistic, instead offering an ethico-aesthetic paradigm that draws on transdisciplinary research in the context of this new direction in educational theory. The chapters explore the production of subjectivity within the process of semiosis as the action and transformation of signs. An unorthodox pedagogy of the unconscious blends with the therapeutic dimension and produces subjectivities that emerge in the midst of the relational dynamics of experience. The book argues for holistic education that rejects the schism between matter and spirit pervading Western thinking and represents a shift in rethinking spirituality while never separating it from logic and reason. Giving voice to the unconscious contributes to learning and changing our habits as an important objective in educative and counseling practices. The book critically examines the legacy of Charles S. Peirce, Lev S. Vygotsky and other forerunners of edusemiotics. It will be essential reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students across the fields of educational philosophy, educational psychology and counseling as well as science studies.




Indirect Pedagogy


Book Description

While existential issues perhaps concern people the most, today’s education is not as preoccupied with such issues. Instead, education is becoming more uniform and streamlined; more and more one-sidedly directed towards what is useful. The purpose of this book is to focus on education’s existential dimension. Such a focus requires at least three things. Firstly, we need to justify why it is necessary to reconnect with existentialism in education. Secondly, we need to undergo an examination of the quality of existential education, so that we can have a basis as to what kind of educational interests teachers should have. Thirdly, we need to gain knowledge about how teachers may teach in light of existential matters. However, to teach in light of existence is highly paradoxical in that existence cannot be forced on someone, but is rather a subjective matter. Teaching which is non-ironical or too direct can thus be very problematic concerning existential issues. The reason being that there is no objective truth in terms of existence. There is only a matter of subjective or existential truth, which is only true for the single individual. Therefore, the book suggests that the approach teachers’ take must be discrete and indirect so as to create room for students to take responsibility for their subjective truth. Such an indirect pedagogy is not a programme, but rather a form of existential education. The overall aim of the book is, by way of introducing and developing the concept of indirect pedagogy, to extend and reinvent the language of teaching.




Inquiry Graphics in Higher Education


Book Description

This book introduces the concept of Inquiry Graphics, which positions graphics as significant and integrated tools of inquiry in higher education teaching and research. Simply put, the book explores the nuances of thinking and learning with digital images as types of graphics. Although the amount of images in modern life is overwhelming, they have been scarcely explored and understood as integral to concept and knowledge development within higher education practice. This book reflects on why and how digital photographs can be adapted and used in teaching and research contexts. It provides practical examples and applications, as well as theoretical foundations, building on a range of perspectives, such as Peircean triadic sign and approaches to conceptual development. Ultimately, it builds on diverse approaches to make a case for exploring knowledge and analysing concepts and images in a non-dualist and pluralist manner. This unique book will appeal to scholars and students in education studies and educational research, media and communication, and anyone interested in applied semiotics, visual and multimodal pedagogy and learning.




Signs of Signification


Book Description

This book discusses a significant area of mathematics education research in the last two decades and presents the types of semiotic theories that are employed in mathematics education. Following on the summary of significant issues presented in the Topical Survey, Semiotics in Mathematics Education, this book not only introduces readers to semiotics as the science of signs, but it also elaborates on issues that were highlighted in the Topical Survey. In addition to an introduction and a closing chapter, it presents 17 chapters based on presentations from Topic Study Group 54 at the ICME-13 (13th International Congress on Mathematical Education). The chapters are divided into four major sections, each of which has a distinct focus. After a brief introduction, each section starts with a chapter or chapters of a theoretical nature, followed by others that highlight the significance and usefulness of the relevant theory in empirical research.




Relational and Multimodal Higher Education


Book Description

This book proposes a relational turn in higher education by conceptualizing knowledge and pedagogy as relational and multimodal, analyzed through three dimensions of relationality: social, technological, and environmental. The volume draws on interdisciplinary approaches that make a case for integrating these interconnected and distinct dimensions in higher education theory and practice. Its novelty lies in combining such a variety of perspectives with Peircean semiotics to explore what it means to learn and live relationally. It emphasizes the importance of critical reflection, rooted in an environmental understanding of knowledge and digital media. This approach integrates materiality, place, and space in higher education, positioning caring, critically reflective and imaginative interactions and interpretations as central for knowledge growth. The volume features practical case studies of relational pedagogy through dialogues with diverse higher education practitioners, which embrace expression and creation through more than one dominant modality of communication and being. The book envisions students and educators as relational agents, with relational awareness and responsibility, aware of their multimodal identities. It highlights how a relational multimodal paradigm can serve as a way forward for universities to address global challenges concerning social, (post)digital, and environmental futures. This innovative book will be of interest to scholars, students, teachers, and policymakers in higher education, semiotics and multimodality, as well as postdigital, sociomaterial and futures studies.




International Handbook of Semiotics


Book Description

This book provides an extensive overview and analysis of current work on semiotics that is being pursued globally in the areas of literature, the visual arts, cultural studies, media, the humanities, natural sciences and social sciences. Semiotics—also known as structuralism—is one of the major theoretical movements of the 20th century and its influence as a way to conduct analyses of cultural products and human practices has been immense. This is a comprehensive volume that brings together many otherwise fragmented academic disciplines and currents, uniting them in the framework of semiotics. Addressing a longstanding need, it provides a global perspective on recent and ongoing semiotic research across a broad range of disciplines. The handbook is intended for all researchers interested in applying semiotics as a critical lens for inquiry across diverse disciplines.