Cultural studies and interpretive research

Myth, Place, and the Loss of Culture in Small-Town America: The Communication of Cultural Infringement in Waterloo, Nebraska

by Adam Knowlton

The central issue that this study sought to address was the loss of culture as a larger metropolis infringed upon a... more The central issue that this study sought to address was the loss of culture as a larger metropolis infringed upon a small rural community.  To address this problem, the purpose of this interpretive study was to understand how the citizens of Waterloo, Nebraska experience and communicate the loss of their village’s culture. To gather data, this study utilized a combination of convenience and typical case sampling.  The citizens were interviewed at a location of their choosing in order to gain a richer understanding of the phenomenon of human reactions to cultural infringement by bringing the lived experiences of the participants to light. This data lead to the myths of the bedroom community, and community as family.  The themes resulting from this study may prove useful for both the citizens of Waterloo, Nebraska and researchers alike as it illustrates how a community communicates and experiences the loss of their mythic sense of culture and place. Additionally, the values and myths associated with the metropolis’s infringement appear to simultaneously constrain action, while producing discussion. 

I Saw the Sign and it [Could Have] Opened up my Eyes: A Semiotic Analysis of 200 Cigarettes Reveals How not to Shoot an Eventual Cult Favourite

by Parnick Musick

Said by one of the great professors at Guilford College to be the "most professional and in-depth look at the Semiotics of the Cult Film in College History." I would venture to say that Semiotics are not too popular with kids my age, but there you go. This is not my historical work, but ain't nobody can say that this is not some serious critical thought. Even you historians, read! Oh, and see the Movie!

This essay is a hybrid semiotic and linguistic contextualist analysis of "200 Cigarettes," a failed become... more This essay is a hybrid semiotic and linguistic contextualist analysis of "200 Cigarettes," a failed become to becomes a cult film after it was released in 1996. This film contained the correct ingredients to become a cult classic. But it did not do so. After establishing a set of a set of internal and external and related them as a matrix of signifying activities characteristic of Cult films in general. It operates its textual analysis by placing ultimate significance on the audience’s role as interpret ant of the film in the same way the readers interpret texts through the semiotic model of the Pierian Triangle. “200’s” audience was not persuaded by the sings they encountered, they were overwhelmed. They were bombarded by modality cues for referentiality was either external (relating to the 1990s) or internal to sings that ultimately diverted audience attention to the numerous empty signifiers within the film like the 200 some odd smoke breaks. But sadly, key moments of poignancy and interpretive significance for the viewing subjects were lost because of this paradigmatic overdrive. The cultural anxieties which invade this film, which its audience would see as moments of release had they not been distracted, do so at moments far removed from the crucial pragmatic sign systems to which they refer and thus the meanings and audience responses which this film could have achieved never materialized.

Mentoring and Reporting Research: A Concern for Aesthetics

by Donna Alvermann

Co-authored with George G. Hruby

(2005) « Le sens de l’équivoque. Les usages de la psychanalyse en anthropologie », Anthropologie et sociétés, vol. 29, numéro 1 : 205-214

by Samuel Lézé

Review article in French

Illuminating the Burials in the Aegean Bronze Age: Natural & Artificial Light in a Mortuary Context

by Konstantinos (Costas) Papadopoulos

Proceedings of Computer Applications & Quantitative Methods in Archaeology 2009 – UK Chapter (Liverpool 6-7 February 2009)

Illumination within ancient environments was dependant on daylight and flame, offering a great number of advantages,... more Illumination within ancient environments was dependant on daylight and flame, offering a great number of advantages, helping people in their everyday lives. Due to the fact that the light can be related to the uses of a particular area, visualising the illumination can participate in the study of its functional use. In addition, of particular interest in archaeology is the use of light in connection with religious phenomena or afterlife perceptions especially in mortuary contexts. For these reasons, lighting is one of the characteristics that give to each construction its own personality and deeply affects the way we perceive them. This paper will discuss the results of the illumination study for the Minoan cemetery at Phourni, Crete, while mentioning any constraints. It will also address problems and innovative components, suggesting potential solutions and recommending additional work for the future.

Structural and Lighting Models for the Minoan Cemetery at Phourni, Crete

by Konstantinos (Costas) Papadopoulos

Co-authored with Graeme Earl

The importance of death to the living is of interest to scholars in a range of disciplines. This paper describes a... more The importance of death to the living is of interest to scholars in a range of disciplines. This paper describes a computer-based research project undertaken to create a series of alternative readings of the dataset from the Minoan cemetery at Phourni, Crete. This attempted to evaluate the tombs’ architecture, use, visual impact, their capacity as well as the contribution of illumination to their interior, by using computer graphic methodologies. However, since the software deployed is primarily developed for use in other fields, there are certain limitations and difficulties for a virtual reconstruction of such an archaeological site, which can prevent production of a model that is accurate in every detail. This paper will discuss the results and these constraints. It will also address problems and innovative components, suggesting potential solutions and recommending additional work for the future.

Virtual Windows to the Past: Reconstructing the Ceramics Workshop at Zominthos, Crete

by Konstantinos (Costas) Papadopoulos

Co-authored with Yannis Sakellarakis. In Proceedings of the XXXVIII Conference in Computer Applications in Archaeology, Granada, Spain 6-9 April 2010

At the northeast corner of the Central Building, Room 13, which has been reasonably characterised as a Ceramics... more At the northeast corner of the Central Building, Room 13, which has been reasonably characterised as a Ceramics Workshop, was unearthed in 1989. It is a 15-square-metre area with more than 250 vessels for everyday use, some bronze and stone tools, a potter’s wheel, and a basin in the middle of the room. Ceramics were placed on two benches running along the northern and southern walls, some of which were found in situ. Some of them may have also been positioned on wooden shelves along the walls, as indicated by the great quantity of carbonised wood revealed.
However, there are two peculiar characteristics, which need further investigation: Although the walls are preserved to a significant height, no window was revealed. 2. The basin in the middle of the room, is an extraordinary find.

This project is an ideal example of the contribution of three-dimensional computer applications in archaeological interpretation. Before this project, Room 13 was characterised without any question as a ceramics workshop. The various peculiar characteristics were faced as exceptions to what is known to date about pottery production. However, our virtual windows to the past, proved that the contribution of light to the interior, was not sufficient to consider this construction as a working space. Mainly the lighting analysis, as well as several reasons closely related to the archaeology of this building and the ethnographic comparators used, make it probable that the ceramics workshop was used for multiple tasks, such as the storage and drying of vessels produced in another area of the Central Building.

Heritage and Hermeneutics: Towards a Broader Interpretation of Interpretation

by Phillip Ablett

Co-authored with Prof. Pam Dyer and Published in Current Issues in Tourism. Vol. 12, No. 3, May 2009, 209–233

This article re-examines the theoretical basis for environmental and heritage interpretation in tourist settings in... more This article re-examines the theoretical basis for environmental and heritage interpretation in tourist settings in the light of hermeneutic philosophy. It notes that the pioneering vision of heritage interpretation formulated by Freeman Tilden envisaged a broadly educational, ethically informed and transformative art. By contrast, current cognitive psychological attempts to reduce interpretation to the monological transmission of information, targeting universal but individuated cognitive structures, are found to be wanting. Despite growing signs of diversity, this information processing approach to interpretation remains dominant. The article then presents the alternative paradigm of hermeneutics through the works of Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Heidegger and Gadamer, to provide a broader interpretation of interpretation. This not only captures the essence of Tilden's definition but construes heritage interpretation as a more inclusive, culturally situated, critically reflexive and dialogical practice.

Keywords: environmental interpretation; heritage tourism; hermeneutics; Gadamer;
Heidegger; Tilden