carry meaning
Signs relate to Cultural identity in a sense that we give them the meaning ourselves. Without people to give meaning to these signs they would have no meaning at all, and the meaning of these signs can differ culturally or even just individually.
The implications of this argument are very far-reaching for a theory of representation and for our understanding of culture. If the relationship between a signifier and its signified is the result of a system of social conventions specific to each society and to specific historical moments -then all meanings are produced within history and culture. They can never be finally fixed but are always subject to change, both from one cultural context and from one period to another. There is thus no single. unchanging, universal 'true meaning'. 'Because it is arbitrary, the sign is totally subject to history and the combination at the particular moment of a given signifier and signified is a contingent result of the historical process' (Culler, 1976, p. 36). This opens up meaning and representation, in a radical way, to history and change. It is true that Saussure himself focused exclusively on the state of the language system at one moment of time rather than looking at linguistic change over time. However, for our purposes. the important point is the way this approach to language unfixes meaning, breaking any natural and inevitable tie between signifier and signified. This opens representation to the constant 'play' or slippage of meaning. to the constant production of new meanings, new interpretations.
The meanings we place as a society on certain things are dependent on social standards and our understanding of things based on our culture from the past and in the present. Since, we are constantly evolving not only individually but culturally, these meanings that we place on things are free to change just as we are. Therefore, we cant say that there is only one meaning because not only can the meaning change based on who is giving it but also the period in history this is occurring in. While Saussure chose mainly to focus on language in one moment rather than the change that occurs throughout history, it is important to recognize that through language the possibilities are endless. The diversity y of language allows an endless amount of meanings and interpretations from culture to culture or even just from person to person.
eflective or mimetic
not the actual thing
It means that signs themselvescannot fix meaning. Instead. meaning depends on the relation between a signand a concept which is fixed by a code. Meaning, the constructionists wouldsay, is 'relational'.
And the relations are subject to change culturally, or maybe even individually.
t is the difference between Red andGreen which signifies.
It is what it means to that specific culture that makes it important.
stands for, symbolizes or represents
How do these meanings change as the culture evolves? How does it differing from what it would symbolize or how people in that culture in the past would communicate compared to now?
enter into the rules, codes and conventions of language
This is true for every language and culture.
The Iliad!
(For the text below it) Similar to the story we read in anthropology, just because somebody understanding of something or way of doing things differs from your doesn't mean either one is incorrect because both are correct to your individual culture.
makes things mean
We have the power as individuals to give meaning to these things, and the meaning to which these things have can differ culturally.
To belong to a culture is to belong to roughly the same conceptual and linguistic universe, to know how concepts and ideas translate into different languages, and how language can be interpreted to refer to or reference the world.
It is a unifying factor for those who are a part of that culture.
constructed by the system of representation.
Different cultures have similar language codes that give meaning within these cultures, but the sequence that they are arranged and used in are unique to that culture.
They bear no obvious relationship at all to the things to which they refer. The letters T ,R,E,E, do not look anything like trees in Nature, nor does the word 'tree' in English sound like 'real' trees
The signs that we use to represent things usually have no real connection to what these things actually are and they differ culturally as well, even though that object remains the same the way that someone refers to it or even its cultural significance can vary.
The circuit of culture
Culture is connected to everything around us. We are born with the ability to make these distinctions between culture but the way in which we make these distinctions are inherited by society, and how we raised in own own unique cultures.
Representation is an essential part of the process by which meaning is produced and exchanged between members of a culture. It does involve the use of language, of signs and images which stand for or represent things.
Different cultures place importance on different ideas and concepts that to another culture may have no importance at all.
language.
Native speakers of the same language can share their own individual cultural norms when the differences between languages lead to differences in translation between people in different cultures, as well as the understanding of texts written in different languages.
INTRODUCTION
Communication between people is the main way that meaning is given to these cultural norms. Through this exchange we see that people have the power when it comes to how we view culture as a society, which is important because without this ability we most likely wouldn't get the cultural representation that we all deserve.
In addition to reproducing the tools and roles associated with the blacksmith, the children also employ the appropriate vocabulary to designate the tools and the actors; that is, the blacksmith is referred to as "smith" or "old man," the girls as "wife," the assistant as "boy" or "son."
They are interested in this from a young age
The field of inquiry is large indeed, but for two reasons I focused primarily, if not exclusively, on children's play. First, play (certain play forms, in particular) was often mentioned by adult informants as being important in shaping proper behavior and attitudes, and, second, a prominent theory used to account for the adaptive significance of play is that it provides a context for the learning and practice of adult skills (see Lancy, in press b). From the beginning of my study, I observed children in play and at an early stage began to pick up precursors of the blacksmith's role
The children imitate what the adults do when they are playing
Apprenticeship in Gbarngasuakwelle seems to be limited to situations where complex skills are learned. Observation and imitation as learning techniques are present here as in other simpler types of skill learning. In apprenticeship, however, there is a much greater emphasis on performance, evaluation, and motivation. If a person desires to learn a complex skill, he must be highly motivated. The teacher or master's high fees added to his tactics of harassment and punishment will scare off all but the most determined. This has the dual effect of limiting the number of individuals who can practice certain skills, guaranteeing a livelihood for those who can, and saves the master from wasting his valuable time on unmotivated or unskilled appren- tices.
They only want the best working in these jobs
Gbarngasuakwelle, medicine, ritual, and secrecy are densely interwoven. As an example, an older woman was found guilty of having slandered another woman, so she was sentenced to perform an oath. She had to swear that she meant no harm to the woman and that she would not do it again. The ritual that surrounds oath taking is called mena. The blacksmith laid several of his tools in an oval-shaped flat basket normally used to winnow rice, and then laid this on the ground in front of the woman. She placed two kola nuts in the basket as evidence of her good faith. Then the woman to whom she swore placed her comb in the basket to affirm her good faith. As the woman made her oath the blacksmith cut off the head of a chicken and sprinkled its blood over the items assembled in the basket. Then the chicken was cooked with a pot of rice, and the woman had to eat it. If she had sworn falsely or insincerely, the medicine would have caught her and she would die. Here the medicine is not a tangible substance, but rather the force of all the assembled good things-the rice basket, tools, kola nuts, and so on, all of which have a positive symbolic value to drive out or entrap the evil that is in the woman. Although the oath-taking ceremony is public, the nature of the medicine must be inferred and not talked about or else it will lose its power.
They believe in magic in a way
First, we take up skilled worker. The blacksmith is one of five types of skilled worker, which include leatherworker, potter, wood-carver, and weaver. All these skills are specialized in the sense that only a fraction of the adult male population can practice any of them. All involve using tools to "construct" an end product. Other tasks are labeled as skilled, such as mat weaving, trap making, and sewing, but those who practice them are not denoted as skilled worker
There are gender specific jobs