Index "Corona": symbolic employment of COVID-19 in the public discourse in Serbia
Индекс "корона" : симболичка употреба ковида-19 у јавном говору Србије
Апстракт
In this paper we analyze the different ways in which COVID-19 is used as a carrier of cultural communication, whereupon it appears as a signifier of other socio-cultural phenomena and as a conveyer of messages of such communication. Accordingly, this paper will not observe health plan of COVID-19, nor the accompanying sociological phenomena of the epidemic in the strict sense of the word, but will focus instead on the cultural dimension of the infection. As a cultural phenomenon, the process of the planetary spread of COVID-19 infection - and hence the virus itself - can be viewed as an ambiguous symbol through which the collective experience of reality is constructed and communicated, perceived and interpreted. By relying on the decades-long tradition of Serbian ethnology and anthropology in the modified application of structural-semantic analysis, we define the use of COVID-19 as a symbolic means of cultural communication, here seen as indexical. This means that the said communicatio...n is organized on the principle that "A indicates B", where the signifying A refers to the metaphorical and metonymic use of the disease, and B refers to various social phenomena related to it. As a metonymy, the considered phenomenon can be seen in the light of the classical binary division of purity and danger, whereupon the virus, in the cultural sense, divides the whole social reality into pure (still unpolluted) and impure aspects, one corresponding to the "normal" condition of things, and the other indicating a sense of explicit danger - not only from infection, but from the collapse of the social system and the disintegration of public health and community as well. As a metaphor, we observe the virus in relation to the official political instrumentalization of the discourse of warfare, which - depending on who employs it, and why - generates different notions on the "invisible enemy", war victims (deceased as a consequence of infection) and "(super) heroes" (primarily, health workers, but also state officials and other public figures). COVID-19 is, however, peculiar because it can also play the role of an inverse sign, by which common cultural concepts and representations are perverted, destabilizing the shared sense of "real" and "normal".
У раду разматрамо употребу вируса САРС-КоВ2, односно болести
ковид-19 у културној комуникацији форматираној у електронским медијима након
проглашавања епидемије у Србији. Дефинисавши је као семантичку категорију
индекса (по Личовој класификацији), демонстрирамо како ова категорија функционише као метонимијска и метафоричка ознака опасности и стања у земљи, али
и као инверзна ознака друштвених и културних вредности. У закључку, доводимо
увиде добијене анализом у непосредну везу са проблемима културне когниције
актуелних друштвених и цивилизацијских стандарда и вредности.
Кључне речи:
semiology / pandemic / metonymy / metaphor / inversion / index / "corona" / семиологија / „корона“ / пандемија / индекс / метонимија / метафора / инверзијаИзвор:
Etnoantropološki problemi, 2020, 15, 3, 845-877Издавач:
- Univerzitet u Beogradu - Filozofski fakultet - Odeljenje za etnologiju i antropologiju, Beograd
Институција/група
Etnologija i antropologija / Ethnology and AnthropologyTY - JOUR AU - Pišev, Marko AU - Žikić, Bojan AU - Stajić, Mladen PY - 2020 UR - http://reff.f.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/3104 AB - In this paper we analyze the different ways in which COVID-19 is used as a carrier of cultural communication, whereupon it appears as a signifier of other socio-cultural phenomena and as a conveyer of messages of such communication. Accordingly, this paper will not observe health plan of COVID-19, nor the accompanying sociological phenomena of the epidemic in the strict sense of the word, but will focus instead on the cultural dimension of the infection. As a cultural phenomenon, the process of the planetary spread of COVID-19 infection - and hence the virus itself - can be viewed as an ambiguous symbol through which the collective experience of reality is constructed and communicated, perceived and interpreted. By relying on the decades-long tradition of Serbian ethnology and anthropology in the modified application of structural-semantic analysis, we define the use of COVID-19 as a symbolic means of cultural communication, here seen as indexical. This means that the said communication is organized on the principle that "A indicates B", where the signifying A refers to the metaphorical and metonymic use of the disease, and B refers to various social phenomena related to it. As a metonymy, the considered phenomenon can be seen in the light of the classical binary division of purity and danger, whereupon the virus, in the cultural sense, divides the whole social reality into pure (still unpolluted) and impure aspects, one corresponding to the "normal" condition of things, and the other indicating a sense of explicit danger - not only from infection, but from the collapse of the social system and the disintegration of public health and community as well. As a metaphor, we observe the virus in relation to the official political instrumentalization of the discourse of warfare, which - depending on who employs it, and why - generates different notions on the "invisible enemy", war victims (deceased as a consequence of infection) and "(super) heroes" (primarily, health workers, but also state officials and other public figures). COVID-19 is, however, peculiar because it can also play the role of an inverse sign, by which common cultural concepts and representations are perverted, destabilizing the shared sense of "real" and "normal". AB - У раду разматрамо употребу вируса САРС-КоВ2, односно болести ковид-19 у културној комуникацији форматираној у електронским медијима након проглашавања епидемије у Србији. Дефинисавши је као семантичку категорију индекса (по Личовој класификацији), демонстрирамо како ова категорија функционише као метонимијска и метафоричка ознака опасности и стања у земљи, али и као инверзна ознака друштвених и културних вредности. У закључку, доводимо увиде добијене анализом у непосредну везу са проблемима културне когниције актуелних друштвених и цивилизацијских стандарда и вредности. PB - Univerzitet u Beogradu - Filozofski fakultet - Odeljenje za etnologiju i antropologiju, Beograd T2 - Etnoantropološki problemi T1 - Index "Corona": symbolic employment of COVID-19 in the public discourse in Serbia T1 - Индекс "корона" : симболичка употреба ковида-19 у јавном говору Србије EP - 877 IS - 3 SP - 845 VL - 15 DO - 10.21301/eap.v15i3.9 ER -
@article{ author = "Pišev, Marko and Žikić, Bojan and Stajić, Mladen", year = "2020", abstract = "In this paper we analyze the different ways in which COVID-19 is used as a carrier of cultural communication, whereupon it appears as a signifier of other socio-cultural phenomena and as a conveyer of messages of such communication. Accordingly, this paper will not observe health plan of COVID-19, nor the accompanying sociological phenomena of the epidemic in the strict sense of the word, but will focus instead on the cultural dimension of the infection. As a cultural phenomenon, the process of the planetary spread of COVID-19 infection - and hence the virus itself - can be viewed as an ambiguous symbol through which the collective experience of reality is constructed and communicated, perceived and interpreted. By relying on the decades-long tradition of Serbian ethnology and anthropology in the modified application of structural-semantic analysis, we define the use of COVID-19 as a symbolic means of cultural communication, here seen as indexical. This means that the said communication is organized on the principle that "A indicates B", where the signifying A refers to the metaphorical and metonymic use of the disease, and B refers to various social phenomena related to it. As a metonymy, the considered phenomenon can be seen in the light of the classical binary division of purity and danger, whereupon the virus, in the cultural sense, divides the whole social reality into pure (still unpolluted) and impure aspects, one corresponding to the "normal" condition of things, and the other indicating a sense of explicit danger - not only from infection, but from the collapse of the social system and the disintegration of public health and community as well. As a metaphor, we observe the virus in relation to the official political instrumentalization of the discourse of warfare, which - depending on who employs it, and why - generates different notions on the "invisible enemy", war victims (deceased as a consequence of infection) and "(super) heroes" (primarily, health workers, but also state officials and other public figures). COVID-19 is, however, peculiar because it can also play the role of an inverse sign, by which common cultural concepts and representations are perverted, destabilizing the shared sense of "real" and "normal"., У раду разматрамо употребу вируса САРС-КоВ2, односно болести ковид-19 у културној комуникацији форматираној у електронским медијима након проглашавања епидемије у Србији. Дефинисавши је као семантичку категорију индекса (по Личовој класификацији), демонстрирамо како ова категорија функционише као метонимијска и метафоричка ознака опасности и стања у земљи, али и као инверзна ознака друштвених и културних вредности. У закључку, доводимо увиде добијене анализом у непосредну везу са проблемима културне когниције актуелних друштвених и цивилизацијских стандарда и вредности.", publisher = "Univerzitet u Beogradu - Filozofski fakultet - Odeljenje za etnologiju i antropologiju, Beograd", journal = "Etnoantropološki problemi", title = "Index "Corona": symbolic employment of COVID-19 in the public discourse in Serbia, Индекс "корона" : симболичка употреба ковида-19 у јавном говору Србије", pages = "877-845", number = "3", volume = "15", doi = "10.21301/eap.v15i3.9" }
Pišev, M., Žikić, B.,& Stajić, M.. (2020). Index "Corona": symbolic employment of COVID-19 in the public discourse in Serbia. in Etnoantropološki problemi Univerzitet u Beogradu - Filozofski fakultet - Odeljenje za etnologiju i antropologiju, Beograd., 15(3), 845-877. https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v15i3.9
Pišev M, Žikić B, Stajić M. Index "Corona": symbolic employment of COVID-19 in the public discourse in Serbia. in Etnoantropološki problemi. 2020;15(3):845-877. doi:10.21301/eap.v15i3.9 .
Pišev, Marko, Žikić, Bojan, Stajić, Mladen, "Index "Corona": symbolic employment of COVID-19 in the public discourse in Serbia" in Etnoantropološki problemi, 15, no. 3 (2020):845-877, https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v15i3.9 . .