Abstract
From a semiotic point of view, the experience of sudden change can involve either an excess of signs or an absence of signs, both of which lead to an incapacity to form coherent representations and, thus, understandings. The comparative study of ethnographic and historical accounts of sudden change requires attention to contextual contingencies, the role of semiotic markers, degrees of heightened consciousness, and modes of symbolic indirection.
About the author
Richard J. Parmentier (b. 1948) is a professor at Brandeis University 〈rparmentier@brandeis.edu〉. His research interests include semiotic anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and Oceanic ethnography. His publications include Semiotic mediation: Psychological and sociocultural perspectives (edited with E. Mertz, 1985); Signs in society: Studies in semiotic anthropology (1994); and The pragmatic semiotics of cultures (1997).
©[2012] by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
