The geographies of discourse and lived experience: A communication approach

摘要

This dissertation proposes a communicational approach to the spatial. The constitutive perspective adopted views communication as the site within which meanings and identities are produced and reproduced. The (re)production of space/place is approached through an examination of the interplay of semiotic and interactive communication processes and contextualized in two case studies that examine the sign "Generation X." The production of space references the introduction, diffusion, and currency of the sign in discourse. The production of place references the employment of the sign as a resource for the cognitive and affective experience and expression of identity in social interaction.;The production of space, examined through the natural history approach, explores the availability of the sign "Generation X" in information databases on Dialog and results in a series of mappings that are used to anchor interpretations. The sign's semiotic life exhibits certain consistent patterns of diffusion and acceleration and deceleration across selected databases and geographic regions of the U.S. The discursive formation of the sign reveals enduring and transient themes across the time frame of interest. This natural history of the sign is shown to be contingent upon larger systems of signification, such as politics.;The production of place, examined through the natural history of participation and an interpretive microanalytic approach, explores interactive engagements on an internet site entitled "Politics and the X Generation" and reveals the dynamic manner in which "Generation X" is utilized as an identity marker. In these interactive moments, a sense of place is negotiated in complex ways that require an investment to relational work that is differentially attended to by participants. Interactants also engage in reflexive meta-talk with the identity marker "Generation X" and the placeness it affords. Such reflexive moves are seen as implicit statements about the quality of bondedness the participants experience in relation to the immediate community of interaction and the larger social order.;The theoretical and methodological concerns of the constitutive approach to communication allow examinations of the interplay of semiotic and interactive communication processes and the (re)production and politics of the spatial.