Vital signs: An ecosemiotic perspective on the human ecology of Amazonia
Ecosemiotics represents a theoretical approach to human ecology that can be applied across several disciplines. lts primary justification lies inthe ambition to transcend "Cartesian", conceptual dichotomies such as culture/nature. society/nature, mental/material. etc. It argues that ecosys...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Tartu Press
2001-12-01
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| Series: | Sign Systems Studies |
| Online Access: | https://ojs.utlib.ee/index.php/sss/article/view/17691 |
| _version_ | 1828139196402892800 |
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| author | Alf Hornborg |
| author_facet | Alf Hornborg |
| author_sort | Alf Hornborg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Ecosemiotics represents a theoretical approach to human ecology that can be applied across several disciplines. lts primary justification lies inthe ambition to transcend "Cartesian", conceptual dichotomies such as culture/nature. society/nature, mental/material. etc. It argues that ecosystems areconstituted no less by flows of signs than by flows of matter and energy. This paper discusses the roles of different kinds of hmnan sign systems in the ecologyof Amazonia, ranging from the phenomenology of unconscious sensations. through linguistic signs such as metaphors and ethnobiological taxonomies, to money and the political economy of environmental destruction. Human-environmental relations mediated by direct, sensory and (oral) linguistic communication have tended to enhance biological diversity, suggesting modes of calibrating the long-term co-evolution of human and non-human populations. Economic sign systems, on the other hand, have rapidly and drastically transfonned human-environmental relations in Amazonia to the point where the entire rainforest ecosystem is illlder threat. In detaching themselves from the direct, "face-to-face" communication between humans and their natural environments, flows of money and commodities - and the decontextualized knowledge systems that they engender - have no means of staying geared to the long-term negotiation of local, ecological co-existence. It is argued that the ongoing deterioration of the biosphere can be viewed as a problem of communication, deserving semiotic analysis. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T18:48:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d3d38548535040c28d57f96b9e4eca81 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1406-4243 1736-7409 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T18:48:55Z |
| publishDate | 2001-12-01 |
| publisher | University of Tartu Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sign Systems Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-d3d38548535040c28d57f96b9e4eca812022-12-22T04:08:31ZengUniversity of Tartu PressSign Systems Studies1406-42431736-74092001-12-0129110.12697/SSS.2001.29.1.09Vital signs: An ecosemiotic perspective on the human ecology of AmazoniaAlf Hornborg0Human Ecology Division, Lund University, Finngatan 16, 223 62 LundEcosemiotics represents a theoretical approach to human ecology that can be applied across several disciplines. lts primary justification lies inthe ambition to transcend "Cartesian", conceptual dichotomies such as culture/nature. society/nature, mental/material. etc. It argues that ecosystems areconstituted no less by flows of signs than by flows of matter and energy. This paper discusses the roles of different kinds of hmnan sign systems in the ecologyof Amazonia, ranging from the phenomenology of unconscious sensations. through linguistic signs such as metaphors and ethnobiological taxonomies, to money and the political economy of environmental destruction. Human-environmental relations mediated by direct, sensory and (oral) linguistic communication have tended to enhance biological diversity, suggesting modes of calibrating the long-term co-evolution of human and non-human populations. Economic sign systems, on the other hand, have rapidly and drastically transfonned human-environmental relations in Amazonia to the point where the entire rainforest ecosystem is illlder threat. In detaching themselves from the direct, "face-to-face" communication between humans and their natural environments, flows of money and commodities - and the decontextualized knowledge systems that they engender - have no means of staying geared to the long-term negotiation of local, ecological co-existence. It is argued that the ongoing deterioration of the biosphere can be viewed as a problem of communication, deserving semiotic analysis.https://ojs.utlib.ee/index.php/sss/article/view/17691 |
| spellingShingle | Alf Hornborg Vital signs: An ecosemiotic perspective on the human ecology of Amazonia Sign Systems Studies |
| title | Vital signs: An ecosemiotic perspective on the human ecology of Amazonia |
| title_full | Vital signs: An ecosemiotic perspective on the human ecology of Amazonia |
| title_fullStr | Vital signs: An ecosemiotic perspective on the human ecology of Amazonia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Vital signs: An ecosemiotic perspective on the human ecology of Amazonia |
| title_short | Vital signs: An ecosemiotic perspective on the human ecology of Amazonia |
| title_sort | vital signs an ecosemiotic perspective on the human ecology of amazonia |
| url | https://ojs.utlib.ee/index.php/sss/article/view/17691 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT alfhornborg vitalsignsanecosemioticperspectiveonthehumanecologyofamazonia |