32034 - Laboratory (2) (2nd cycle) (G.B)

Learning outcomes

Space semiotics Lab: towards a semiotics of commons. 

At the end of the laboratory, the student will be able to conduct a semiotic analysis of space in a collaborative and dialoguing environment.

 

Course contents

The title of this year's Laboratory of Semiotics of Space is "Towards a semiotics of the commons."

The concept of the commons has been the subject of philosophical reflection in economic, political, and moral theories for centuries. Sometimes understood as collective property with free access for members of a particular community, sometimes as a set of goods essential for human survival (a kind of "heritage of humanity"), sometimes as the "good of the most," semantic variations of the concept of the commons are the origin of plurivocal and discordant ontologies of property. The lab will seek to examine the "commons" as a semiotic and social object as it is constructed in texts and practices circulating in different semiospheres, with the intention of exploring different discursive universes (values and semantics) articulated around the category of the individual/collective. The workshop aims to conduct group research on this topic through specific case studies. Research findings will be collected and made available online, subject to the approval of the course instructor. The goal is to guide students* to independently develop a sociosemiotic analysis.

Readings/Bibliography

Readings and other teaching materials will be indicated in the class.

Teaching methods

Lessons by the teacher and other experts.

Class discussions with the students, guided by the teacher.

Classwork with the students, guided by the teacher.

Presentations of students' works and short talks.

Given the workshop nature of this Lab, students' participation to the class is highly recommended.

Assessment methods

There are two ways to pass the exam:

• participating to the collective research that will be conducted in the lab (minimum attendance: 12 of 15 lessons, about 70% of the class);
• after an oral exam about the Lab's topic on a bibliography agreed with the teacher.

Teaching tools

Slides and connected video-projector.

Other audio-visual materials.

All the materials will be made available on 'Virtuale'.

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Mazzucchelli