I’m the founder and (with Adelina Vaca) convenor of Semiofest’s series of informal online “sessions.” These events are intended not only to share best practices among, but to nurture collegiality and friendship within the global semio community.
Coming up on 30th January (at 2 pm UK time)…
GUILTY PLEASURES
Others may be embarrassed about their predilection for “bad” pop music, television, movies, literature, and so forth. But for commercial semioticians who know that insights and inspiration are to be found everywhere, particularly in “bad” cultural expressions, there’s (almost) no such thing as a guilty pleasure. Gabriela Pedranti has invited Brian Khumalo and Sonia Skins to discuss the public/private nature of Instagram; Taiwanese fandom and playful rituals around the Chinese TV series Hòugōng Zhēn Huán Zhuàn (known in the English-speaking world as Empresses in the Palace); and more!
Get tickets (suggested donations only) at the link above.
Our sessionists:
- BRIAN KHUMALO is a Ph.D. student in anthropology at the University of Florida. His research interests span a range of topics within human ecology, cognitive anthropology, and biosemiotics. He has worked on related issues, including fisheries management, cognitive mapping, and local tenure systems in Tanzania, Seychelles, France, and the Solomon Islands.
- SONIA SKINS is a cultural strategist and semiotician with over a decade of experience consulting for leading global agencies and brands. With a Ph.D. in Design Ethnography, she brings a design-led lens and documentary-inspired practice to insight work rooted in cultural and semiotic depth. Currently based in Taipei, she works extensively across both Taiwan and China.
Session host: GABRIELA PEDRANTI is a lecturer at IED Barcelona and UPF. She’s worked as a communication consultant, journalist and translator/interpreter. In 2009, she launched SemioticaStudio with Ximena Tobi.
SEMIOFEST SESSIONS: R/D/E | BINARIES | SEMIOTICS & UX | BODY SEMIOTICS | AI & SEMIOTICS | SEMIOTICS & CINEMA | FICTIONAL DECODERS | ON COLOUR | & more.
Also see these global semio series: MAKING SENSE (Q&As) | SEMIOFEST SESSIONS (monthly mini-conferences) | COVID CODES | SEMIO OBJECTS | COLOR CODEX | DECODER (fictional semioticians) | CASE FILE | PHOTO OP | MEDIA DIET | TATTOO YOU (semioticians’ tattoos).