I am delighted to welcome you to the 43rd annual meeting of the Semiotic Society of America. This year we are hosted by Berea College in Berea, Kentucky. We are especially grateful to our Executive Director and local host, Javier Clavere, and his colleagues at Berea College for their hospitality. Our program committee, headed by Farouk Seif, has done a great job of planning this year in order to make this an insightful and beneficial experience for us all.
This year’s conference theme: “Signs of Resilience in a Complex World,” highlights the interdisciplinary nature of semiotics as we bring together researchers from across the academy to explore this timely and important topic.
We look forward to hearing talks from our two keynote speakers: Dr. Ivo Ibri, Professor of Philosophy from PUCSP, Brazil, and Dr. Wendy Wheeler, Professor Emeritus of English Literature and Cultural Inquiry, London Metropolitan University, UK. Dr. Ibri will discuss “The Semiotic Resilient Mind – Conflictual and Agapic Relationship between Logic and Emotional Interpretants” and Dr. Wheeler will address “Resilience in a Time of Semiocide: Against the Murder of Natural and Cultural Meanings.”
We also are fortunate to hear from our newly-inducted Sebeok Fellow, Dr. Vincent Colapietro. Dr. Colapietro is Liberal Arts Research Professor Emeritus at Pennsylvania State University and currently affiliated to the University of Rhode Island through the Center for the Humanities. He has served as President of the Metaphysical Society of America, the Semiotic Society of America (SSA), and the Charles S. Peirce Society. His talk is entitled, “The Music of Meaning: Gestures, Traces, and Media.”
There are two plenary sessions that should be of particular interest this year. Farouk Seif, Professor Emeritus, Antioch University, Seattle is presenting, “The Audacity of Design and the Resilience of Signs” on Thursday afternoon. Michael Shapiro, Professor Emeritus of Slavic and Semiotic Studies from Brown University will discuss, “Language as Semiosis: A Neo-Structuralist Perspective in the Light of Pragmaticism.”
Thank you for your participation in this meeting. We are a diverse community of scholars with common interests in the study of signs and sign systems. The SSA is a welcoming academic community committed to sharing ideas, providing feedback, and disseminating timely research. If you are new to this conference, please introduce yourself and know that we would like to see you make it your academic home.
