Index “Corona”: symbolic employment of COVID-19 in the public discourse in Serbia

In this paper we analyze the different ways in which COVID-19 is used as a carrier of cultural communication, whereupon it appears as a signifier of other socio-cultural phenomena and as a conveyer of messages of such communication. Accordingly, this paper will not observe health plan of COVID-19, n...

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Autores principales:	Marko Pišev, Bojan Žikić, Mladen Stajić
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN FR SR
Publicado:	University of Belgrade 2021
Materias:	semiology “corona” pandemic index metonymy metaphor Anthropology GN1-890
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/70e5e37b2eda4b86aebe54881e3e59d4
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:70e5e37b2eda4b86aebe54881e3e59d42021-12-02T18:44:14ZIndex “Corona”: symbolic employment of COVID-19 in the public discourse in Serbia0353-15892334-8801https://doaj.org/article/70e5e37b2eda4b86aebe54881e3e59d42021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.eap-iea.org/index.php/eap/article/view/56https://doaj.org/toc/0353-1589https://doaj.org/toc/2334-8801In this paper we analyze the different ways in which COVID-19 is used as a carrier of cultural communication, whereupon it appears as a signifier of other socio-cultural phenomena and as a conveyer of messages of such communication. Accordingly, this paper will not observe health plan of COVID-19, nor the accompanying sociological phenomena of the epidemic in the strict sense of the word, but will focus instead on the cultural dimension of the infection. As a cultural phenomenon, the process of the planetary spread of COVID-19 infection – and hence the virus itself – can be viewed as an ambiguous symbol through which the collective experience of reality is constructed and communicated, perceived and interpreted. By relying on the decades-long tradition of Serbian ethnology and anthropology in the modified application of structural-semantic analysis, we define the use of COVID-19 as a symbolic means of cultural communication, here seen as indexical. This means that the said communication is organized on the principle that “A indicates B”, where the signifying A refers to the metaphorical and metonymic use of the disease, and B refers to various social phenomena related to it. As a metonymy, the considered phenomenon can be seen in the light of the classical binary division of purity and danger, whereupon the virus, in the cultural sense, divides the whole social reality into pure (still unpolluted) and impure aspects, one corresponding to the “normal” condition of things, and the other indicating a sense of explicit danger – not only from infection, but from the collapse of the social system and the disintegration of public health and community as well. As a metaphor, we observe the virus in relation to the official political instrumentalization of the discourse of warfare, which – depending on who employs it, and why – generates different notions on the “invisible enemy”, war victims (deceased as a consequence of infection) and “(super) heroes” (primarily, health workers, but also state officials and other public figures). COVID-19 is, however, peculiar because it can also play the role of an inverse sign, by which common cultural concepts and representations are perverted, destabilizing the shared sense of “real” and “normal”. Marko PiševBojan ŽikićMladen StajićUniversity of Belgradearticlesemiology“corona”pandemicindexmetonymymetaphorAnthropologyGN1-890ENFRSREtnoantropološki Problemi, Vol 15, Iss 3 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN FR SR
topic	semiology “corona” pandemic index metonymy metaphor Anthropology GN1-890
spellingShingle	semiology “corona” pandemic index metonymy metaphor Anthropology GN1-890 Marko Pišev Bojan Žikić Mladen Stajić Index “Corona”: symbolic employment of COVID-19 in the public discourse in Serbia
description	In this paper we analyze the different ways in which COVID-19 is used as a carrier of cultural communication, whereupon it appears as a signifier of other socio-cultural phenomena and as a conveyer of messages of such communication. Accordingly, this paper will not observe health plan of COVID-19, nor the accompanying sociological phenomena of the epidemic in the strict sense of the word, but will focus instead on the cultural dimension of the infection. As a cultural phenomenon, the process of the planetary spread of COVID-19 infection – and hence the virus itself – can be viewed as an ambiguous symbol through which the collective experience of reality is constructed and communicated, perceived and interpreted. By relying on the decades-long tradition of Serbian ethnology and anthropology in the modified application of structural-semantic analysis, we define the use of COVID-19 as a symbolic means of cultural communication, here seen as indexical. This means that the said communication is organized on the principle that “A indicates B”, where the signifying A refers to the metaphorical and metonymic use of the disease, and B refers to various social phenomena related to it. As a metonymy, the considered phenomenon can be seen in the light of the classical binary division of purity and danger, whereupon the virus, in the cultural sense, divides the whole social reality into pure (still unpolluted) and impure aspects, one corresponding to the “normal” condition of things, and the other indicating a sense of explicit danger – not only from infection, but from the collapse of the social system and the disintegration of public health and community as well. As a metaphor, we observe the virus in relation to the official political instrumentalization of the discourse of warfare, which – depending on who employs it, and why – generates different notions on the “invisible enemy”, war victims (deceased as a consequence of infection) and “(super) heroes” (primarily, health workers, but also state officials and other public figures). COVID-19 is, however, peculiar because it can also play the role of an inverse sign, by which common cultural concepts and representations are perverted, destabilizing the shared sense of “real” and “normal”.
format	article
author	Marko Pišev Bojan Žikić Mladen Stajić
author_facet	Marko Pišev Bojan Žikić Mladen Stajić
author_sort	Marko Pišev
title	Index “Corona”: symbolic employment of COVID-19 in the public discourse in Serbia
title_short	Index “Corona”: symbolic employment of COVID-19 in the public discourse in Serbia
title_full	Index “Corona”: symbolic employment of COVID-19 in the public discourse in Serbia
title_fullStr	Index “Corona”: symbolic employment of COVID-19 in the public discourse in Serbia
title_full_unstemmed	Index “Corona”: symbolic employment of COVID-19 in the public discourse in Serbia
title_sort	index “corona”: symbolic employment of covid-19 in the public discourse in serbia
publisher	University of Belgrade
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/70e5e37b2eda4b86aebe54881e3e59d4
work_keys_str_mv	AT markopisev indexcoronasymbolicemploymentofcovid19inthepublicdiscourseinserbia AT bojanzikic indexcoronasymbolicemploymentofcovid19inthepublicdiscourseinserbia AT mladenstajic indexcoronasymbolicemploymentofcovid19inthepublicdiscourseinserbia
_version_	1718377744085024768

Index “Corona”: symbolic employment of COVID-19 in the public discourse in Serbia

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