(Re)location of discourses in institutional space

CARRANZA, ISOLDA E.; SHI-XU

Handbook of Cultural Discourse Studies

Routledge

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2023; p. 402 - 418

The theoretical perspective this research builds on is a sociolinguistics of praxis, which focuses on social activity and privileges data from the everyday life of ordinary people, as a result, it is suitable to study discourse in sociocultural practices. This chapter focuses on the relationship between place and discourses as well as on the practice of writing graffiti along with the social relationships and cultural meanings they reveal.As expected, public urban settings are characterized by official signs and mainstream discourses, however, the case to be examined has become associated with certain ways of having fun. In a Spanish-speaking country, a public space close to the city centre and site of a state university is regularly transformed by the practices of roller-skating, skate-boarding and acrobatic cycling as well as by abundant graffiti expressing discourses of play and mischief. The semiotic assemblages comprise design, colour, non-standard spelling and grammar, distorted letters, stylized calligraphy and, most significantly, English words or phrases. This transgressive use of walls by groups of youngsters who move through the campus is connected to a globalized aesthetics and the consumption of cultural products such as video games. The particular emplacement of graffiti contributes, in varying degrees, to its being perceived as vandalism or not, but the unofficial use of some walls is not penalized nor socially condemned. Studying relocalized discourses in the semiotic landscape and their association to the young can enhance our understanding of local or global cultural trends.