Cultural Representation

Cultural theorist Stuart Hall tackles the idea of representation in Cultural Representation and Signifying Practices. “Representation is an essential part of the process by which meaning is produced and exchanged between members of a culture. It does involve the use of language, of sings and images which stand for or represent things. But this is a far from simple or straightforward process.” Hall focuses on the semiotic and discursive approaches under the constructionist approach because it has become the leading perspective taken into account when delving into cultural studies.

The development of mankind came with the necessity to identify object and events with the assistance of representations. They became the primary method of meaningful communication and categorization. The global society is composed of different cultures, and individuals usually link themselves to one or more of these, incorporating into their personality norms and traditions. Despite these differences in cultures, mankind is able to share similar conceptual maps that have unified the way we make sense of objects around us. Hall, however, points out that meaning does not really rely in the words we use. It is individuals that fix certain words to certain meanings, and in that way contribute to a culture. “Representation is the production of the meaning of the concepts in our minds through language. It is the link between concepts and languages which enables us to refer to either the real world of objects… or indeed to imaginary worlds of fictional objects.” When it comes to people who inhabit a specific culture, they are nurtured by it to belong to the same linguistic and conceptual universe. Their ideas are represented in the same manner, and even their view of the world becomes extremely similar.

Although this may seem like a simple issue, it is exactly extremely interesting when one ponders the intricacies of representation, and the miracle of communication and meaning. It took thousands of years for mankind to reach this stage, and the meanings we uphold today, and will create in the future, will all be produced by cultural practices, and become significant to certain circumstances we live in. Mental representations become connected to an organized system of meaningful categories. Language is the tool we use to convey the meanings we reach, and organize the signs into the various relationships we make with other individuals and objects. Social life depends on these factors. Without the development of representation, modernization would be an impossible task to continue.