Publications

Publication details [#897]

Gillespie, Alex and Tania Zittoun. 2013. Meaning making in motion: Bodies and minds moving through institutional and semiotic structures. Culture & Psychology 19 (4) : 518–532. 15 pp.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English

Abstract

The present article explores the formation of meaning in relation to body and mind. The author claims that more complex structures apart from embodied experience should be taken into account. He argues that our experience is directly grounded in the human body, which is in turn embedded in social situations and institutions. Therefore, we need to consider social structure as part of embodied experience, i.e. the origin of meaning. The author also points out that interaction of the human being with the world is never unmediated; rather, it is regulated and influenced by the complex semiotic artifacts that comprise human culture, such as discourses, social representations and symbolic resources. The present article highlights the importance of bodies moving within institutions and minds moving within semiotic structures as a basis for meaning making.