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Chapter 3 Recovering Cultural and Historical Memory The Dynamic Quality of Semiotic Structures In chapter 1, I noted that the border autobiography represents an alternate system of knowledge because it occupies a position outside of the dominant literary repertoire.As such,it represents another type of memory, one that is situated in a semiotic system that involves not only the representation of the autobiographical “I,” but also of the collective “we.”This type of representation is apparent in the border autobiographies of González, Jaramillo,Wilbur-Cruce,and Ponce where,in addition to references regarding land and home,aspects such as family,“other,”education,the influence of religious institutions, and custom also enter into the subject matter of the life narrative that functions as an intellectual depository where cultural memory is maintained.Furthermore,each of the texts in the corpus of this study can be seen as forming a system of texts that point to what may be considered as informal,personal history regarding a particular social group and the cultural“other”within four geographical areas. My analytic approach in this direction is based on Yuri Lotman’s notion of cultural semiotics, particularly his perspective regarding the semiosphere,the text,cultural memory,and cultural explosion.Pertinent to my discussion here are the effects of historical collisions on cultural memory and the way that memory is represented in each narrative.These notions allow me to consider the effects of the intersection of cultures that resulted from historical conquest, land settlement, war, and homesteading ,all of which are major themes that I examine in the first portion of this chapter.The focus of the final section of this chapter involves a textual analysis that is oriented toward uncovering information regarding the history of “other” cultural groups and their presence in the geographical area mentioned in each narrative. 94 CHaPTer 3 The works of Yuri Lotman center on the functioning “of the semiotic space or intellectual world in which humanity and human society are enfolded and which is in constant interaction with the individual intellectual world of human beings.”1 Lotman proposes that culture is governed by a system of rules or a repertoire of texts;that is,culture can be understood as a set of texts and a “non-hereditary collective memory” (xi).Therefore,my intention here is to look at the way this corpus of life stories reveals the autobiographer’s project of preserving personal recollections regarding her position within a particular cultural community. So as to shed light on my perception of the way these border autobiographies can be understood as a meaningful continuum, my discussion in this section refers to Lotman’s notion of the semiosphere, which he defines as an abstract or“semiotic space which is necessary for the existence and functioning of different languages and the sum total of different languages” or expressions of the life experience (123).2 For Lotman, the semiosphere is linked to cultural activity,and it is within this space or thinking structure that surrounds us that communicative processes and the production of new information take place.It is precisely the concept of the semiosphere that provides a theoretical framework for examining this corpus of border autobiographies as a multi-vocal continuum of information. The term “semiosphere” is used in reference to cultural systems that exist as a semiotic continuum and present different types and levels of semiosis, and within which communication and dialogue take place. These cultural systems are semiotically heterogeneous; that is, they involve different levels of organization and each functions in what can be seen as a space enclosed in itself yet in constant interaction with other similar structures. The points of contact between different systems represent exchanges that result in new communicative production. These exchanges within semiotic systems have to do with a correlation that exists between the synchronic and diachronic; that is, each of the texts that conforms a particular system involves a dialogue between synchronic or isolated moments and other diachronic aspects that are concerned with the overall evolution of the system.The diachronic character of the semiosphere is of great importance as it is equipped with a complex system of memory without which it would be unable to function.3 The semiosphere is further defined as delimited with respect to what surrounds it,or what is considered to be extra-semiotic or outside of this abstract space.For example,the literary texts that exist within the semio- [3.15.219.217] Project MUSE (2024-04-24...

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