Discourses in and Around Upcycled Artefacts: A Social Semiotic Perspective

Abstract

This chapter employs a social semiotic perspective to explore global/local discourses of upcycled artefacts. Social semiotics bring a focus on meaning-making to the emerging field of upcycling studies: in what ways does the social practice of upcycling produce meanings of, for instance, value adding, emancipation, or sustainability? In particular, this chapter focuses on the aesthetic and functional values that are added in upcycling that address the demands of different local and global markets. An interest in the relation between social practices, materiality and meaning-making is at the core of social semiotics, and this chapter focuses on how discourses in and around an upcycled artefact make it possible for it to move between cultural and geographical spaces, whilst both maintaining and transforming the meaning potential of the artefact.KeywordsArtefactsDiscourseGlobal-localMaterial cultureMobilityProvenanceSocial semioticsUpcycling