Orientalist Semiology in World of Interiors

Abstract

The Experiment is where scholars work out ideas out loud. In this edition, the Bulletin features an illustration of how Barthesian semiology can provide a useful framework through which to understand the operation of mythic language. Editorial Assistant Sophia Honerkamp performs a Close Reading of the July 2022 issue of interior design magazine The World of Interiors to examine manifestations of Orientalism and myth in everyday life. For Honerkamp, this example is an opportunity to explore the role of the audience in the perpetuation of myth, how mythic language evolves, and how to identify myth in active form.