By Sebastian Moreno
The first week of November 2024 was a busy one for European semiotics. From 6 to 8 November, the 20 th International Congress of the Spanish Semiotics Association (AES) took place in Madrid, hosted by the Universidad Carlos III in its modern Puerta de Toledo site. Concomitantly, from 7 to 9 November, the annual congress of the Italian Association for Semiotic Studies (AISS) took place in Bologna, hosted by the University of Bologna in three of its locations. Since both the Spanish and the Italian circles of
semioticians are relevant to me, I was one of the few enthusiast researchers —although not the only one — to participate in both.
The topic of the Spanish congress revolved around culture and communication in the 21 st century. In Spain, semiotics has become a marginal discipline, and, in many cases, it has been absorbed by other disciplines such as communication studies, journalism and philology. Hence, the proposed topic for the AES congress, which takes place every two years, aimed at being as broad as possible, so researchers from different fields and interested in different topics could join and present their work.
As a result, during the three days of the congress, we heard interesting presentations and discussions about digital media, pop culture, museums, literature, films, series, memes, political discourse, journalism and climate change, as well as about topics that are transversal to semiotics, such as discourse, enunciation and identity. The congress also had a number of roundtable discussions where books and special issues were presented, including the book collection launched by the journal DeSignis with the Argentinean publisher SB, and a special monograph issue of Punctum, the journal of
the Hellenic Semiotics Society. Participants were above all based in Spain (Barcelona, Burgos, Madrid, Seville, Valencia, etc.), but colleagues from Argentina, Colombia, France, Italy and México, to mention a few, also participated.
In Bologna, the topic of the annual AISS congress was much more restricted, as is usually the case: this year, the congress revolved around the theme ‘forms of silence’. During the three days the event lasted, participants discussed different manifestations of silence in culture, ranging from music to cultural practices, including politics, literature, journalism and memory, among many other topics. Panels ranged from theoretical discussions about silence to specific analyses of a broad range of phenomena. The Italian community of semioticians is one of the most vibrant communities in the field. Hence, every academic event is a good opportunity to strengthen collegial bonds between researchers belonging to three generations. This year, the community celebrated Isabella Pezzini, who recently retired from her teaching duties.
To sum up, these two congresses, albeit overlapped in time, proved to be two necessary events for the growth and development not only of the discipline we practice, but also of the interpersonal connections and discussions that are needed for any discipline within the social sciences and humanities to maintain its societal relevance, particularly in a fast-changing world, where experts in sense and signification are more needed than ever.
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