This thesis surveys patterns of production and use of greeting cards in Australia and analyses a corpus of greeting cards, examining the organisation of semiosis by greeting cards.As a commodity consumed for the express purpose of being given away, individuals using greeting cards enact themselves through a commodified technology of the self simultaneous with a performance that enacts relations with others.Particular focus is given to the 'fun-and- love' card, within the industry category of non-occasion greeting cards. This type of card is situated within a complex of performances which are constitutive of a contemporary nexus of commodification, public-private spheres, gender, interpersonal relations and discources of intimacy.As this is an inquiry into a commodity that is a texted cultural artefact, it is informed by both cultural and textual theories. The organisation of the thesis into two parts reflects its twin concerns: the first is akin to a study of the greeting card as a commodity that is given away, paying attention to practices of production, consumption and use within personal relationships. In symmetry with that exploration, Part Two is contiguous with the 'linguistic turn' that has taken many disciplines in productive directions over the duration of the twentieth century.In doing both these kinds of 'discourse analysis' articulated to an empirico-ethnographic study of a cultural artefact that embodies emotion, the thesis seeks to contribute to dialogues that are concerned with moving forward with respect to theorising relations among sociocultural practices and language and discourse. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/235787 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Hobson, Jane, University of Western Sydney, College of Arts, Education and Social Sciences, School of Communication, Design and Media |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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