Thinking About Structuralism, Language, and Nikki S. Lee

Thinking about the origins of many of these schools of philosophy discussed below Structuralism was born out of a need to understand how the confines of language and culture undermine your identity and means of self-expression. The philosophy of the mind. Previous to this there were two distinct camps of philosophers. The analytical tradition was concerned with breaking down language into its most rudimentary form and examining how we use language as it applies to reason—contrasting this with the continental tradition of philosophy which was concerned with finding the unifying fixture that informed what we classify as the disparate building blocks of nature. Before structuralism language was viewed intently through a logical means of thought as being deeply rooted in the physicality of such words. For example, how the spelling of cow or broom is related to the physical nature of the animal or object, exploring a regressive thought process, or working backward towards the manner of combination. Those in favor of structuralism and the study of semiotics which is the study of signs argued that we were losing something tangible to the human experience in confining ourselves to expressions that were in line with viewing languages purely from a logical standpoint. By naming something is brought into being. Perhaps there were undiscovered or underutilized forms of communication that should be appreciated besides the formal tradition of viewing language. Thinking about how language develops as a reaction to lived experiences how are people potentially disenfranchised by language that's forced upon them? Who is nominated as the authority of language? You aren't necessarily born to be pre-disposed to any particular language this is something that's chosen without your consent. Linguistic imperialism is the belief that language can exist as an extension or appendage of imperialism. The transfer of a dominant language.

There's an assumption that English is inherently imperialistic due to its historical significance. To say no one asked to be born speaking the languages that we do, it was a result of the cultures we were born into. There's a point made that in between the empirical truth which is truths that can be readily verified by proximity to experience and truths of reason that are verified by definition there is a third kind of truth that of human experiences which may not be so easy to define in language. Untranslability refers to the existence of words to describe unique colors or emotions in a specific culture that lack a universal translation which seems to create discrepancy in the idea that language is rooted in logic. When discussing untranslatability linguists often offer the idea that every language has an "essence" that resists translation therefore reinforcing the national identity of such cultures. I'm using culture and language interchangeably here because one informs the other. Structuralism argues more that the usage of definitions as a reference tool or the act of defining something is inherently nonsensical. The naming system of things often relates little to the actual definition of such things. We define things by what they're not yet how do you define something in a vacuum? It can become the job of the artist to translate language. Philosopher and linguist Ludwig Wittgenstein helped popularize the philosophical argument that our usage of language was heavily intertwined with "rules of engagement". That someone yelling "fire" could encompass a slew of meanings although the physicality of the word doesn't change. That independent usage of words doesn't necessarily "mean" anything. Then there's the issue of "code-switching", how one might treat language as a means of survival, and what privilege lies in your ability to interchange language that you didn't inherit.

Photographer Elliot Erwitt has a photobook titled Son of Bitch which details street portraits of dogs. Based on the name I doubt you'd arrive at the subject matter. Erwitt continues this Western cultural tradition of associating the words bitch and dog out of a necessity. There's no logical symbiosis in the definition between the two words never mind individually. Nikki S Lee is another visual artist whose work deals heavily with reconstructing identity as something not rooted in logic but in feeling. Her "Projects" series performed from 1997 to 2001 revolved around her adopting the persona of various groups which faced frequent exposure through pop culture. Lee's argument in adopting these frequently opposing identities (The Yuppies Project, The Punk Project, The Hip-Hop Project) is in the same vein as Wittgenstein's language game. What's more to identity than the surface level? If you were unaware of the context of Lee's self-portraits they'd be fairly unremarkable and isn't that such a damning criticism of what matters the most about identity and language, how it allows you to be perceived. That the world creates you before you're aware of it.