Stuart Hall Representation Theory

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2.1 Representation and identity A Cultural theorist, also a leading figure of the development of media and cultural studies, Stuart Hall’s cultural representation theory is very representative and has a significant impact in the field of cultural studies. His book “Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices” published in 1997 is a study of the crucial links between language, culture and how shared meanings are constructed and represented within the language. Hall believes culture plays the primary role in how we construct meaning and representation was closely related to culture. Representation is the process by which meaning is produced and exchanged between members of a culture through the use of language, such as …show more content…

We share the same cultural identity as we consume those cultural artifacts of narratives, memories, stories and fantasies to incorporate their cultural representations in similar or different ways into our everyday rituals and practices of daily life. Besides, the social and cultural construction of identity is highly influenced by media communication in the modern age. Technologies have empowered the media to communicate their meaning to a variety of people; (Hall, 1997) Social and cultural identity are linked to issues of power, value systems, and ideology. The media uses representations, such as images, words, and characters or personae, to convey specific ideas and values related to culture and identity in a society. (Identity: Key Concepts, …show more content…

According to Halbwaches, studying memory is not a matter of reflecting on the properties of the subjective mind, rather memory is a matter of how minds work together in society, how their operations are structured by social arrangements: “It is in society that people normally acquire their memories. It is also in society that they recall, recognize, and localize their memories” (Halbwachs, 1992, p.38). Halbwaches argued that it is impossible for individuals to remember any coherent outside of their group contexts. Group memberships provide the materials for memory and prod the individual into recalling particular events and into forgetting others. (Lo, 2012) Groups can even produce memories in individuals of events that they never experienced in any direct sense. The collective memory is shared, passed on and also constructed by the group. (Lavabre, n.d.) it is a dynamic cultural practice that sustains the cultural continuity of a community and in the meantime adapts to the cultural transformation of the community in a historical era. (Wang,