ABSTRACT
In Chapter 8, Emplacement, we looked at some of the ways in which signs and images and other forms of written discourse come to have their meaning in part because of where and how they are placed in the material world. Signs such as registered trademarks may be standardized, carrying the same meaning wherever they are found, through a process of decontextualization or universalization. Or they may be situated, shaped by the material world in whose midst they are placed. Or again they may be transgressive, as graffiti violates sensibilities and laws of emplacement. We saw a case in which situated signs were replaced by decontextualized ones over the course of a weekend. We also considered the ways those signs index the changing world in which they are placed.
