Introduction

Cultural Studies has come of age, and its reach is wide. The study of the humanities can no longer divide itself into philosophy, literature, history, and social theory, expecting all the while to maintain intellectual and disciplinary autonomy. Cultural studies provides links for the philosophical, the literary, the historical, the social theoretical, and much more. The study of culture and cultures can be taken as the object of a philosophical inquiry—like the philosophy of art, the philosophy of literature, or the philosophy of history. However, understood semiotically, cultural signs and signifiers inscribe themselves in the very fabric of cultural practices. As inscribed in these cultural practices, sign production can be effectively studied and investigated philosophically and theoretically.