Translating the University

Abstract

This article explores the use of indexicality for understanding the emergence of social-cultural habits. Based on the work of Parmentier, it works on a methodology in which social-cultural artefacts or patterns are regarded as traces of the semiotic processes through which they were formed. It proceeds from a definition of translation as the imposition of constraints on semiotic material, i.e. semiotic work, and explores the effects of this work as indexes of the work. The article then considers data from the University of the Free State (UFS) in a demonstration of the possibilities of this kind of analysis, suggesting that the UFS is mostly constructing its identity around foreignizing influences and excluding indigenous links.