Popular Culture Review 30.2
impact their experiences at the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site .
Deconstruction
METHODS
Borrowed from the field of literary theory , deconstruction assumes the meaning of any text is inherently subjective and may therefore be interpreted in any number of ways ( Derrida in Culler 78 ; Saussure in Kneale 105 ). Text , whether communicating great literary tales , or a weekly grocery list , is essentially just a set of arbitrary signs and symbols that gain meaning from a relationship with and in opposition to other signs and symbols ( Culler 113 ). Thus , the meaning of any text is contingent upon both the individual reading it and the reader ’ s contemporary culture . Semiotics , based on the same general theory , examines how signs and symbols communicate meaning through a variety of texts , from films , museum exhibits , landscapes , and other cultural artifacts to the experiences of individuals expressed in verbal , written , and artistic forms ( Waterton and Watson 24 ).
The purpose of deconstruction , regardless of the type of text examined , is to tease out the multiple and often warring meanings it communicates to unsettle the dominant interpretation and highlight how a text is , in fact , also working to send an opposing message ( Culler 22 ; DeMan in Kneale 109 ). The approach highlights how some meanings take precedence over others and instigate further examination of how dominant meanings are cultivated . Additionally , deconstruction is a flexible approach to research to achieve an overall goal rather than demanding researchers adhere to a rigid structure ( Plug 387 ). Canton and Santos ( 374 ) for example , used the approach to examine the experiences of motorcyclists
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