Semiotic Ideology: A Dialogue across Semiotic Traditions

This dialogue between Webb Keane and Massimo Leone, moderatedand with a preface by Constantine V. Nakassis, explores convergences anddivergences between continental semiotics and North American linguisticanthropology on the topic of “semiotic ideology.” The discussion ranges overquestions of intellectual genealogy, the status of interpretation, the epistemologyof analysis, and methodology. It is an edited transcription of the opening sessionof the “Summer Symposium 2025: Ideologies of Conservation andTransformation,” organized by Massimo Leone at the Fondazione Bruno Kessler(Trento, Italy, 23 June 2025).