Daniela Marcantonio | Universita' della Svizzera Italiana (original) (raw)

Papers by Daniela Marcantonio

Das Thema der vorliegenden Arbeit sind Embleme im interkulturellen Spannungsfeld. Der Schwerpunkt... more Das Thema der vorliegenden Arbeit sind Embleme im interkulturellen Spannungsfeld. Der Schwerpunkt liegt dabei auf Gesten und dem individuellen Umgang mit ihnen im interkulturellen Bereich. Ausgangspunkt der Untersuchung ist, dass Gesten häufig als ein Kulturphänomen einem Sprachumfeld zugeordnet werden. Damit stellt sich die Frage, ob die Gestik, bei einem Kulturwechsel neu erlernt wird, lediglich transferiert wird oder ob aus unterschiedlichen Gesten im interkulturellen Bereich neue Gesten entstehen. Diese Frage wird in dieser Arbeit systematisch zuerst auf Grundlage theoretischer Überlegungen diskutiert; weiter wird die Variabilität von Gesten im interkulturellen Spannungsfeld anhand einer umfangreichen empirischen Untersuchung im Übergangsfeld der deutschen und der italienischen Kultur untersucht. Auf Grundlage der durch diese Untersuchungen gewonnenen Resultate wird die zentrale These dieser Arbeit formuliert und begründet, die besagt, dass Gesten zwar in einer Kultur zusammen m...

Histochemistry and Cell Biology, 2012

Protein kinase Cepsilon (PKCε) exerts a well-known cardio-protective activity in ischemia-reperfu... more Protein kinase Cepsilon (PKCε) exerts a well-known cardio-protective activity in ischemia-reperfusion injury and plays a pivotal role in stem cell proliferation and differentiation. Although many studies have been performed on physiological and morphological effects of PKCε mis-expression in cardiomyocytes, molecular information on the role of PKCε on early cardiac gene expression are still lacking. We addressed the molecular role of PKCε in cardiac cells using mouse cardiomyocytes and rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. We show that PKCε is modulated in cardiac differentiation producing an opposite regulation of the cardiac genes NK2 transcription factor related, locus 5 (nkx2.5) and GATA binding protein 4 (gata4) both in vivo and in vitro. Phospho-extracellular regulated mitogen-activated protein kinase 1/2 (p-ERK1/2) levels increase in PKCε over-expressing cells, while pkcε siRNAs produce a decrease in p-ERK1/2. Indeed, pharmacological inhibition of ERK1/2 rescues the expression levels of both nkx2.5 and gata4, suggesting that a reinforced (mitogen-activated protein kinase) MAPK signaling is at the basis of the observed inhibition of cardiac gene expression in the PKCε over-expressing hearts. We demonstrate that PKCε is critical for cardiac cell early gene expression evidencing that this protein is a regulator that has to be fine tuned in precursor cardiac cells.

Informal Logic, 2019

The “extreme consequence” is a very common pattern in advertising messages that presents an odd, ... more The “extreme consequence” is a very common pattern in advertising messages that presents an odd, even negative, situation resulting from the use of the advertised product as a good reason to buy it. By analyzing selected advertisements employing this pattern using the conceptual integration theory and the Argumentum Model of Topics, we aim to understand how “extreme consequence” works at the rhetorical and argumentative levels. The analyses allow us to detect the typical, generic, cognitive, and argumentative structure underlying the pattern and to identify the rhetorical and argumentative role played by its main components, namely exaggeration and cause-effect relation.

Studies in Communication Sciences

Gesten, als Besonderheit der menschlichen Kommunikation, haben Wissenschaftler unterschiedlicher ... more Gesten, als Besonderheit der menschlichen Kommunikation, haben Wissenschaftler unterschiedlicher Disziplinen immer wieder interessiert. Zahlreich sind die Studien in den Kommunikationswissenschaften, die sich mit dieser Thematik beschäftigen und die die Gestik als Teil des kommunikativen Aktes sehen. Inwiefern sind Gesten kommunikativ und kulturbezogen? Verändert sich die Gestik in interkultureller Alltagskommunikation? Ausgangspunkt der Untersuchung ist, dass Gesten häufig als ein Kulturphänomen einem Sprachumfeld zugeordnet werden. Damit stellt sich die Frage, ob die Gestik bei einem Kulturwechsel neu erlernt wird, lediglich transferiert wird oder ob aus unterschiedlichen Gesten im interkulturellen Bereich neue Gesten entstehen und vor allem, wie die Menschen, die zwischen den Kulturen leben, mit Gesten umgehen. Die zentrale These dieser Arbeit besagt, dass Gesten zwar in einer Kultur zusammen mit der Sprache erlernt werden, aber nicht ausschliesslich Bestandteil dieser Kultur sin...

INFORMAL LOGIC, 2019

TRANEL, 2020

The intent of this paper is to analyze the contribution of emotions, as an act of nonverbal commu... more The intent of this paper is to analyze the contribution of emotions, as an act of nonverbal communication, to sensemaking. Actually, the focus of our analysis is not on the psychology of emotions but rather on the semantics and pragmatics of facial expressions, which encode emotions and/or the state of mind, and how facial expressions communicate meaningfully. To study this empirically, an advertisement of the Swiss bank CLER, whose message is completely based on nonverbal communication, was presented to 20 students of the Faculty of Communication Sciences of Università della Svizzera italiana (USI). The qualitative analysis of the acquired data shows how the bodily expressions of emotions, called affect displays (Ekman & Friesen 1969), transport directly, effectively and efficiently a meaning.
http://unine.ch/files/live/sites/tranel/files/Tranel/72/89-105_Marcantonio.pdf

SComS Studies in Communication Sciences, 2018

https://www.hope.uzh.ch/scoms/article/view/j.scoms.2018.01.003

Studi Culturali. Il Mulino, 2017

Gestures or communication with the hands have a long history and have been studied intensively in... more Gestures or communication with the hands have a long history and have been studied intensively in various disciplines. Giuseppe Pitrè presents a short examination of these topics in a chapter dedicated to gestures and their meanings in Sicily, which can benfound n the second volume ofbhis extensive work ‚Usi e costumi, credenze e pregiudizi del popolo siciliano‘, a book which was published For the first time in 1889 in Palermo.

Slavia. Rivista di Cultura Russa

La crescente nostalgia per la Russia porta A. N. Tolstoj alla ricerca di un nuovo genere letterar... more La crescente nostalgia per la Russia porta A. N. Tolstoj alla ricerca di un nuovo genere letterario, che gli spiani la strada per il rientro nella sua amata Patria: così nascerà Aelita (e qualche anno dopo L'iperboloide dell'ingegnere Garin), dove il viaggio su Marte rappresenta una fuga dalla terra natia. Pertanto quando Los' (alter ego dell'autore) si definisce "fuggiasco e vigliacco" è l'autore stesso a formulare la sua autoaccusa per non essere riuscito a sopportare il peso della rivoluzione ed essere fuggito all'estero; infatti dirà Los':
"È difficile staccarsi dalla Terra. È anche difficile staccarsi da casa. Dal villaggio vai verso la strada ferrata e dieci volte guardi indietro. L'izba, ricoperta di paglia, è il tuo luogo, a cui sei abituato."
Nonostante la fantascienza fosse per Tolstoj un genere letterario totalmente nuovo, la sua versatilità di scrittore e il suo stile energico e discorsivo, rendono le sue opere positive, piacevoli e cariche di una suspense non angosciante, proprio per questo Aelita e L'iperboloide dell'ingegnere Garin saranno destinati a rimanere alla base della tradizione della naucnaja fantastika fino alla fine degli anni sessanta.

In his work “Gesten. Versuch einer Phänomenologie,” Flusser investigates the concept of gestures.... more In his work “Gesten. Versuch einer Phänomenologie,” Flusser investigates the concept of gestures. Starting from a first definition of gestures, which explores the “causality” of movements, Flusser then discusses the meaning of the concept “gesture” in the broader context of culture as a symbolic expression. In this essay, we discuss Flusser’s view on gestures by studying them with respect to their function and meaning in communicative processes, both obvious and hidden. From a semiotic point of view, we analyse Flusser’s thoughts on the function and the properties of gestures and provide a definition of “gesture”, which reflects its cultural, symbolic, and significant aspects. Particular emphasis is given to the role of gestures in communicative processes and their imbedding in the cultural environment.

Books by Daniela Marcantonio

Prospettivaeditrice, 2010

Aleksej Nikolaevic Tolstoj (1883-1945) è conosciuto in Italia per il romanzo storico Petr pervyj ... more Aleksej Nikolaevic Tolstoj (1883-1945) è conosciuto in Italia per il romanzo storico Petr pervyj (Pietro il Grande) (1930), rimasto incompleto, sul sovrano “riformatore”. Non tradotti in lingua italiana e poco noti sono, invece, i due romanzi “utopico- fantascientifici”: Aelita (1922) e Giperboloid inzenera Garina (L’iperboloide dell’ingegnere Garin, 1925), che costituiscono l’oggetto del presente lavoro. Rare sono, anche nel nostro paese, le monografie dedicate a questo scrittore.
Tolstoj trascorse alcuni anni della sua vita a Berlino, allora isola felice per i russi in esilio volontario e ponte tra Est ed Ovest, dove scrisse Aelita e preparò L’iperboloide dell’ingegnere Garin. Il mio lavoro analizza i due romanzi, cercando di capire anche il pensiero dell'autore alla luce della situazione politica di allora e del genere letterario scelto, tra l'altro, inusuale per A.N. Tolstoj.

Frank&Timme Verlag. Berlin, 2016

Gesten verwendet jeder: Sogar Kinder entschlüsseln oft intuitiv, was sie bedeuten. Aber ist diese... more Gesten verwendet jeder: Sogar Kinder entschlüsseln oft intuitiv, was sie bedeuten. Aber ist diese Bedeutung wirklich in allen Kulturen identisch? Muss Gestik bei einem Kulturwechsel neu erlernt oder lediglich angepasst werden? Und entstehen im interkulturellen Bereich vielleicht auch ganz neue Gesten? Auf Grundlage theoretischer Überlegungen und anhand einer umfangreichen empirischen Untersuchung im Übergangsfeld zwischen deutscher und italienischer Kultur werden diese fragen beantwortet.

Conference Presentations by Daniela Marcantonio

ICMC 2020 Osnabrück, 2020

As human beings we are inside a costant communicative-interpretative flow. We encode and decode d... more As human beings we are inside a costant communicative-interpretative flow. We encode and decode daily signs, symbols, gestures, actions and thoughts. But often our decisions are guided by emotions (see Damasio 2018, Tomasello 2014, Feldman Barrett 2018). Because of their communicative power, emotions have become an integral part of different communicative contexts, such as advertising. What role do emotions play in communication? Can affect displays, i.e. facial expressions of emotions (see Ekman & Friesen, 1969;1972), be considered gestures? In response to this, a qualitative analysis was carried out. We selected an advertising campaign by the agency Heimat in Zurich from 2017 for the new Swiss bank CLER, as it was based on so called emotional marketing (Gallucci, 2006). A particular advertisement was selected and it was presented in our study to 20 bachelor students of the faculty of Communication Sciences [university name removed for anonymization]. We could observe that the recognition of the affect displays gave rise to a series of direct inferences that led to the immediate reconstruction of the message of the dvertisement. This study demonstrate how emotionally encoded messages are able to activate in the adressee a form of empathy. This happens not only because of mirror neurons (see Rizzolati & Sinigaglia 2006), but especially because non-verbal communication transports also an emotional charge that directly stimulates our brain and our sensory memory, recreating an emotional atmosphere that goes beyond the simple advertising message: «Social reality is not just about words - it gets under your skin.» Feldman Barrett (2018:39).

AELCO Conference Cordoba, 2018

The interest in gestures’ studies has generated much scholarly effort, both descriptive and norma... more The interest in gestures’ studies has generated much scholarly effort, both descriptive and normative. In particular this is the case for communication sciences, where gestures are seen as an intentional communicative act. Based on neuropsychological studies which aimed the understanding how cognitive processes work, Lakoff and Johnson (1999) argued that the mind is inherently embodied and abstract concepts are largely metaphorical.
Following this claim, we assume that symbolic gesture (Kendon, 2004) stands for cultural corporal memories, a kind of bodily rhetoric, a creative metaphoric thinking and a physically embodied idea.
Indeed, the symbolic gesture seems metaphorically constructed and acts as a bridge between thought and language by conveying an embodied meaning (McNeill 2005). Moreover, according to Lakoff and Johnson (1999), Fauconnier and Turner (2002), and McNeill (2005) metaphors are a unity of thinking and perceiving, which means that an embodied meaning implies an embodied experience which activates our sensorimotor inferential structure.
In order to verify this statement, an empirical study was carried out in Italy and in Germany. Exploring the gestures of Italians living in Germany and Germans living in Italy we can assume that even though the intrinsic metaphoric of the gesture is culturally given and the symbolic gesture is socially coded and shared, this doesn’t mean that the gesture cannot be transferred to another culture. In fact, due to their metaphorical structure, the transfer of gestures between different cultures is possible and, as the empirical study shows, this transfer even takes place. This confirms that emblems are not dependent on language but that they are visive metaphors conveying a concept. This will be demonstrated upon two emblematic gestures: The Italian mani a borsa (Poggi, 1997) and the German Ätsche Bätsche. The results presented in this work are novel with respect to the intercultural focus of the empirical study and the theoretical considerations.
Keywords: gesture, emblem, metaphor, embodiment, communication.

Fauconnier, G. & Turner, M. 2002. The way we think: conceptual blendings and the mind’s hidden complexities. New York: Basic Book.
Kendon, A. 2004. Gesture. Visible action as utterance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. 1999. Philosophy in the flesh: the embodied mind and its challenge to western thought. New York: Basic Book.
McNeill, D. 2005. Gesture and thought. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Poggi, I. 1997. Mani che parlano. Padova: Unipress.