States, Citizens, and Questions of Significance: Tenth Round Table on Law and Semiotics

The Tenth Round Table on Law and Semiotics was the first Round Table on the Road in Amherst and it celebrates a decade of semiotic scholarship on law. This volume is a report from that gathering and reflects its general focus as well as the specific theme - the context of cultures, identity, immigration and their literatures. A number of other crosscurrents - such as the meaning of semiotics and the reach of our endeavor, the uses of history and analytic techniques, and creative play with love and humor - will be evident. Perhaps the ongoing interest in what semiotics is will turn out to be the characteristic feature of this volume. Newcomers want to know what they are getting into and veterans are generally happy with new blood. These orientations are all evident. The result, evident in the diversity of papers, is another thematic current - how far one can stray and still be part of the community.