Trajectories of Experience of Real Life Events. A Semiotic Approach to the Dynamics of Positioning

This paper is devoted to the study of experience as a semiotic process of constructing the personal meaning of the situation lived. Its main purpose is to devise a semiotic methodology capable of describing and explaining the dynamics of positioning when facing personal lived experiences in real life contexts. Twenty four young adults were exposed to a simulated conflict and then asked to write a narrative of their understanding of the incident and a self-report of their personal experiences. Results show how narratives and trajectories of experience present different forms in each participant, which could be related to: a) the understanding of the situation lived and the position taken regarding the conflict; and b) the position each participant takes regarding the reports they had to produce for the researchers. The incorporation of reflexivity into the applied method allows identification of how the dynamics of double positioning leave traces in the records produced.