A Spatial-Semiotic Narrative of the Martyr’s Memorial Site in Amman

Abstract

Social semiotic approaches to spatial discourse analysis are employed to analyse the predefined arrangements of spaces and semiotic resources in three-dimensional spaces. These spaces and resources are recognized as spatial-texts that construct a discourse which communicates predefined meanings and ideologies. Aiming to advance the growing interest in spatial semiotics in different socio-cultural contexts, this study scrutinizes the spatial semiotic resources in the Martyr’s Memorial and site in Amman, the Capital city of Jordan. The analysis is constructed through an approach of locative and reflective observation of the researcher’s, and the visitors’, experience with the different semiotic resources in the Memorial site. Then, these resources are interpreted on the basis of social semiotic approaches of spatial-discourse analysis. The study demonstrates that the Martyr’s Memorial and its site encompass manifold semiotic resources which make a series of spatial-texts which are organized and arranged along a predefined narrative path. These spatial-texts make a coherent discourse that communicates and unfold well-established meanings and ideologies about the Arabic, and Islamic, conception of martyrdom, the role of the Jordanian Armed Forces, and the legacy of the Hashemite ruling dynasty. Such meanings and ideologies are reproduced on the basis of social, religious, and historical backgrounds.