A semiotic analysis of urban graffiti : the study of Bejaia city

Abstract

The present study intends to analyse semiotically some urban graffiti collected from Bejaia city (Algeria). It aims to identify, analyse; describe, and explain the meaning behind each graffiti. For this reason, a total number of thirty graffiti were collected from different quarters of the city of Bejaia to serve as a corpus for this study. Moreover, fifteen interviews were conducted randomly with Bougiote citizens. Relying on the Triadic Semiotic Theory of Charles Sanders Peirce, the corpus was classified according to their meaning. The research adopted a qualitative method where we used a semiotic analysis of the graffiti to provide an extensive understanding of our study. The results reached in this study reveal that Berber, Arabic, French, and, English are the main languages used on graffiti in Bejaia City. Besides, most of the graffiti reflect the Algerian identity and the social reality since the main meanings of the graffiti are: identity, politics, sport, and daily life issues. Finally, graffiti are drawn in both perspectives .i.e., artistically and non-artistically.