ICON OF A GENERATION
By
Janine Evans
The Kombi van has come to symbolize the ‘hippy’ era of the mid
1960’s; the countercultural values questioning: race relations, authority,
sexuality, women’s rights and the psychedelic drug scene. ‘A symbol occurs when one thing comes to
stand for another’ (Van Luyn, 2013). (Marenn Sagar refers to landscapes as symbols in his blog
as well). This iconic vehicle was born out of nothing more
than a means of travel in post war Germany, yet has a place in the hearts of
millions of people worldwide because it conjures up such an emotive
response. The universal symbol of the
van is still the peace sign symbolizing the social revolution in the
sixties. After all, it is just a form of
transport.
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| Kombi as a metaphor |
The rhetoric used in my virtual network is
specific to one type of vehicle and creates a satisfying and mostly amusing
sense of place through the exchange of lighthearted banter. Each vehicle ranges in condition from the
‘rat’ look to the immaculate but rarely is there any grandiose exchange. Tuan (1991) writes, ‘the kinds of words and
the tone of voice used, seems to infect the material environment’ (p.
690). What is ‘written’, our vernacular,
our metaphorical narratives in the virtual world can transcend distance as if
the other users were in the same room, invoking a sense of place (Van Luyn,
2013).
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| Kombi as a symbol of lifestyle |
REFERENCE LIST:
Tuan, Y. (1991). Language and the
making of place: A narrative-descriptive approach. In Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 81(4), 684-696.
Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, narratives and
the making of place, Lecture 5: Narratives and Places [PowerPoint slides].
Retrieved from http: learnjcu.edu.au
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SOURCE:
A Kombi van can never be 'just a form of transport' Janine and by saying so I think you are selling out the rights of all kombi van owners. I believe it’s a sacrilege to have a van and not participate in the ritualistic degradation of the outside because you want to keep it pristine and vintage. Linguistics is a means by which grammar is emphasized through metaphorical power and by adorning the sides of a van with literature, graffiti and idealistic graphics the owner is imparting ‘emotion, personality, and high visibility (Ricoeur1979.Tuan.1978. P685) to the ‘objects and places’ that fill their spiritual void.
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