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Context of Production and Reception

Texts are influenced by the time and culture in which they are produced and received. The document defines cultural context as the values, beliefs, and attitudes shared by a group of people that affect how they view the world. Historical context refers to the historical time period that can impact texts through influencing events and attitudes. Together, the cultural and historical contexts comprise the context of production, which affects the content and style of a text, and the context of reception, which influences how a reader interprets a text. Context clues within a text and research into its production context can provide insight into what an author intended to communicate and why. A reader's interpretation may match the author's intended meaning (dominant reading), partly match it (negotiated

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Josefina Keoken
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278 views2 pages

Context of Production and Reception

Texts are influenced by the time and culture in which they are produced and received. The document defines cultural context as the values, beliefs, and attitudes shared by a group of people that affect how they view the world. Historical context refers to the historical time period that can impact texts through influencing events and attitudes. Together, the cultural and historical contexts comprise the context of production, which affects the content and style of a text, and the context of reception, which influences how a reader interprets a text. Context clues within a text and research into its production context can provide insight into what an author intended to communicate and why. A reader's interpretation may match the author's intended meaning (dominant reading), partly match it (negotiated

Uploaded by

Josefina Keoken
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Texts are not isolated entities, but are connected to time and to space.

First, we need to
consider what we mean by time' and 'space' Time is temporal-essentially the historical time
we inhabit Space is a little more complicated-we inhabit a geographical space in that we live
in a particular place, and we inhabit a cultural space in that we are within a particular culture.
Of course, we exist at the point of intersection between all these factors: we inhabit a
particular time, place and culture. This affects the kind of text we might produce, but also how
we interpret another's text when we receive it.

We term these connections to time and space context. The word is derived from the Latin
contextus-con' means 'together and textus' is the conjugated form of texere, which means
"weave -essentially a 'weaving together of influences that affect the creation of a text by a
writer and the interpretation of a text by its reader.
The historical time and the geographical and cultural space a text is written in has an
enormous influence on its content and delivery, something we will refer to as the context of
production. The historical time and geographical and cultural space the reader finds
themselves in has an enormous influence on a text's interpretation, something we will refer to
as the context of reception. These terms will be explored more fully later in the chapter.

How does context affect the writing and reading of a text?


Defining “cultural” and “historial”
Cultural context (space) is what the inherent values, beliefs and attitudes of the time and place
actually are. These are shared by a distinct group of people and affect how they view the
world and interact with it They are formed through influencers like education, religion,
language. family, shared beliefs and customs.
The cultural context is also tied in with the historical context. Historical context (time) can be
defined as the historical time at which the text is being produced or received. This can impact
the production and reception of texts in two main ways:
- Historical events: The texts themselves may be inspired by major events that are usually on
a national or international scale.
- Historical attitudes and values: As previously mentioned, culture changes over time. This is
often driven by historical events or historical figures.
The cultural context and historical context have a profound effect on how texts are produced
and on how texts are received, this influence is referred to as the context of production and the
context of reception.

What is meant by “context of production”?


The cultural and historical factors that affect the content and style of a text is called its context
of production. A text's context of production is fixed-it is written by a particular person, in a
particular place, over a particular time period. This, as you would expect, has an influence on
not only what is written about, but how it is written.
The fingerprints of this context and its influence on a writer can be found all over a text.
Through close reading of the text and research of the context of production, we can gain a
better understanding of not only what the writer was trying to communicate, but often why
they felt compelled to communicate their ideas in the first place.
This all centres on the fact that texts are acts of communication.
Context clue: These fingerprints of context that we can find on the text are what we will term
contexts clues. In literary works, these can often be found in the characters, dialogue,
language, style and narrative. In more visual texts, these can often be found in the clothing,
models, props, layout, graphic design and the elements of language used.

What do we mean by “context of reception”?


The historical and cultural factors that affect how a text is interpreted by a reader is called its
context of reception.
Unlike the fixed context of production, the context of a text's reception can vary dramatically.
This shift in context of reception can be extreme-a text written today will still be being read in
one hundred years. That future readership will almost certainly decode and interpret the text
differently to a contemporary readership.
The reader's historical time and geographical and cultural space affect how they interpret his
diary and respond to its ideas.
A reader who interprets and accepts the ideas as the writer intended has what is called a
dominant reading, a reader who partly interprets and accepts the ideas as the writer intended
has what is called a negotiated reading, a reader who rejects the intended Interpretation and
ideas the writer intended has what is called an oppositional reading.
Implied reader a member of a target audience who will understand and accept all the
references, ideas and symbols in a text.

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