Metaphoric reasoning is fundamental to the conceptualization of complex processes, especially those that are beyond the human scale. The metaphors that we use in communication arises from, and in turn shapes, conceptualization. By looking at metaphor use in public discourse, we can begin to understand the dominant and emerging narratives that influence our reasoning about social issues, including crime, the climate crisis, and healthcare.
Reframing nation
War rhetoric is pervasive in public discourse. "Wars" are declared on everything from drugs to dandelions. "Weapons" are identified, and "collateral damage" is expected. There is a lot of evidence that this framing is harmful, but reframing has proven difficult. In this work, I look at how implicit nationalist narratives hinder efforts to demilitarize public discourse, and how reframing our notion of "nation" may help.
Related work:
2023. Metaphors for displacement in times of crisis. Researching and Applying Metaphor Conference 16. Universidad de Alcala, Spain. [abstract; slides]
Climate narratives: an interview archive
This is a digital interview archiving project documenting individuals' psychological and physical experiences of the climate crisis. In addition to providing useful insights into individual conceptualizations of the climate crisis, this project also provides people with the space to share their story. We all have one to tell.
Image: Albany Bulb, California. Noon on September 9th, 2020
Metaphor complexity in health discourse
Since Sontag's seminal Illness as Metaphor, a lot of attention has been paid to how metaphoric framing can help or harm patients experiencing illness. In this collaborative work, I look at how the impacts of metaphors can vary based on use viewpoint and discursive context.
Related work:
with Eve Sweetser. 2020. Harmful Living Beings: a family of metaphors for cancer. Researching and Applying Metaphor Conference. Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Hamar, Norway. June. [abstract; slides]
with Eve Sweetser. 2018. Ecological vs. military invasions: Reasoning metaphorically about cancer. Researching and Applying Metaphor Conference. Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. [abstract; slides]