Chapter 5. Liquid racism, metaphor and the visual modality
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Stavros Assimakopoulos
Abstract
The extant literature on liquid racism has focused primarily on the rhetorical impact of humor. In this Chapter, we shift the focus to the role of metaphor as a means of conceptualization. Drawing on ideas and tools from the fields of critical discourse studies, conceptual metaphor theory and multimodal communication, we discuss how metaphorical framing can correspondingly constitute a vehicle for liquid racism, by zooming in on Greek political cartoons on the refugee ‘crisis’ in the Mediterranean Sea. To wit, we argue that, in this setting, the use of visual metaphor to refer to migrants can give rise to ambivalent evaluative imports that allow for racist undertones to enter the picture.
Abstract
The extant literature on liquid racism has focused primarily on the rhetorical impact of humor. In this Chapter, we shift the focus to the role of metaphor as a means of conceptualization. Drawing on ideas and tools from the fields of critical discourse studies, conceptual metaphor theory and multimodal communication, we discuss how metaphorical framing can correspondingly constitute a vehicle for liquid racism, by zooming in on Greek political cartoons on the refugee ‘crisis’ in the Mediterranean Sea. To wit, we argue that, in this setting, the use of visual metaphor to refer to migrants can give rise to ambivalent evaluative imports that allow for racist undertones to enter the picture.
Chapters in this book
- 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
- Table of contents vii
- Chapter 1. Antiracist and racist discourse as antagonistic and overlapping 1
- Chapter 2. Racist discourses of discrimination and assimilation in an antiracist corpus 41
- Chapter 3. Normalizing assimilation in antiracist (con)texts and (re)producing liquid racism 71
- Chapter 4. What culture? 93
- Chapter 5. Liquid racism, metaphor and the visual modality 118
- Chapter 6. Migrant voices in ‘antiracist’ video clips in Greece 143
- Chapter 7. “The EU gave us a new beginning” 181
- Chapter 8. “Wouldn’t it be better for me to earn my own money and pay taxes?” 202
- Chapter 9. A migrant’s public apology as an instance of internalized racism 225
- Chapter 10. Racist and antiracist discourse in Greek migrant/refugee jokes 253
- Chapter 11. Epilogue 277
- Notes on contributors 283
- Name index 289
- Subject index 293
Chapters in this book
- 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
- Table of contents vii
- Chapter 1. Antiracist and racist discourse as antagonistic and overlapping 1
- Chapter 2. Racist discourses of discrimination and assimilation in an antiracist corpus 41
- Chapter 3. Normalizing assimilation in antiracist (con)texts and (re)producing liquid racism 71
- Chapter 4. What culture? 93
- Chapter 5. Liquid racism, metaphor and the visual modality 118
- Chapter 6. Migrant voices in ‘antiracist’ video clips in Greece 143
- Chapter 7. “The EU gave us a new beginning” 181
- Chapter 8. “Wouldn’t it be better for me to earn my own money and pay taxes?” 202
- Chapter 9. A migrant’s public apology as an instance of internalized racism 225
- Chapter 10. Racist and antiracist discourse in Greek migrant/refugee jokes 253
- Chapter 11. Epilogue 277
- Notes on contributors 283
- Name index 289
- Subject index 293
