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Part of
Metaphor, Nation and Discourse
Edited by Ljiljana Šarić and Mateusz-Milan Stanojević
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 82] 2019
► pp. 75–100

Chapter 3
Godly Poland in godless Europe

Catholic-nationalist discourse in Poland after 2004

This chapter investigates Catholic-nationalist discourse in Poland after 2004 when the country joined the European Union, combining elements of the Discourse Historical Approach with a Cognitive Linguistics perspective. It focuses on conceptual metaphors for the Polish nation to demonstrate how they serve the Catholic Church in shaping Polish national identity in opposition to the common European project, and how the discourse in question is able to absorb the most significant national trauma in post-war Polish history – the Smoleńsk plane crash. Discursive practices aimed at shaping Polish national identity as a part of a broader European identity were examined by Krzyżanowski (2009) and Grimstad (2012). The discourse discussed in this chapter depicts these identities as incompatible and thus is “the other side of the coin” of the processes of conceptualizing Polish nationality after 2004.

Keywords: Poland, Polish nationality, Discourse Historical Approach, conceptual metaphor, Critical Metaphor Analysis, Catholic-nationalist discourse, European Union, the Catholic Church in Poland
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical and methodological remarks
    • 2.1Conceptual metaphors for nations
    • 2.2The : Levels of discourse, macro-strategies, /fallacies, means of realization
    • 2.3as
  • 3.Major features of the in
    • 3.1 as the main of : The social level of the discourse
    • 3.2The Catholic : The intertextual level of the discourse
    • 3.3The concept of as chosen nation: the historical level of the discourse
    • 4.The conceptual metaphor in : An analysis of the textual level of the discourse
    • 4.1Essentialist understanding, moral agency, and the inner “self” of the Polish nation
    • 4.2
    • 4.3
    • 4.4
    • 4.5Interpretation of the in
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 20 May 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.82.04gom
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