Chapter 5
Liquid racism, metaphor and the visual modality
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.
Article outline
- 1.Liquid racism: From humor to (conceptual) metaphor
- 2.The critical study of discourse
- 3.Metaphor and the discursive (re)production of racism
- 4.Metaphor, liquid racism’s ambivalence, and the visual modality
- 5.Visual metaphor in Greek political cartoons on the refugee ‘crisis’
- 5.1Criticizing the authorities
- 5.2Inducing sympathy towards migrants
- 6.Concluding remarks
-
Acknowledgments
-
Notes
-
References
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