Metaphor in Public Discourse

Public discourse has a significant impact on all areas of social life. From newspapers and television to social media or advertising campaigns, there is a constant public debate in which citizens, institutions and organizations take part influencing opinions and views on paramount aspects of society, such as health, education, environment, and immigration. Metaphor is pervasive throughout this public discourse (Landau & Keefer 2014, Mussolf 2006, Burgers at al. 2016,  Flusberg et al. 2018, among others). Starting from the premise that metaphor is not only one of the most basic human thought-structuring devices, but also, and more importantly, a powerful ideological tool within public debate, shaping public opinions and conceptualizations, RaAM16 will explore the crucial role that it plays in the construction, spread and contestation of specific ideologies, influencing citizens’ attitudes and decisions about practical issues on social actions.

Metaphor scholarship keeps growing at the intersection of new modes, genres and technologies in a more and more globalized world. Therefore, RaAM16 welcomes papers that cover all aspects of metaphor research from any disciplinary perspective, and covering a range of data types and methodologies (cross-linguistic, diachronic, multimodal, transmodal, …). We are particularly interested in papers that explore the role played by  metaphor in the public arena.  Especially relevant, but not exclusive, topics for the conference are:

Metaphor in Politics

• Metaphor in News and Media
• Metaphor in Social Networks
• Metaphor in Health Campaigns
• Metaphor in Advertising
• Metaphor in Education
• Metaphor in Religion
• Metaphor in Climate Change
• Metaphor in Institutional & Corporate Discourse
• …

Burgers, C., Konijn, E. A., & Steen, G. J. (2016). Figurative framing: Shaping public discourse through metaphor, hyperbole, and irony. Communication theory, 26(4), 410-430. https://doi.org/10.1111/comt.12096

Flusberg, S. J., Matlock, T., & Thibodeau, P. H. (2018). War Metaphors in Public Discourse. Metaphor and Symbol, 33(1), 1–18.  https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2018.1407992

Landau, M. J., & Keefer, L. A. (2014). This is like that: Metaphors in public discourse shape attitudes. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 8(8), 463–473. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12125

Musolff, Andreas (2006) Metaphor Scenarios in Public Discourse Metaphor and Symbol, 21(1): 23–38 https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327868ms2101\_2

Submission guidelines:

You can participate in RaAM16 in the following modalities:

• Theme sessions: 90/180-minute theme-based panels. Proposals should include the title, explanation of the session(s) and 3-6 abstracts. Individual authors should also submit their abstracts separately for double-blind peer review indicating the title of the theme session in which they are included.
• Paper presentations for the general session (single or multiple authors): 20-minute talk + 5-minute Q&A
• Posters (single or multiple authors)

Abstracts for oral presentations, theme sessions and poster presentations should be completely anonymous, no longer than 400 words (excluding references) and should include:

• a title
• clearly articulated research question(s) and/or aims
• the most essential details about research approach, data, and methods
• (preliminary) results
• basic references

You are welcome to submit up to two contributions, but please note that you can only be first author for one of them.

All abstracts (theme sessions, general session papers and posters)  will be double-blind peer reviewed by our scientific committee.

For the submission of abstracts, please register here: ABSTRACT SUBMISSION

Pre-conference workshops

We will also host some pre-conference workshops. They are small focused meetings with a limited number of attendants that will take place the day before the main conference. They are intended to provide detailed formation on some metaphor related topics or to discuss critical issues, methods or  theories emerging in the field.

Proposals for these are also encouraged and must be sent to the Conference mail raam16@uah.es before 31^st January

** Please note that while you do not have to be a RaAM member when submitting an abstract, it is necessary to become a member to present at the conference. If you are not a member yet, go to RaAM website to learn how you can become one.

Important dates:

• 1^st December – 7^th February Extended Deadline – Abstract submission
• 31^st January – Workshop proposals
• 31^st March – Notification of acceptance
• 1^st April -10^th May – Registration for presenters
• 1^st April – 10^th June – Registration for non-presenters
• Final programme – 15^th May