METAPHORS IN THE DISCOURSE OF THE NATIONAL
METAPHORS IN THE DISCOURSE OF THE NATIONAL

Summary/Abstract: This article provides a general overview of the intersecting fields of metaphor research and research on ‘nations’ and ‘the national’, reflecting on the levels at which metaphor is relevant to the study of these concepts. Many case studies concentrating on specific issues, such as EU integration, have demonstrated that metaphors play a role in constructing both national and supranational identities (see e.g., Marks 2004; Hülsse 2006; Musolff 2000 etc.). However, a general overview of the levels at which metaphors are relevant to the study of ‘the national’ is still lacking. This study addresses these levels by focusing on three topics: the banal reference to the nation as a personified individual and its possible implications, the family metaphor as the key metaphor that constitutes the nation and related concepts in public and nationalistic discourse, and the type and role of metaphors in scholarship concerned with nations.

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