The Public Discourse project of the University of Navarra’s Institute for Culture and Society will host an international workshop on Metaphors, Emotions and Identity to be held February 16-17, 2018.

The workshop aims to analyze the role of metaphors and emotions in the construction of individual and collective identities. The group will focus ona wide range of data from public discourse (political, institutional and media), including from academic genres, personal narratives and discourse in film.

The event will include speakers from academic centers in the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Spain. Elena Semino, from the University of Lancaster, will speak about “Metaphors,emotions and identities in online interactions related to health.” In it, she will present the results of her study on the metaphors that people affected by cancer and health professionals use.

For her part, Cristina Soriano, from the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, will give a session on “Interdisciplinary approaches to the study of emotion, metaphor and identity.” Soriano will explain how metaphors interrelate with and influence cultures and identities.

The third speaker is Carmen Sancho Guinda, from the Polytechnic University of Madrid; she will present a conference entitled “Under the magnifying glass of the academic metaphor: Through modes, genres and experience.” The researcher will defend the importance of teaching college students about the use of metaphor given its pragmatic potential.

Short presentations and data sessions

In addition to these conferences, ICS researchers will give three short presentations, including “Metaphor and self-knowledge in adolescent narratives” from Sofia Brotóns; “Spatial metaphors in cinematrographic flashbacks: Characters facing the past” from Adriana Gordejuela; and “Metaphorical representations of palliative care in the Spanish press” from Inés Olza and Carla Reigada.

In addition, two data sessions will take place. The Marie Curie researcher Sarali Gintsburg will talk about her project abbreviated as ORFORCREA, and Saqlain Hassan will present on an issue from his doctoral thesis, namely the representation of female Muslims in the British and Pakistani press.

This event is part of the MetaforUN research forum on metaphor, discourse and creativity developed by the Institute for Culture and Society’s Public Discourse project and funded by the University of Navarra’s Research Plan (PIUNA, for its initials in Spanish).