from conflict to conciliation: disarming metaphors lynne cameron the open university, uk
TRANSCRIPT
From conflict to conciliation: Disarming metaphors
Lynne Cameron
The Open University, UK
Language and conflict
Language used in the service of opposing groups
In processes of de-humanising the Other
e.g. framing the Other metaphorically as mass: a flood animal: rats object: the axis of evil
Post-conflict conciliation
Increasing understanding between groups and individuals separated by conflict.
Needs to work on both social and individual levels.
Processes include: the re-negotiation of identities the re-humanization of self and Other the development of empathy between former
enemies through dialogue
The study
Pat Magee: a former IRA member who planted a bomb that injured and killed members of the Conservative party in 1984.
Jo Berry: the daughter of a Conservative minister who was killed in the bombing.
Conversations between
The Grand Hotel, Brighton, 1984
Pat Magee & Jo Berry, 2000
Data
A series of reconciliation meetings between Jo Berry and Pat Magee.
2nd meeting – 50 minutes – late 2000
4th meeting – 110 minutes – early 2001
Radio interview – 20 minutes – Easter 2003
Face-to-face interview with Jo Berry – 2005
Dialogue as complex dynamic system Interacting levels of social organisation
individual – social groupings Interacting timescales
conversation – relationship Properties
Co-adaptation Self-organisation Emergent stabilities
Co-adaptation in complex systems
interactions between elements gradually adapt
the behaviour of the system changes the behaviour of the system stabilises
to a state or attractor that ‘suits’ all elements
some perturbation is needed to shift the system to a new state
State space of a system: the landscape of possibilities
from Spivey 2007, p.18
Metaphors as emergent markers of social group affiliation The Movement The Struggle Home Rule
porridge, screws
Metaphors as emergent attractors in dialogue
CONCILIATION as BUILDING A BRIDGE
that is why it is so important to build this bridge with you
cf Juliet is the sun ..
Metaphor dynamics at the micro-level After its first use in talk, a metaphor
Vehicle can bedeveloped: with same Topic
• repetition• relexicalisation• explication• contrast
redeployed: with different Topicdropped
building bridges
Pat ... (1.0) in the er --
the journey,
...(1.0) coming ... to a bridge,/
... you [know].
Jo [hmh]
Pat ... with two ends,
Pat all those bridges are there to be built
From bridges to barriersPat there's an inverse,
to that er,...(1.0) you know,er,...(2.0) figure of speechyou know,bridges.... bridges can be built.... and that is if you,.. actively --er,.. create,er,.. distances.... barriers.... or what are they?they are exclusions
The removal of barriers allows connectionJo <X where X> victims of all sides have been
meeting, .. and --er,... (1.0) that is just about, ... er,.. br- breaking down barriers,sharing stories, and --
Pat hmhJo ... and through .. experiencing each other's stories,Pat hmhJo ... there's a real feeling of,
... closeness and humanity of everyone,
...(1.0) and er,
.. a thing I believe absolutely fundamentally,is that er,...(1.0) if you exclude anybody's voice,...(1.0) you know,... you're se- --you're sowing the seed for later violence.
Jo ...(1.0) hmhPat .. and [er] --Jo [I] would agree.Pat ...(1.0) the way to counter that,
...(1.0) is to build bridges.Jo .. hmhPat ...(1.0) the way to ensure it doesn't happen,
Metaphor dynamics in the conversations
systematic metaphors emerge across discourse events:
UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER REQUIRES CONNECTION
building bridges breaking down barriersbeing open
Appropriation
taking something that belongs to others and making it one’s own
Wertsch, 1998, p.53
The moment of appropriation
1132 Pat ... be confronted, 1133 .. with your pain.1134 ... that's a consequence that --1135 er,1136 ...(3.0) you know,1137 I suppose I deserve.1138 ...(2.0) you know,1139 ...(1.0) and -- 1140 er,1141 ...(2.0) seems very --1142 how do you put it,1143 er,1144 ...(2.0) maybe that's part of healing too,1145 .. my healing.
Prior to this moment of appropriation, the word does not exist in a neutral and impersonal language … but rather it exists in people’s mouths, in other people’s contexts, serving other people’s intentions: it is from there that one must take the word, and make it one’s own.
Bakhtin 1981, pp. 293-4.
Earlier in the discourse event
Jo Berry
591 the heat heals the pain
609 I will speak out,
610 for the healing for the world,
660 I feel that my heart heals,
661 as Ireland heals.
Earlier in the discourse eventPatrick Magee
695 ... that somebody else can --
701 .. move on in their own,
702 .. you know,
703 .. healing process.
The appropriation of metaphor
1132 Pat ... be confronted, 1133 .. with your pain.1134 ... that's a consequence that --1135 er,1136 ...(3.0) you know,1137 I suppose I deserve.1138 ...(2.0) you know,1139 ...(1.0) and -- 1140 er,1141 ...(2.0) seems very --1142 how do you put it,1143 er,1144 ...(2.0) maybe that's part of healing too,1145 .. my healing.
appropriation … always involves
resistance of some sort
(Wertsch 1998, p.54)
1145 .. my healing.1146 Jo your healing.1147 .. [yeah].1148 Pat [yeah].1149 ...(1.0) you know,1150 er,1151 ...(2.0) it's -- 1152 er,1153 something I have to go through. 1154 Jo ... hmh1155 Pat ... if I'm going to sort of --1156 er,1157 ...(1.0) really retain my humanity.
Other metaphor appropriations
painJo: to deal with the anger and the painPat: you’re in denial about some of the
pain of your own life struggle
Pat: the struggle was necessaryJo: I am seeing you as someone
who’s had a lot of struggle … I am feeling part of that struggle
carryPat: you have to carry that with youJo: I carry that wound
contributionPat: a denial of rights…what
contribution can I make?Jo: I’m doing this for peace…my little
contribution to the bigger picture
Appropriation in reconciliation
Appropriation:affords alignment through attempted
use of the Other’s metaphorif permitted, allows the Other to use
one’s owned metaphorcan shift the power of the metaphor
Appropriation of metaphor is a small act of reconciliation that contributes to the longer process.
Through appropriation and negotiation, metaphors that mark and maintain social group affiliation can be disarmed.
References
Cameron, L. (2007) Patterns of metaphor use in reconciliation talk. Discourse and Society, 18 (2), 197-222.
Gibbs, R. and L. Cameron (2008) The social cognitive dynamics of metaphor performance. Journal of Cognitive Systems Research, 9 (1-2), 64-75.
Larsen-Freeman, D. & L. Cameron (2008) Complex systems and applied linguistics. Oxford University Press.