Chapter 5. Liquid racism, metaphor and the visual modality

Abstract

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.