Who are we?
We are a growing group of PhD students, post-doctoral fellows, and academics that meet monthly to discuss our experiences with metaphor research. Our interests span a broad range of contexts, from diabetes and cancer patient discourse, to caregiver speech and child language. What has brought us together is our interest in metaphor and its power to entertain, to clarify and to illustrate complex thought. We strive to provide a safe and informal space for scholars and others to think aloud about metaphor so that members become a part of the relevant discussion.
Why metaphor?
Metaphorical language appears to be common, weaving through academic and daily language. Many of us have stumbled upon metaphors that, at first glance, seem to be straight forward enough to identify and analyse. However, endeavouring to study those metaphors requires the use of rigorous methods of identification, verification, and analysis. Demystifying the issues arising from these processes is more productive with many heads around the table. With the support from the Metaphor Club, metaphor research becomes less solitary.
How did we come about?
While metaphor research is vibrant, it is also open to subjectivity and doubt. Led by Professor Gabriella Rundblad, our sessions draw inspiration for how to tackle these challenges. We help each other to address the various issues metaphor presents by, for example, sharing our initial research questions, discussing methods for metaphor identification, and presenting paper drafts on metaphoricity.