Me and You and Europe: A Metaphorical Analysis of Eastern and Western European Countries’ Relationship with the European Union

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  • Presentation speakers
    • Daniela Chalaniova, Anglo-American University, Prague, Czech Republic

  Abstract:
  The goal of this paper is to interpret and compare the Eastern and the Western, the old and the new members’ relationship with the European Union, based on a metaphoric analysis of political cartoon discourse in Czech Republic, Slovakia, United Kingdom and Germany. The paper positions itself within a social constructivist approach to collective identity, making use of Lakoff and Johnson’s theory of conceptual metaphors as framing devices for discourses. First, this theory will be complemented by Petr Drulák’s real-life findings based on application of Lakoff and Johnson’s theory to the European Union discourse in Czech Republic, with an aim to create a framework of possible relationships to the European Union within which political cartoons from the data sample could be positioned. Second, the political cartoon discourse itself shall be deconstructed through the iconographic method of Erwin Panofsky, with an emphasis on representation of the European Union itself (a house, a ship etc.). Finally, a comparison will be made between the discursive findings of the two Eastern and two Western countries as to their relationship to the European Union framed by conceptual metaphors. Such study should help us better understand convergence or divergence of relationships with/opinions on the European Union between the old Western and the newer Eastern members, and by extension, help us assess the depth of Europeanization of the Eastern countries ten years after enlargement. The data sample used has been collected over a five year period, from 2008 – 2012 (including).