The discourse dynamics approach to metaphor and metaphor-led discourse analysis

The use of metaphor as a tool to uncover people's ideas, attitudes, and values through analysis of discourse is demonstrated and illustrated with data collected in a social science research project. A 'discourse dynamics' approach to metaphor situated within a complexity/dynamic systems perspective is developed. This approach is turned into a method of 'metaphor-led discourse analysis' which is described in detail, using a focus group discussion to illustrate the procedure: transcription, metaphor identification, coding metaphors and using software, and finding patterns of metaphor use from coded data. The reasoning that justifies decisions at each stage of the procedure is made explicit so that the trustworthiness of the method can be maximized. The method of metaphor-led discourse analysis has been developed through a series of empirical projects to be accessible and relevant to social science researchers as well as to metaphor scholars

The dialogic construction of self and other in response to terrorism

An applied linguistic study of talk in twelve focus groups (N=96) – six in London, where bombs exploded in July 2005, and six in Leeds, home to three of the bombers – investigates the effects of terrorism on people’s personal and social landscapes. Emotional responses of fear, of both violence and retaliation, and suspicion contribute to multiple disruptions in the construction of Self and Other. Muslim participants, who before lived with a multiplicity of voices and positions, feel reduced by non-Muslims to more simplistic categorizations through the discourse pattern of ‘lumping’, which positions all Muslims as potential terrorists and sometimes as part of a wider group of ‘non-desirable aliens’. Terrorist claims of Muslim identity bring tensions to religious positioning and interpersonal relationships, often resolved through ‘moral splitting’ that separates ‘good/normal’ from ‘bad/brainwashed’ Muslims. Less Muslim in-group bias and more non-Muslim empathy to Muslims is found than predicted. Personal connections are tested and disrupted by terrorism and some prove more resilient than others. Implications are suggested for social moral responsibility and leadership, and for discourse interventions

Islam, Politics and Security in the UK.

In 2002 the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) launched the comprehensive five-year New Security Challenges Programme. Directed by Professor Stuart Croft at the University of Warwick, it now funds almost 40 projects involving over 120 researchers. Its expansive and multidisciplinary approach seeks to reach beyond war into other important areas of global security. NSC projects explore eight broad themes: (1) the role of military force; (2) the role of international law, international organizations and security regimes; (3) economically driven security challenges; (4) technological aspects of security; (5) gendered dimensions of security; (6) security and civil society; (7) the media and psychological dimensions; and (8) human security. In a collaborative venture, a series of briefing papers written by project leaders within the NSC Programme is being published by Chatham House (and posted on its International Security Programme web pages) over a two-year period to summarize important research results and emerging discussion points. Previous briefing papers have focused on themes of Security, Terrorism and the UK, The Globalization of Security, Human Security, Peacekeeping and Interventionism and Post-Conflict Security-Building. This final briefing paper in the series focuses on Islam, Politics and Security in the UK. In the first contribution Jenny Pickerill, Frank Webster and Kevin Gillan explore Muslim anti-war activism as a form of positive political engagement and argue for a more complex understanding of Muslim political identities. In the second, Gurchathen Sanghera and Suruchi Thapar-Bjorkert discuss the changing nature of political radicalism in Bradford in the wake of the 'Rushdie Affair' in 1989 and the urban 'riots' of 1995 and 2001. They identify several social and political disjunctures which have emerged in this context and examine the impact of these on the mobility of young Pakistani Muslims. Finally, John Maule and colleagues innovatively draw on attributional analysis and an analysis of metaphors to examine whether (and if so how) UK Muslims and non-Muslims think about terrorist risk in different ways