METAPHORS WE LIVE (AND DIE) BY

In this paper, I consider various encounters with metaphors and metaphorical ways of thinking experienced in the course of my recent research endeavours in the field of history and heritage. The implications of Lakoff and Johnson's assertion, made in their 1980 classic Metaphors We Live By, that metaphors have the power to influence the ways in which we perceive and make the world are considered. I argue that recourse to metaphor can expand the repertoire of cognitive associations, especially under circumstances where there is a deficit of empirically verifiable knowledge. I also contend, however, that it is important to be wary of metaphors, above all those that have passed into common usage and are rarely interrogated. Metaphors that legitimize violence, deny historical specificity and erase the individuality of historical actors are particularly disturbing.