When history becomes a metaphor for the present and the future: recent far-right discourse about immigration in the UK

Abstract

Based on conceptual and discourse-oriented metaphor theory, the article argues that British far-right discourse increasingly conceptualizes immigration with the help of martial rather than “fluid” or “container” metaphors. Metaphors such as “conquest”, “colonization”, and “ethnic cleansing” operate a semantic slide which transforms foreigners into “enemies” and seemingly justifies radical “emergency” measures against immigration. These implicit references to historical events convey specific notions of time and visions of the future.

Keywords

• historical metaphors
• far-right discourse
• immigration