This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Baruh, L. Articles by Popescu, M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Guiding metaphors of nationalism: the Cyprus issue and the construction of Turkish national identity in online discussions

KADIR HAS UNIVERSITY, TURKEY, lbaruh{at}gmail.com

Mihaela Popescu

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SAN BERNARDINO USA, popescum{at}csusb.edu

This article is a study of three major metaphors organizing nationalistic discourse about Cyprus in two online forums for Turkish university students. The analysis suggests that discussants symbolically warranted their constructions of the future of Cyprus and Turkish Cypriots with metaphors of blood and heroism that emphasized their personal and collective memory of sacrifice. Sports metaphors were used predominantly to convey a sense of the strategic importance of Cyprus. In addition, discussants employed gender and sexual metaphors to structure the tension between nationalist feelings associated with motherland Turkey as a pure, virgin female, and the geopolitical demands of the nation-state, portrayed as a father faced with uneasy choices.

Key Words: archetypal metaphors • blood • Cyprus • Greece • nationalism • Turkey

References

• An, A. (2002) Kibris Nereye Gidiyor. Istanbul: Everest.
• Anderson, B.R. (1991) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, rev. and extended edn. New York: Verso.
• Beattie, G. (1988) All Talk: Why It's Important to Watch Your Words and Everything Else You Say. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
• Billig, M. (1995) Banal Nationalism. London: Sage.
• Billig, M. (2000) `Flagging the Homeland Daily', in J. Hutchison and A.D. Smith (eds) Nationalism: Critical Concepts in Political Science, pp. 1430—69. New York: Routledge.
• Blain, N., Boyle, R. and O'Donnell, H. (1993) Sport and National Identity in the European Media. Leicester: Leicester University Press.
• Bock, G. and Thane, P. (1991) Maternity and Gender Policies: Women and the Rise of the European Welfare States, 1880s—1950s. London: Routledge.
• Bridenthal, R., Grossmann, A. and Kaplan, M.A. (1984) When Biology Became Destiny: Women in Weimar and Nazi Germany. New York: Monthly Review Press.
• Bryant, R. (2002) `The Purity of Spirit and the Power of Blood: A Comparative Perspective on Nation, Gender and Kinship', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 8(3): 509—30.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Cannidine, D. (1983) `The Context, Performance and Meaning of Ritual: The British Monarchy and the ``Invention of Tradition''', in E. Hobsbawm and T. Ranger (eds) The Invention of Tradition, pp. 15—42. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Delaney, C.L. (1995) `Father State, Motherland, and the Birth of Modern Turkey', in S.J. Yanagisako and C.L. Delaney (eds) Naturalizing Power: Essays in Feminist Cultural Analysis, pp. 177—99. New York: Routledge.
• Dodd, C.H. (1999a) `A Historical Overview', in C.H. Dodd (ed.) Cyprus: The Need for New Perspectives, pp. 1—15. Huntingdon: The Eothen Press.
• Dodd, C.H. (1999b) `Cyprus in Turkish Politics and Foreign Policy ', in C.H. Dodd (ed.) Cyprus: The Need for New Perspectives, pp. 128—47. Huntingdon: The Eothen Press.
• Eley, G. and Suny, R.G. (1996) `Introduction: From the Moment of Social History to the Work of Cultural Representation', in G. Eley and R.G. Suny (eds) Becoming National: A Reader, pp. 3—37. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Elshtain, J.B. (1991) `Sovereignty, Identity, Sacrifice', Journal of International Studies 20(3): 395—406.
• Eriksen, T.H. (1993) Ethnicity and Nationalism: Anthropological Perspectives. London: Pluto Press.
• Ertekun, N.M. (1999) `The Turkish Cypriot Outlook', in C.H. Dodd (ed.) Cyprus: The Need for New Perspectives, pp. 97—113. Huntingdon: The Eothen Press.
• Fair, L. (1997) `Kickin' It: Leisure, Politics and Football in Colonial Zanzibar, 1900s— 1950s', Africa 67(2): 224—51.[Web of Science]
• Gellner, E. (1983) Nations and Nationalism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
• Hayes, C.J.H. (1960) Nationalism: A Religion. New York: Macmillan.
• Herzfeld, M. (1997) Cultural Intimacy: Social Poetics in the Nation-State. New York: Routledge.
• Hitchens, C. (1997) Hostage to History. Cyprus from the Ottomans to Kissinger. London: Verso.
• Hobsbawm, E.J. and Ranger, T.O. (1983) The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Ivie, R.L. (1997) `Cold War Motives and the Rhetorical Metaphor: A Framework of Criticism', in M.J. Medhurst, R.L. Ivie, P. Wander and R.L. Scott (eds) Cold War Rhetoric. Strategy, Metaphor, Ideology, pp. 71—9. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press.
• James, C.L.R. (2000) Beyond a Boundary. London: Serpent's Tail.
• James, C.L.R. and Grimshaw, A. (1986) Cricket. London: Allison & Busby.
• Kandiyoti, D. (1991) `Identity and Its Discontents: Women and the Nation', Millennium Journal of International Studies 20(3): 429—43.[Web of Science]
• Kapferer, B. (1988) Legends of People, Myths of State Violence, Intolerance, and Political Culture in Sri Lanka and Australia. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
• Koven, S. and Michel, S. (1993) Mothers of a New World: Maternalist Politics and the Origins of Welfare States. New York: Routledge.
• Lakoff, G. (1991) `Metaphor and War: The Metaphor System Used to Justify War in the Gulf ', available online at: http://www.arieverhagen.nl/11-sept-01/Lakoff_1991.html, accessed 14 September 2004.
• Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. (1980) Metaphors We Live By. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
• Marvin, C. and Ingle, D.W. (1998) Blood Sacrifice and the Nation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Mavratsas, C.V. (1997) `The Ideological Contest between Greek-Cypriot Nationalism and Cypriotism 1974—1995: Politics Social Memory and Identity', Ethnic and Racial Studies 20(4): 717—37.[Web of Science]
• McClintock, A. (1991) `"No Longer in a Future": Women and Nationalism in South Africa', Transition 51: 104—23.
• Merkel, U. (2003) `The Politics of Physical Culture and German Nationalism: Turnen versus English Sports and French Olympism, 1871—1914', German Politics and Society 21(2): 69—97.[CrossRef]
• Mosse, G.L. (1990) Fallen Soldiers: Reshaping the Memory of the World Wars. New York: Oxford University Press.
• O'Donnell, H. (1994) `Mapping the Mythical: A Geopolitics of National Sporting Stereotypes', Discourse and Society 5: 345—80.[CrossRef]
• Osborn, M. (1967) `Archetypal Metaphor in Rhetoric: The Light—Dark Family', Quarterly Journal of Speech 53(3): 115—26.[Web of Science]
• Osborn, M. and Ehninger, D. (1962) `The Metaphor in Public Address', Speech Monographs 29: 223—34.
• Papadakis, Y. (1998) `Greek Cypriot Narratives of History and Collective Identity: Nationalism as a Contested Process', American Ethnologist 25(2): 149—65.[CrossRef][Web of Science]
• Pettman, J.J. (1996) Worlding Women: A Feminist International Politics. New York: Routledge.
• Renan, E. (1996) `What Is a Nation?', in G. Eley and R. G. Suny (eds) Becoming National: A Reader, pp. 43—55. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Richmond, O.P. (1999) `Ethno-Nationalism, Sovereignty and Negotiating Positions in the Cyprus Conflict: Obstacles to a Settlement', Middle Eastern Studies 35(3): 42—63.[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Rosenberg, S.D. (1993) `The Threshold of Thrill: Life Stories in the Skies over South East Asia', in M. Cooke and A. Woollacott (eds) Gendering War Talk: Institute Entitled `Gender and War: Roles and Representations', pp. 43—66. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
• Shapiro, M.J. (1989) `Representing World Politics: The Sport/War Intertext', in J. Der Derian and M. J. Shapiro (eds) International/Intertextual Relations: Postmodern Readings of World Politics, pp. 259—321. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
• Sluga, G. (1998) `Identity, Gender and the History of European Nations and Nationalisms', Nations and Nationalism 4(1): 87—111.[CrossRef]
• Smith, A.D. (1986) The Ethnic Origins of Nations. Cambridge: Blackwell.
• Smith, A.D. (1999) Myths and Memories of the Nation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Smith, A.D. (2000) `National Identity and Myths of Ethnic Descent', in J. Hutchison and A.D. Smith (eds) Nationalism: Critical Concepts in Political Science, pp. 1394—429. New York: Routledge.
• Smith, A.D. (2001) Nationalism: Theory, Ideology, History. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Sonyel, S.R. (1999) `New Light on the Genesis of the Conflict', in C.H. Dodd (ed.) Cyprus: The Need for New Perspectives, pp. 16—53. Huntingdon: The Eothen Press.
• Stavrinides, Z. (1999) `Greek Cypriot Perceptions', in C.H. Dodd (ed.) Cyprus: The Need for New Perspectives, pp. 54—96. Huntingdon: The Eothen Press.
• Stefanidis, I.D. (1999) Isle of Discord: Nationalism, Imperialism and the Making of the Cyprus Problem. New York: New York University Press.
• Taylor, C. (1998) `Nationalism and Modernity', in J.A. Hall (ed.) The State of the Nation, pp. 191—218. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Traugott, M.W. (1992) `The Impact of Media Polls on the Public', in T.E. Mann and G.R. Orren (eds) Media Polls in American Politics. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.
• Tzanelli, R. (2006) `Impossible is a Fact: Greek Nationalism and International Recognition in Euro 2004', Media, Culture & Society 28(4): 483—503.[CrossRef]
• Williams, F. (1987) `Racism and the Discipline of Social Policy: A Critique of Welfare Theory', Critical Social Policy 20: 4—29.
• Yumul, A. and Özkirimli, U. (2000) `Reproducing the Nation: ``Banal Nationalism '' in the Turkish Press', Media, Culture & Society 22: 787—804.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
• Yuval-Davies, N. (1993) `Gender and Nations', Ethnic and Racial Studies 16: 621—32.[Web of Science]
• Yuval-Davies, N. (1994) `Women Ethnicity and Empowerment', Feminism and Psychology 4: 179—97.[CrossRef]
• Yuval-Davies, N. and Anthias, F. (1989) Woman-Nation-State. London: Macmillan.
• Zambouras, S. (1999) `Current Greek Attitudes and Policy', in C.H. Dodd (ed.) Cyprus: The Need for New Perspectives, pp. 114—27. Huntingdon: The Eothen Press.

Discourse & Communication, Vol. 2, No. 1, 79-96 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1750481307085578


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Baruh, L. Articles by Popescu, M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?