Metaphorical constructions of herding in news reports on Fulani Herdsmen. Issue 1 (2nd January 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Igwebuike, Ebuka Elias
• Is Part Of: Continuum. Volume 35:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 85
• Page End: 98
• Publication Date: 2021-01-02
• Subjects: Metaphor -- representation -- Fulani herdsmen -- migration -- invasion -- discourse analysis -- conflict -- newspaper report -- Nigeria; Motion pictures -- Australia -- Periodicals; Broadcasting -- Australia -- Periodicals; Mass media -- Periodicals; 306.05
• DOI: 10.1080/10304312.2020.1852531
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1030-4312

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Herding in Nigeria is associated often with invasions. This study investigates how herding and its associated invasions are metaphorically conceptualized in Nigerian newspapers as natural disasters, removal of dirt and hunting exercise. Based on instances of the use of figurative expressions in Nigerian national newspaper reports on the herdsmen-farmers dispute, the study reveals that herding is represented as invasions, and the invasions are expressed through three salient metaphors: 1) invasion is overrunning water, 2) invasion is cleansing, and 3) invasion is hunting. Analysis of the metaphoric expressions shows that herding is constructed as natural disasters through water metaphors such as 'flood', 'storm', 'surge' and (heavy) 'rain' that wash debris (farmers) into running water while 'cleanse', 'sweep' and 'wipe out' conceptualize herdsmen as cleaning agents that eliminate 'unharmful' objects. Farmers, on the other hand, are portrayed as preys being hunted, ambushed and trapped by hunters (herdsmen). The study makes a distinction between the three metaphors of destruction and the overall construction that farmers constitute an object being wiped out, washed away and hunted by herders.