National Conceptualisations of the Body Politic

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The book explores the complex interpretations of the metaphor "the Nation as a Body" through a large-scale experiment involving over 1,800 participants from diverse cultural backgrounds. It reveals that metaphor meanings are culturally mediated and vary between senders and recipients. By providing a historical and cultural context, the author challenges traditional views of the nation as a male-gendered, hierarchical concept. This work offers methodological insights for scholars studying figurative language and uncovers nuanced differences in political metaphors, particularly in English as a global lingua franca.