Somatic Metaphors: Embodied Recognition of Rhetorical Opportunities

Abstract

If bodies and discourse are always interpenetrated and mutually influencing, rhetoricians need ways to consider how it is possible to evoke embodied effects with rhetorical force via discursive tools. This article discusses how the use of somatic metaphors, metaphors crafted to revive remembered embodied experience in the mover’s consciousness, allows access to the ideological, political, and affective ties formed in the original embodied performance. Repeated exposure to this metaphoric resurrection of the past creates a kairotic awareness where remembered embodiments are viewed as potential rhetorical resources.

Notes

1. ¹I thank RR reviewers Jessica Enoch and Debra Hawhee, and Theresa Enos for their helpful feedback and comments on this work. I also thank Candice Rai for the generosity of her time and suggestions during the creation of this piece.

2. ²This study draws on a larger pool of data collected at Northwest University from 2012-13 via regular (2-4 visits per week) dance class observations, interviews with teachers/choreographers, and interviews with students.

3. ³Celeste Condit’s essay on race and genetics provides a clear and concise overview of these warring positions and the potential consequences of holding to either too firmly.

4. ⁴Psychotherapist Brian Broom uses the term somatic metaphor to frame physical symptoms in relation to psychological distress—for example, having angina while also describing one’s self as suffering from heartache—but his focus is on instances where patients are not aware of this connection between mental and physical states. My use of the term is predicated on the existence of a conscious linking between the discursive instance of the metaphor and an intentional physical action.

5. ⁵Although her methods are more discursively focused, Christina Haas’s essay “Materializing Public and Private” speaks to how metaphors of space and public/private operate more broadly to impact bodily potential in the case of an abortion clinic.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer Lin LeMesurier

Jennifer Lin LeMesurier is a PhD candidate at the University of Washington in English, specializing in Language and Rhetoric. She is currently researching how bodies are capable of creating rhetorical influence via movement by studying dance pedagogy techniques. She can be reached at [email protected].