Abstract
Metaphor, as an act of human fancy, combines ideas in improbable ways to sharpen meanings of life and experience. Theoretically, this arises from an association between a sign-for example, a cattle car-and its referent, the Holocaust. These "sign-vehicles" serve as modes of semiotic transportation through conceptual space. Likewise, on-the-ground vehicles can be rich metaphors for the moral imagination. Following on this insight, Vehicles presents a collection of ethnographic essays on the metaphoric significance of vehicles in different cultures. Analyses include canoes in Papua New Guinea, pedestrians and airplanes in North America, lowriders among Mexican-Americans, and cars in contemporary China, Japan, and Eastern Europe, as well as among African-Americans in the South. Vehicles not only "carry people around," but also "carry" how they are understood in relation to the dynamics of culture, politics and history.
Original language | English (US) |
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Place of Publication | New York |
Publisher | Berghahn Books |
Number of pages | 214 |
Edition | 1st printing |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781782383765 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781782383758 |
State | Published - Aug 15 2014 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2014 David Lipset and Richard Handler. All rights reserved.