Science@RCC: The metaphorical conceptualization of undocumented immigrants in the US: insights from a multidisciplinary approach

In this talk, we seek to explore different metaphorical frames used to conceptualize undocumented immigrants in the United States. Studies examining the linguistic representations of undocumented immigrants is vast, ranging from different communicative contexts such as American print media (Cisneros, 2008, Pinero-Pinero et al., 2014), online environments (Catalano & Musolff, 2019) or speeches at political campaigns (Smith, 2019; Atkins et al., 2020). With few exceptions, most research underscores the tendency among some US society members to construe undocumented immigrants through dehumanising mechanisms, which subtly shape public opinion and vice versa. Nonetheless, there is a dearth of studies that aim to establish correlations between several sociological traits (such as age, party identification or educational level, inter alia) and a preference towards different types of metaphorical domains (i.e., conceptualising undocumented immigrants as entities that attack/infest/erode/invade the US). Our main objective in this presentation is to provide a general examination of these correlations. We intend to examine different metaphorical domains and try to ascertain whether there are preferences towards one or another depending on self-reported sociological descriptors. To this end, we rely on a US-wide survey (n=1202) where participants were asked to assess the aforementioned metaphorical domains on a 5-point Likert scale agreement. Findings shed light on several preferences towards certain source domains that participants in this survey show depending on several sociological traits they identify with.

Likewise, and very much in line with the nature of Science@RCC seminar series, this talk attempts to illustrate the benefits of working in multidisciplinary teams when approaching social phenomena. By combining quantitative and qualitative techniques, we will show how adopting an integrative methodology we can reach valuable insights into complex realities like the ones undocumented immigrants embody.

Register here for this event.
Zoom link will be provided before the time of the event to all registered participants. 

Speakers: Alfonso Sánchez Moya. Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Government -FAS-, Harvard University; Javier Fernández López. Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Boston; Alejandro Llanos Garrido. Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology -FAS-, Harvard University.

Sponsors: RCC; Science@RCC.