Metaphors: Conceptualising Horizons of Meaning
open access | peer reviewed-
edited by
- Wenxin Jin - Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia - email
- Rebecca Ciattini - Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia - email
- Laura Locatelli - Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia - email
- Michele Pulini - Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia - email
- Kesang Thakur - Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia - email
- Claudia Zancan - Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia - email
At the core of human thought and expression lies the profound capacity of metaphor – the act of understanding one concept in terms of another. However, over the last decade, in response to the socio-political and ecological realities of the ‘Anthropocene’, disciplines like anthropology have also pointed at the limitations of human thought, highlighting its fundamental role in large scale planetary destruction. These critical enquiries into modes of thought beyond the human such as in Eduardo Kohn’s path breaking work with indigenous communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon forests, challenged our perceptions about the ‘field’ of thinking and communication as the sole domain of humans. It is with such a renewed orientation of metaphors that we organised our PhD symposium, Metaphors: Conceptualising Horizons of Meaning, held from the 26th to the 28th of February 2024 at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. The present volume aims at exploring some of these perspectives. The symposium was the result of a collective endeavour by the doctoral candidates of the PhD in Asian and African Studies, XXXVIII cycle, at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice: Rebecca Ciattini, Wenxin Jin, Cien Liang, Laura Locatelli, Michele Pulini, Michele Scarlassara, Kesang Thakur, and Claudia Zancan.
Keywords Cosmogony • Medieval Daoism • <p>At the core of human thought and expression lie • Sea-level rise • Space diplomacy • Avant-garde • Buddhist architecture • Figurations • Aquatic imagery • However, over the last decade, in response to the • Site-specific art • Metaphorical narrative • Urban art • These critical enquiries into modes of thought bey • The present volume aims at exploring some of these • Creative writing • Coloniality • Sacred geography • China • Climate change • Community of shared future for humankind • Nirvāṇa • The symposium was the result of a collective endea • Urban space • Ethnography • Japanese literature • Contemporary poetry • Chinese • Édouard Glissant • It is with such a renewed orientation of metaphors • Feminist writing • Chinese neologisms • At the core of human thought and expression lies t • Encounter • Metaphors • Human body • Metaphor • Common destiny • Horizon • Critical Ocean Studies • Foreign language • Pedagogy • Visual metaphors • Environmental Humanities • Climate Im/Mobility Studies • Gandhāran art • Decolonization • Cave
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOr/2385-3042/2025/03 | Published Nov. 14, 2025 | Language en
Copyright © Wenxin Jin, Rebecca Ciattini, Laura Locatelli, Michele Pulini, Kesang Thakur, Claudia Zancan. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.