Conceptual Metaphors for Eating Disorders on Instagram

Those who have not experienced an eating disorder first-hand may never completely understand the ways it impacts your life. However, analysis of the language used to talk about food, diet culture, body, eating disorders, recovery, and relapse can provide meaningful insight into the experience of having an eating disorder. This study analyzes Instagram posts made on publicly accessible accounts that focus on eating disorder awareness and recovery. A Conceptual Metaphor Theory approach is used to identify metaphors for food, diet culture, body, eating disorders, recovery, and relapse. Examples of metaphors identified within the collected data include: FOOD AS MORALITY, DIET CULTURE AS A PERSON, BODY AS AN ENEMY, EATING DISORDER AS A PERSON, RECOVERY AS A JOURNEY, and RELAPSE AS AN OBSTACLE. In total, 84 examples of 28 different conceptual metaphors between the 6 target domains were identified in this study. The ability to identify conceptual metaphors for is beneficial in a broader cultural context so that harmful metaphors that contribute to our society’s disordered ideas about food and bodies can be rejected and replaced with helpful alternatives. An understanding of metaphors for eating disorders and associated domains is also practical for treatment providers because metaphor is a highly useful communicative and therapeutic tool.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Linguistics

Grantor

University of Saskatchewan

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Caswell, Rhiannon Nicole

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Lovick, Olga

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Li, Zhi
• Kohlberger, Martin

• linguistics
• metaphor
• conceptual metaphor
• social media
• Instagram
• eating disorders
• diet culture

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10388/15576

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:harvest.usask.ca:10388/15576