Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale

Metaphors: Conceptualising Horizons of Meaning

open access | peer reviewed
    a cura di
  • 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
Abstract

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 ColonialityEnvironmental HumanitiesBuddhist architectureÉdouard GlissantCreative writingMetaphorsCaveVisual metaphorsCommon destinyUrban artNirvāṇaCosmogonyPedagogyIt is with such a renewed orientation of metaphorsSea-level riseThe symposium was the result of a collective endeaThese critical enquiries into modes of thought beyChinaFeminist writingSacred geographySpace diplomacyUrban spaceCommunity of shared future for humankindMetaphorical narrativeChineseDecolonizationThe present volume aims at exploring some of theseChinese neologismsForeign languageAquatic imageryAt the core of human thought and expression lies tClimate Im/Mobility StudiesGandhāran artHuman bodyContemporary poetryMedieval DaoismSite-specific artClimate changeMetaphor<p>At the core of human thought and expression lieCritical Ocean StudiesEncounterEthnographyHowever, over the last decade, in response to the HorizonJapanese literatureAvant-gardeFigurations

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOr/2385-3042/2025/03 | Pubblicato 14 Novembre 2025 | Lingua en