Promoting Hate Speech by Dehumanizing Metaphors of Immigration

Dehumanizing metaphors of immigration prevail in public discourse in different contexts. Their use can arouse negative emotions, such as hatred and fear, contributing to hate speech, hate crimes, and increasingly restrictive public policies toward immigrants and refugees. Although previous studies have investigated metaphor use, their research designs are often based on a single country and focused on immigrants. This study adds to the literature by examining newspapers from two countries and centering on immigrants and host countries, as well as discursive oppositions between the two. It conceptualizes the immigration metaphors in Brazilian and British newspapers by drawing on Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA). The findings show that metaphors used for immigrants are primarily dehumanizing, while nations are represented as endangered containers or houses. This study expands the existing literature by systematically examining the use of metaphors in Brazil and the UK, suggesting a new perspective for studying metaphors of immigration beyond the Global North.