Good Intentions Exploited Badly: Contested Metaphors of Russian Patriotism

Abstract

ABSTRACT Generating and cultivating patriotic sentiments has been universally recognized as being critical for any nation. The originally sacralized Russian patriotism has evolved into an ambiguous concept due to its discrediting in the post-Soviet era. The paper claims that patriotism is an essentially contested concept, frequently employed as a promotional tool in political campaigns, with figurative language serving as a tool for articulating patriotic sentiments. By applying corpus-based methods, the study elicits dominant metaphors employed in the discursive construction of Russian patriotism. It reveals variation, found in a set of preferred metaphors, which reflects diverging metaphorical narratives in the current patriotic discourse. The paper argues that metaphors are effective explanatory and framing tools applied in constructing the Russian national identity.