Understanding Metaphor as an Embodiment Simulation of Agitation in Selected Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Camps in Zamfara State

Abstract

Conceptualising struggles for equitable treatment through metaphors is not usually processed from a single mental experience. Individuals agitating for the treatment are usually motivated by their communicative capacities and perceptions of their locations, experiences and needs. Against that backdrop, this study has investigated the role of metaphor as an embodiment simulation of agitation among internally displaced persons (IDPs) in selected camps in Zamfara State, Nigeria. Amidst a humanitarian crisis driven by violence and natural disasters, over 678,000 individuals are displaced in the state. These individuals are facing living conditions challenges that have increased their stress and anxiety. Using semi-structured interviews to gather metaphorical expressions that underlie experiences of agitation from the responses of the IDPs in the state, the research, employing Bergen's (2015) Embodiment Simulation Approach, analyses the metaphorical expressions to reveal the embedded cognitive and emotional processes in them. The study finds that the analysed metaphorical expressions embody the IDPs’ feelings of fear, loss and hope, thereby illustrating the complex interplay between their lives’ realities and neural perceptions of the realities. Thus, this study has contributed to embodied cognition and metaphor studies and proffered practical procedures for humanitarian responses in IDP contexts. Conclusively, the procedures foregrounded by the research can promote better future interventions and more sustainable and empathetic humanitarian efforts if they are upheld by government agencies, NGOs and health professionals in their effort to bring succour to the displaced persons in Zamfara State, Nigeria and around the world.