“Killer” Metaphors and the Wisdom of Captive Orcas

Julie “Madrone” Kalil Schutten Northern Arizona University ; Caitlyn Burford Northern Arizona University

Abstract

This entry distinguishes captive orcas from their wilder and freer kin. We speculate that captive orcas embody three principle metaphors: Prisoner; Activist; Martyr. These metaphors help us to imagine the kinds of rhetorical thinking necessary for a deeper understanding of the costs of human behavior as well as the potential for creating new visions and modes of witnessing. By witnessing orcas-as-prisoners, humans begin to see marine parks anew, as prisons, understanding their own complicity in the imprisonment of animal activists. Captive orca metaphors help to convey the actions of other-than-humans as rhetorically salient and politically motivated.

Journal
Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Published
2017-05-27
DOI
10.1080/02773945.2017.1309911
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Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Rhetoric Society Quarterly

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