UC Berkeley, Accelerated Reading and Composition | Source: Otto Santa Ana, Chapter 8 "Insurgent Metaphors"
Tags: racism as cancer, racism as disease, metaphor for racism, education metaphor, cultivation metaphor, construction site metaphor, bilingualism, nation as body, nation as house, Kerner Report, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, neoconservative, affirmative action, Proposition 227, Santa Ana
Santa Ana traces how the metaphor of racism shifted from "disease of the national body" (King, Malcolm X, Kerner Report) to a neoconservative reframing where affirmative action itself became the "disease." He proposes racism as cancer as the most effective counter-metaphor. He then examines metaphors for education (construction site vs. cultivation) and bilingualism (deficit model vs. cultivation/river), and closes with eight practical tips for contesting dominant narratives.
Racism as disease / racism as cancer
King and Malcolm X metaphorised racism as a disease of the national political and social body. Santa Ana refines this: racism is specifically cancer, because the ontology of malignancy (growth, metastasis, chronic monitoring, relapse) maps closely onto how institutional racism operates.
Ontology of malignancy
The set of entailments that come with the cancer metaphor: the disease spreads if untreated, requires ongoing monitoring, can appear to go into remission but recur, and affects the whole body even when localised. Santa Ana argues this maps well onto institutional and epistemic racism.
Kerner Report
The 1968 report by the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, which affirmed the characterisation of racism as a disease of the national body, aligning with King and Malcolm X.
Neoconservative reframing of racism
Think tanks in the post-civil-rights era redefined racism for the public by reviving discredited states'-rights arguments. They recast affirmative action as the remaining "vector" of the disease of racism, effectively flipping King's metaphor against his own legacy.
Construction site metaphor (education)
Also called "learn to build." Conceptualises public education as a building project. Santa Ana considers this a weak metaphor because it emphasises process and de-emphasises content.
Education as cultivation
Santa Ana's preferred metaphor for education. Frames schooling as the cultivation of language arts, scientific methods, rational inquiry, and creative thinking. Links to the broader "nation as garden" or "nation as cultivated landscape" imagery.
Deficit model of bilingualism
The view that bilingualism is an obstacle to be overcome, a handicap that puts students at an educational disadvantage. Frames the bilingual child as deficient rather than resourceful.
Bilingualism as cultivation / river / home language
Santa Ana's alternative frames for bilingualism, drawing on research into linguistic acquisition and cognitive development. These metaphors treat a second language as an asset that enriches rather than a gap that needs filling.
1960s framing: Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X both metaphorised racism as a disease of the national political and social body.
The Kerner Report (1968) affirmed this characterisation.
Neoconservative counter-move:
Conservative think tanks redefined American racism for the public using discredited states'-rights arguments.
They rebuked King's social victories and Lyndon Johnson's legislative efforts.
Key rhetorical move: they characterised affirmative action as the one remaining "vector" of the disease of racism. This took King's own metaphorical frame and turned it against civil rights policy.
What initially seemed an incredible (even ludicrous) argument gradually became acceptable and even reasonable to the California voting majority.
Progressive failure: Santa Ana holds progressive and liberal political camps responsible for failing to find the means to keep public focus on institutional racism.
Racism as cancer is Santa Ana's proposed refinement:
The ontology of malignancy provides entailments that address nearly all aspects of racism in American society.
It captures the need for ongoing monitoring: the patient (society) must be watched for chronic manifestations of this long-neglected infirmity.
It raises social awareness about the brutalising effects of institutional and epistemic racism against non-white communities.
Cancer is complex, layered, affects millions, can be both external and internalised. The parallel to racism is direct.
Construction site / "learn to build" metaphor
Conceptualises education as a building project.
Santa Ana considers it weak: it emphasises process (building) at the expense of content (what is being learned and why it matters).
Education as cultivation
Describes the cultivation of language arts, scientific methods, rational inquiry, and creative thinking.
Stronger metaphor because it foregrounds growth, care, and the quality of what emerges.
Connects to metaphors for the nation: if the nation is a garden or cultivated landscape, then public education is how the ground is tended.
Goal: respecify conventional national narratives, scripts, and frames of reference.
Deficit model of bilingualism: frames bilingualism as an obstacle that must be "overcome" or "bridged" to avoid students becoming "educationally handicapped."
This is the dominant framing in much public policy debate.
Santa Ana's alternative metaphors for bilingualism:
Cultivation (bilingualism as something nurtured, yielding cognitive and social fruit).
River (language as a flowing, living resource).
Home language (the mother tongue as a foundation, not a deficit).
All three connect to research on linguistic acquisition and cognitive development.
These are practical recommendations for contesting dominant narratives and promoting a different worldview:
Counter-hegemonic metaphors should always be contested rather than brought to the conscious attention of the audience in debate, because doing so may inadvertently trigger the underlying symbolic representations you are trying to displace.
Use three reciprocal actions in sequence: employ a non-metaphor to point out the failure of the standard vision of society, then follow with an insurgent metaphor to recast the social world.
In the intermediate term, seek out and construct metaphors ("empathors") that can be linked to conventional constellations such as nation-as-body and nation-as-house, working within familiar frames to shift their content.
Create effective insurgent metaphors by first recognising the prevailing metaphors in society, understanding what they entail and presuppose.
Avoid the disturbing tactic of ad hominem attacks as a way to deprecate opponents. This undermines the credibility of insurgent discourse.
The designer of a new metaphor does not own its copyright. Once a metaphor enters public discourse, others will use it in ways the creator did not intend. Designers must explore the conditions and entailments of their metaphors in advance.
All metaphors are links between pre-existing semantic domains, meaning they emphasise some elements of the social world at the expense of others. Awareness of what a metaphor hides is as important as awareness of what it highlights.
⚠️ The neoconservative reframing of affirmative action as the "disease" is a textbook example of a hegemonic metaphor being turned against its original users. Be ready to trace this sequence: King/Malcolm X frame racism as disease → Kerner Report affirms → neoconservatives flip the frame so that the cure (affirmative action) becomes the disease.
⚠️ Know why Santa Ana specifically chooses cancer over a generic "disease" metaphor. The key advantage is the ontology of malignancy: chronic, requires monitoring, can relapse, affects the whole system.
⚠️ Distinguish the two education metaphors: construction site (weak, process-focused) vs. cultivation (strong, content-and-growth-focused). Be able to connect the cultivation metaphor to the broader nation metaphors.
⚠️ The deficit model of bilingualism is a common exam topic. Know that Santa Ana counters it with cultivation, river, and home language frames, all grounded in linguistic and cognitive development research.
⚠️ The eight concluding tips are fair game for a question about Santa Ana's practical recommendations. The most distinctive points: do not bring hegemonic metaphors to conscious attention (tip 1), use the three-step reciprocal action (tip 2), and remember that you do not "own" a metaphor once it enters public discourse (tip 6).
Q: How did neoconservative think tanks reframe the "racism as disease" metaphor originally used by King and Malcolm X?
A: They kept the disease metaphor but redirected it. Instead of racism being the disease, they characterised affirmative action as the remaining "vector" of the disease of racism. This effectively turned King's own metaphorical frame against civil rights policy, and over time the argument shifted from seeming ludicrous to becoming acceptable to a California voting majority.
Q: Why does Santa Ana argue that cancer is the most effective metaphor for racism?
A: Because the ontology of malignancy maps closely onto institutional racism. Cancer is chronic (requires ongoing monitoring), can appear to go into remission but recur, spreads if untreated, and affects the whole body even when localised. These entailments capture how racism operates at institutional and epistemic levels in American society.
Q: What is the deficit model of bilingualism, and how does Santa Ana counter it?
A: The deficit model frames bilingualism as an obstacle or handicap that must be overcome to avoid educational disadvantage. Santa Ana counters with three alternative metaphors: cultivation (bilingualism nurtured for cognitive and social benefit), river (language as a flowing, living resource), and home language (the mother tongue as a foundation). All draw on research showing bilingualism supports linguistic acquisition and cognitive development.
Q: Contrast the "construction site" and "cultivation" metaphors for education. Which does Santa Ana prefer and why?
A: The construction site (or "learn to build") metaphor frames education as a building project and emphasises process over content. The cultivation metaphor frames education as growing language arts, scientific methods, rational inquiry, and creative thinking. Santa Ana prefers cultivation because it foregrounds the quality and substance of what students develop, and it connects naturally to broader metaphors for the nation as a tended landscape.
Q: What are three of Santa Ana's eight concluding tips for contesting dominant narratives?
A: (1) Do not bring hegemonic metaphors to the audience's conscious attention in debate, as this can inadvertently reinforce them. (2) Use a three-step sequence: a non-metaphor to expose the failure of the standard vision, then an insurgent metaphor to recast the social world. (3) Remember that the designer of a new metaphor does not own it once it enters public discourse, so explore its conditions and entailments thoroughly in advance.
Q: How does Santa Ana connect metaphors for education to metaphors for the nation?
A: The cultivation metaphor for education (tending intellectual growth) links to the nation-as-garden or cultivated-landscape frame. If the nation is a landscape to be cultivated, then public education is the means by which the ground is tended, and the quality of education directly reflects the health of the national project.
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