| Metaphor is central to the way that we understand ideas and events for which we have no prior experience. Metaphor captures familiar attributes and applies them in novel ways to new experiences, thus reconfiguring existing templates in ways that enable new perspectives. Metaphors are taken for granted and seldom examined in and of themselves. What is examined however, is the gap between the metaphor's original use and its new application. New entailments suggested by metaphors provoke analysis and critique. They transform history into humor, belittle what was once serious and raise philosophical questions. It is this flexibility of metaphor that leaves room for new ideas and for cultural values to change over time. In this sense, metaphors are adaptive. They provide a means of observing attitudes and provide the vehicle for attitudinal change.;This thesis is an anthropological study of metaphor in illness narrative. The subjects are patients in treatment for rlung (loong) imbalance at Lhasa's Tibetan Traditional Hospital. This culture-specific illness, roughly equivalent to depression, is treated with community, purification and precious pills, and ultimately, with a reevaluation of one's place in the world.;Following Lakoff and Johnson, this thesis explores the structure of metaphor. Following the work of Das, Janes, Kleinman, and others, it expands the corpus of work on the expression of suffering. Growing from the research of Janes, it investigates suffering at the level of the individual. Following Becker, it explores the management disruption. Following Erickson, it explores avenues to human understanding. Grounded in the ideas of Bateson, Leighton and others, it acknowledges the universality of metaphor in narrative and healing.;Nowhere is the scramble for meaning more apparent than in local responses to the rapid culture change associated with global development. This thesis examines how Tibetan illness categories, metaphor and Buddhist archetypes help Tibetans deal with the rapid culture change associated with the introduction of the market economy in China, and to remain focused on the aims of Buddhism, both as an enduring oral tradition and the primary symbol of Tibetan culture. |
