ARTICLE Understanding visual metaphor: the example of newspaper cartoons ELISABETH EL REFAIE University of Plymouth ABSTRACT Using Austrian newspaper cartoons as examples, this article explores the ‘grammar’ of visual metaphor. It is argued that visual metaphors cannot be described adequately in formal terms only. Rather, they must be considered as visual representations of metaphorical thoughts or concepts. A cognitive definition of metaphor must not, however, distract from potential variations in meaning and impact arising from the mode of communication through which metaphors are expressed. This study suggests that many of the dissimilarities between verbal metaphor and its visual counterpart result from differences regarding what the two modes are able to express easily and efficiently. KEY WORDS Austrian newspapers • cartoons • cognitive metaphor theory • refugees • visual metaphor INTRODUCTION The aim of this article is to explore the ways in which metaphors are expressed in the visual mode, more specifically in newspaper cartoons. I use the analysis of caricatures from Austrian daily newspapers in order to demonstrate three central arguments, each of which forms the basis of one of the article’s three sections. First, I suggest that visual metaphors are best described in terms of their underlying metaphorical concepts. This view of visual metaphors as the pictorial expression of a metaphorical way of thinking is congruent with the main tenets of cognitive metaphor theory. My second argument is that such a definition of visual metaphors in cognitive terms is not as straightforward as it seems, because the boundaries between the literal and the metaphorical are fuzzy and highly context- dependent. This means that metaphors must always be studied within their socio-political context. Copyright © 2003 SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi: www.sagepublications.com) Vol 2(1): 75–95 [1470-3572(200302)2:1; 75–95;029755] visual communication