Sixteen years after her father was killed by an IRA bomb, Jo Berry had her first conversation with the man responsible. She had made a long journey, 'walking the footsteps of the bombers' as she put it, determined not to give in to anger and revenge but to try to understand his motivations and perspective. Her preparedness to meet Pat Magee opened up a path to empathy that developed through their conversations over the following years. This book studies their growing understandings of each other by focusing on the rich networks of metaphors that appear in their conversations, and how these evolve in the process of reconciliation. The innovative research method, reported in a rigorous but accessible style, together with the rich and often poignant data, make this book a valuable addition to the study of metaphor and discourse. In uncovering the development of empathy between these two extraordinary people, Cameron illuminates the moral necessity, and the potential rewards, in trying to imagine the world and mind of the Other. Implications are drawn for how mediators in reconciliation contexts might make positive use of metaphor in supporting the dynamics of empathy.

List of Tables List of Figures Preface Acknowledgments Transcription Conventions 1: Coming Together: Background to the Conciliation Process 2: The Discourse Dynamics Approach to Metaphor and Empathy 3: Metaphor Analysis 4: Conciliation as journeys of understanding and listening to stories 5: Metaphor Clusters and Absences 6: Connection and separation in conciliation 7: Becoming Involved in Violence 8: The Impact of Violence 9: Appropriating the Other's Metaphors 10: Metaphor, Reconciliation and the Dynamics of Empathy 11: Images of Empathy Appendix: Using Metaphor in Reconciliation: Implications for Mediators Notes Bibliography Index