Doing supranational identity

Metaphors not only shape national identities but also construct, sustain, and legitimize collective narratives that underpin supranational identities. In these metaphors, the family domain is recruited to conceptualize heterogeneous nations as a unified kinship-based collective. However, the internal structure of the family metaphor and its implications for supranational identity remain understudied. To address these gaps, this study employs a corpus-based approach to analyze the speeches delivered by Arab leaders at the Arab League summits between 2001 and 2023. The internal structure of family metaphors is examined to identify salient familial relationships, uncover the conceptual frameworks that construct Arab identity, and reveal the cultural and political assumptions that sustain and legitimize these representations. The analysis reveals the predominance of fraternal bonds in structuring Arab identity. Fraternal metaphors are relational constructs shaped by structural similarity, embedded within their situational and cultural contexts, and stabilized through iterative cycles of activation and entrenchment. Within this conceptual framework, Arab identity emerges as a dynamic and contingent construct and unfolds through nuanced paradoxes. The Arab fraternal model appropriates specific cultural assumptions and political narratives that continue to anchor and legitimize Arab supranational identity despite persistent challenges.