Michigan Technological University Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports 2017 LANGUAGE, RHETORIC, AND POLITICS IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT: A DECOLONIAL CRITICAL DISCOURSE PERSPECTIVE ON NIGERIA’S 2015 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN Yunana Ahmed Michigan Technological University, [email protected] Copyright 2017 Yunana Ahmed Recommended Citation Ahmed, Yunana, "LANGUAGE, RHETORIC, AND POLITICS IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT: A DECOLONIAL CRITICAL DISCOURSE PERSPECTIVE ON NIGERIA’S 2015 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN", Open Access Dissertation, Michigan Technological University, 2017. https://doi.org/10.37099/mtu.dc.etdr/400 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/etdr Part of the African Languages and Societies Commons, Comparative Politics Commons, Discourse and Text Linguistics Commons, International and Intercultural Communication Commons, Rhetoric Commons, and the Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons LANGUAGE, RHETORIC, AND POLITICS IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT: A DECOLONIAL CRITICAL DISCOURSE PERSPECTIVE ON NIGERIA’S 2015 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN By Yunana Ahmed A DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In Rhetoric, Theory and Culture MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2017 © 2017 Yunana Ahmed This dissertation has been approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Rhetoric, Theory and Culture. Department of Humanities Dissertation Advisor: Victoria Bergvall Committee Member: Craig Waddell Committee Member: Ramon Fonkoue Committee Member: Abraham Romney Committee Member: Farooq Kperogi Department Chair: Dr. Ronald Strickland Dedication For Hassana, Jelani, and Jelena In Love and Gratitude! iv Table of Contents Table ................................................................................................................................. vii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ viii Abstract ............................................................................................................................. xi Chapter One ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research Questions ............................................................................................... 8 1.2 Background of the Study ....................................................................................... 9 1.3 Nigeria’s 2015 Presidential Election ................................................................... 18 1.3.1 The Major Presidential Candidates in the 2015 Election............................ 18 1.3.2 Muhammadu Buhari ................................................................................... 18 1.3.3 Goodluck Jonathan...................................................................................... 19 1.4 Decolonial Projects .............................................................................................. 20 1.5 Decolonial and Postcolonial Debates .................................................................. 24 1.6 Significance of the Study .................................................................................... 26 Chapter Two .................................................................................................................... 28 Postcolonial Perspectives: Governance, Globalization, Politics, Nationalism, Nation State and Nationhood ..................................................................................................... 28 2.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 28 2.1 Governance, Politics, and Political Leadership in Africa (Nigeria) .................... 33 2.2 Nationalism, Nation, and State in Africa ............................................................ 52 Chapter Three ................................................................................................................. 65 Political Discourse, Presidential Rhetoric, Political Campaign, Rhetoric and Politics in an African Context, and ............................................................................................. 65 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 65 v 3.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 65 3.1 Political Discourse Analysis ................................................................................ 65 3.2 Presidential Rhetoric ........................................................................................... 76 3.3 Electoral Campaign Discourse ............................................................................ 78 3.4 Rhetoric and Politics in Nigerian Context ........................................................... 84 3.5 An Overview of Studies on African Rhetorical Scholarship .............................. 85 3.6 The Problem of Methodology and the Way Forward .......................................... 92 3.7 Theoretical Framework: Integrationist Approach ............................................... 93 3.8 Methodology ....................................................................................................... 97 3.8.1 Data and Method ......................................................................................... 97 3.8.2 Rationale for the Choice of Text ................................................................. 98 3.8.3 Analytical Techniques .............................................................................. 100 Chapter Four ................................................................................................................. 103 Data and Analysis ......................................................................................................... 103 4.0 The Data ............................................................................................................ 103 4.1 Analysis ............................................................................................................. 104 4.2 Jonathan’s Campaign Speeches as Deliberative Rhetoric ................................. 104 4.3 Contrastive Tenses as Linguistic Frames in Jonathan’s Deliberative Rhetoric 109 4.4 Postcolonial Frames in Jonathan’s Deliberative Rhetoric ................................. 111 4.5 Rhetorical Appeals and Electoral Campaign ..................................................... 115 4.6 Argument by Character (Ethos) ........................................................................ 116 4.6.1 Building Ethos through Apology .............................................................. 117 4.6.2 Building Ethos through Apologia ............................................................. 122 vi 4.6.3 Building Ethos through the Discursive Construction of Nation and National Identity 130 4.6.4 Building Ethos through the Deictic Use of “We” and its Possessive Form “Our” 131 4.6.5 Building Ethos through Personification .................................................... 138 4.6.6 Building Ethos through Metonymic Use of Personal Names ................... 140 4.6.7 Building Ethos through Religious Discourse ............................................ 145 4.6.8 Building Ethos through Call-and-Response.............................................. 150 4.7 Political Discourse Operates Indexically .......................................................... 156 4.7.1 Class Distinctions...................................................................................... 157 4.7.2 Hybridity ................................................................................................... 159 4.7.3 Appropriation ............................................................................................ 163 4.7.4 From Postcolonial to Global ..................................................................... 169 4.8 Emotional Appeal (Pathos) ............................................................................... 172 4.9 Logical Appeal (Logos) ..................................................................................... 180 4.10 Discussion ......................................................................................................... 188 Chapter Five .................................................................................................................. 202 Summary, Conclusion, and Future Research............................................................. 202 5.1 Summary and Conclusion ................................................................................. 202 5.2 Future Research ................................................................................................. 213 References ...................................................................................................................... 217 Appendix A .................................................................................................................... 235 Appendix B .................................................................................................................... 249 vii Table Table 4-1 Clusivity in Chinese and Tok Pisin ...............................................................