Shout amandla!: a rhetorical analysis of Helen Zille
Date
2011
Authors
Sauter, Emily Susan, author
Anderson, Karrin Vasby, advisor
Burgchardt, Carl, committee member
Davis, Sandra, committee member
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Abstract
As women have attained more prominent political positions, the study of gender, communication, and electoral politics has expanded over the last few decades. Public address scholarship in particular has covered speeches by many women, from Angelina Grimke to Hillary Clinton, from Sojourner Truth to Eleanor Roosevelt. However, as scholars in Communication Studies have begun concerning themselves with the rhetoric of political women, much of that attention has been focused on U.S. American women. This thesis expands that conversation by exploring the rhetoric of a woman politician acting outside the U.S. American context. This project examines the complex and varied rhetorical strategies employed by Helen Zille. The goal of this work is threefold: First, I hope to gain a deeper understanding of how women in developing nations impact and shape the political landscape through their rhetorical effort by examining the situation of a specific figure. I believe this case study offers important insight into the rhetoric of women leaders acting in the context of a developing, post-colonial nation. Second, this work examines how constitutive rhetoric functions in South Africa's complex political landscape. Third, this project responds to the need for more scholarship that examines rhetoric in non-U.S. contexts. More broadly, this project addresses the question of how Zille's rhetoric functions to overcome barriers of race, class, and gender as she works towards the 2014 presidential elections. This study will be guided by two major theories, Eugene White's theory of exigential flow and Maurice Charland's theory of constitutive rhetoric. In addition, in order to truly understand how Zille's rhetoric functions, I will explore the unique post-colonial mindset of South Africa that is a defining feature of Zille's rhetorical situation.
Description
Rights Access
Subject
constitutive rhetoric
South Africa
women
politics
Helen Zille