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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Democratic Discourse? Realising Alternatives in Zimbabwean Political Discourse |
Author: | Love, Alison |
Year: | 2000 |
Periodical: | Zambezia |
Volume: | 27 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 27-45 |
Language: | English |
Notes: | biblio. refs. |
Geographic terms: | Zimbabwe Southern Africa |
Subjects: | communication democracy Politics and Government language linguistics Speeches, addresses, etc. political science |
External link: | https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.10520/AJA03790622_610 |
Abstract: | The two speeches whose discourse is analysed in the present article were keynote addresses at a seminar on structural adjustment and political democracy in the early 1990s, when the government of Zimbabwe, at the behest of the IMF, was in the process of embarking on 'economic liberalization'. The opening speech was presented on behalf of the then Minister of Trade and Industry, Kumbirai Kangai, and was followed by that of the Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), Morgan Tsvangirai. Both speeches were originally presented and subsequently published in English. The speech by the Minister is characteristic of elite political discourse, assuming authority from his position. It is essentially monologic, and strives to naturalize the ZANU(PF) government's hegemonic position. The most striking feature of Tsvangirai's speech is his concern to present alternatives to the Minister's assertions. He makes extensive use of the strategies of collateral information - adversatives, negatives and questions - to problematize the hegemonic discourse and to engage the audience in consideration of alternatives. Bibliogr., notes, sum. |