Using the socio-political discourse of Kwame Nkrumah, a pioneering Pan-Africanist and Ghana’s independence leader, Nartey investigates the notion of political myth-making in a context underexplored in the literature. He examines Nkrumah’s construction of a myth described in the book as the Unite or Perish myth (i.e. the idea of a ‘United States of Africa’ being a prerequisite for the survival of Africa in the post-independence period), exploring the rhetorical resources he deployed, categorizing and analyzing key tropes and metaphors, and setting out the myth’s basic components.
This book focuses on three areas: an investigation of political myth-making as a social and discursive practice in order to identify particular semiotic practices and linguistic patterns deployed in the construction of mythic discourse, the unpacking of the discursive manifestation, representation, features and functions of political mythic themes, and finally to propose and implement an integrated discourse analytical framework to account for the complexities of mythic discourse and political narratives in general. It analyzes how Nkrumah deployed his discourse to concurrently construct heroes and villains, protagonists and antagonists as part of an ideological mechanism aimed at galvanizing support for and instigating action on the part of the masses towards his lifelong African dream.
Nartey’s book steps out from the conventional domain of critical discourse studies to focus on myth as a form of populist performance. It will be of interest to postgraduate students and academics in (critical) discourse studies, rhetorical discourse analysis, African and Diaspora studies, and African history as well as non-academics such as journalists, political commentators, and people who consider themselves to be Nkrumaists and Pan-Africanists.
Author(s): Mark Nartey
Series: Routledge Research in Language and Communication
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 200
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
List of tables
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 Introduction
References
Chapter 2 Discourse and Mythology
2.1 Political Mythology in the Modern World: Functions, Uses, and Types
2.2 Previous Research on Political Myths
2.3 The Research Gap
2.4 Metaphor and Mythic Discourse
2.5 A Historical and Political Overview of Ghana’s Contact with British Colonialism
2.6 Kwame Nkrumah’s Role in African Nationalism
2.7 Summary
Notes
References
Chapter 3 Analytical and Methodological Procedures
3.1 Analytic Framework
3.2 Tool Utilized for Linguistic Analysis
3.3 Tool Utilized for Discourse-Historical Analysis
3.4 Tools Utilized for Corpus Analysis
3.4.1 Frequency Analysis
3.4.2 Collocation Analysis
3.4.3 Concordance Analysis
3.5 Textual and Contextual Resources Utilized for Analysis
3.6 Dataset
3.7 Summary
Notes
References
Chapter 4 The Unite or Perish Myth as a Discourse of Nationalist Resistance
Overview
4.1 The Conspiratorial Enemy
4.2 The Valiant Leader
4.3 The Noble Revolutionary
4.4 The Messiah
4.5 Summary
Notes
References
Chapter 5 Metaphor and the Unite or Perish Myth
Overview
5.1 African Independence as War
5.1.1 Metaphors of Attack and Defense
5.1.2 Metaphors of Struggle
5.2 Colonialism/Neo-colonialism as a Religious/Moral Construct
5.2.1 Metaphors that Conceptualize the Malice of Colonialism
5.2.2 Metaphors that Portray the ‘Righteous’ Intentions of Nkrumah
5.3 Political Concepts and Entities as Humans
5.3.1 The Personification of Colonialism/Neo-colonialism
5.3.2 The Personification of Africa
5.4 African Unity as a Journey to Freedom and Prosperity
5.5 Summary
Notes
References
Chapter 6 The Unite or Perish Myth as Populist Performance
Overview
6.1 Nomination and Predication of Social Actors and Actions
6.2 Construction of a Man of the People Image
6.3 Exploitation of Familiarity and Historical Memory
6.4 Emotionalized Blame Attribution
6.5 Summary
Note
References
Chapter 7 Conclusion
7.1 Summary of Findings
7.2 Implications, Limitations, and Further Research
7.3 Closing Remarks
References
Index
