A Critical Discourse Analysis of Speeches by Obi Ezekwesili and Abike Dabiri
Chapter One
Aim and Objectives of the Study
This research aims to unveil the embedded ideologies in the speeches of two prominent Nigerian women (Ezekwesili and Dabiri). This will be achieved through the objectives below:
- By uncovering the linguistic devices or expressions used to cover their psychological input in these utterances.
- By establishing reasons why they have spoken the way they did at every point in time.
- By establishing the nexus between their social status at the time of making the utterances and the significance of the events where the speeches were delivered; since they both served in different capacities as stakeholders in nation-building.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter presents and review some conceptual frame works to the subject of study. Some of the conceptual frame works in this study include: discourse and critical discourse analysis, text, context and discourse and feminist critical discourse analysis and so on. The chapter also considers the theoretical framework and adopts social cognitive and discourse historical approaches as they are more suitable to the current study.
Discourse and Critical Discourse Analysis
Discourse, no doubt, encompasses all aspects of social relation and practices. It is a broad term with various definitions and it “integrates a whole palette of meanings” (Titscher, 42 in Bayram, 26), covering a large area from linguistics, through sociology, philosophy and other disciplines. According to Fairclough (24) ‘discourse’ refers to “the whole process of interaction of which a text is just a part”. As there are pervasive ways of experiencing the world, ‘discourse’ refers to expressing oneself using words. ‘Discourses’ can be used for asserting power and knowledge, and for resistance and critique. The speaker expresses his/her ideological content in texts as does the linguistic form of the text. That is, the selection or choice of a linguistic form may not be a live process for the individual speaker, but the discourse will be a reproduction of that previously learned discourse. Texts are selected and organized in syntactic forms whose “content-structure” reflects the ideological organization of a particular area of social life (Dellinger, 19 in Bayram, 27).
Fairclough and Wodak (npn), say discourse is socially constituted and socially shaped, linking a chain of texts, reacting to, drawing in, and transforming other texts. The ideological effects of discursive practices may help produce and reproduce unequal power relations through the representation of actors and events and allow assumptions to go unaddressed as mere common sense. Critical Discourse Analysis (henceforth) CDA, therefore, provides a lens to make visible the opaque aspects of discourse, the power relations and ideology underlying language use. Fowler (62), states that, the “performative power” of language is in its role as a “reality-creating social practice.” Discourse works to bring into being that which it describes (Fairclough, 2), particularly in relation to groups that share a system of beliefs about reality (Fowler, 63). According to Fairclough (8), texts are elements of social events and are involved in the process of “constituting the social identities of the participants in the events of which they are a part.” Texts have “causal effects upon, and contribute to changes in, people (beliefs, attitudes, etc.), actions, social relations, and the material world.” These effects are mediated by meaning-making and play a role in “inculcating and sustaining or changing ideologies” (Fairclough 9). Here, ideologies are taken to mean “representations of aspects of the world which can be shown to contribute to establishing, maintaining and changing social relations of power, domination and exploitation.” (9) Texts are good indicators of social processes, so textual analysis can provide insights into social change. Texts, and particularly media texts, are sites of contestation. They may reflect social control and domination and, therefore, work to reproduce inequity. They may reflect negotiation and resistance as well (Fairclough, 202). Hybridity in texts highlights the potential for texts to include discourses that are reproductive and/or productive, discourses and counter discourses, in the same text. In addition, CDA also requires attentiveness to the potential of discourses and practices of resistance to ultimately contribute to reproductive effects. The relations playing out between voices in public political discourse may take the form of a “conversation” or “dialogue,” in which discourses provoke responses and change over time (Fairclough, 202). In addition to text, the elements of discourse include interactions, the processes of production and interpretation of texts, as well as context, the social conditions of production and interpretation (Fairclough, npn).
CHAPTER THREE
POWER, IDEOLOGY AND INSTITUTION IN OBI EZEKWESILI’S SPEECHES
Introduction
This chapter covers analysis of speeches from Obi Ezekwesili. It unveils the covert Power, Ideology and Institution in the selected speeches. The data are italicized and written in bold, while the analysis and discussion are not.
Analysis
…Our governance’s landscape is a landscape of monopolized authority, power, responsibility and zero accountability…That’s what our democracy has been since 1959…What we need on the basis of the power that information technology gives to us is to now liberalise the market of governance …
(Second New Media, Citizens and Governance Conference on Wednesday in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, Channels Television. Updated October 26, 2016)
In the above text, the ideology stressed by the speaker may be advocacy for accountability on the part of the government. Obi Ezekwesili uses the words, “…landscape of monopolized authority…zero accountability” to represent this ideology. She stressed the need for Nigerians to break the monopoly of the nation’s governance structure by holding government accountable at all levels.
CHAPTER FOUR
POWER, IDEOLOGY AND INSTITUTION IN ABIKE DABIRI’S SPEECHES
Introduction
This chapter centres on the analysis of Abike Dabiri’s speeches. It unveils the covert Ideology, Power and Institution in them. The data are presented in bold writing, while the analyses are not written in bold.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Summary of Work
This study is a Critical Discourse Analysis of Obi Ezekwesili and Abike Dabiri’s speeches. It is written in five chapters; and chapter one titled introduction grounded the work in CDA under the background to the study. It is followed by the statement of the problem where the study identifies the particular interest of the researcher which is to unveil the power, institution and ideology in the speeches of the two women. Chapter one also contains the aim and objectives of the study which unveil the ideologies in the two women’s speeches through their choice of lexical items and other linguistic devices used, and establishes the nexus between their social status at the time of making the utterances and the significance of the events where the speeches were made. The scope of study explains the delimitation of the work and the constraints in the course of data gathering. This chapter contains the methodology and the significance of the study as well. Next is chapter two titled the review of related literature. In this chapter, the study provided some conceptual framework and theoretical framework that guide the analysis. Out of the many concepts adopted for the study is Ideology, Power and Institution, Identity and Role, discourse and prejudice, Language in Use among others. It also adopts Socio-Cognitive and Discourse Historical Approach to CDA as the most relevant theories upon which the work is grounded. Chapter three and four cover the analysis of data respectively. In chapter three, Obi Ezekwesili’s selected speeches were analysed and discussed; while Abike Dabiri’s selected speeches were analysed and discussed in chapter four. The analyses explain the covert ideologies, power and institution in the selected speeches of the two Nigerian women leaders. Lastly, chapter five contains the summary of work, findings, implication of study and the conclusion.
Summary of Findings
The findings reveal that the two Nigerian women leaders studied here have feminist tendencies. This is observed in the way they both handled the Chibok girls’ saga on the one hand and for Abike Dabiri’s attack on the Nigerian journalist whom she condemned for not doing enough investigation before going to press on the other hand.
It also found that the socio and political statuses of the two at every point in time determine their use of language. Obi while in PDP-led Obasanjo’s government did not criticize the government even though she was aware of some of the problems, until after she left back to the World Bank. Some of the lexical items used include : “The way our government handled the Chibok girls case goes beyond an election matter,… We need to have a deeper conversation about what kind of a nation we want to be” and the ideology is feminism on the one hand and accusation and condemnation of the government that she thinks has not demonstrated enough political will to save the girls on the other. The study found that the institution that rather influences her utterance here is the ‘Bring Back Our Girls Group’ which indisputably has the support of the International Human Rights Organizations and other World NGO’s.
Obi Ezekwesili also uses the words “…landscape of monopolized authority…zero accountability” to further condemn the government of President Jonathan for lack of accountability. The Ideological Discursive Formation (IDF) here is that she uses her language to demonstrate to Nigerians especially the poor vulnerable ones that she feels their plights and she can always advocate good governance. The ideology found in the above lexical choices include advocacy for a dignified Nigeria. Because Obi is a citizen of Nigeria and she was once a member of Federal Executive Council of the nation, and at the time of making this utterance in 2015, she was the Wold Bank, Vice President in charge of Africa, so she spoke as a result of the Power of the financial institution she represents. So, the IDF may, therefore, be to naturalize Nigerian’s minds into believing how our resources have been mismanaged by bad leadership.
On the part of education, this study also found that the lexical items used by Obi to condemn the reigning administration, ‘… It was 1985 and I was very privileged to be one of the then only 3% of our own youthful population that had the opportunity of a university education. Today, you are still fortunate to be one of the yet paltry 4.3% of your own youthful generation with an opportunity for university education. For Nigeria that percentage does not compare favorably with 37.5% for Chile 33.7% for Singapore 28.2% for Malaysia, 16.5% for Brazil and 14.6%…” is ideological. The ideology, here, is to condemn the lack of political will on the part of the government to develop the Nigerian educational system.
In addition, Fairclaugh’s IDF is anchored on the principle of ‘naturalization’ and the background knowledge of the researcher which he also refers to as Member Resources (M R) have shaped this study to believe that Obi Ezekwesili may not have done or said all of the above for the love of Nigerians except for personal reasons and for legitimacy by Nigerians whom she wanted to convince that she is with them. The study finds that, while she was in President Obasanjo’s government as minister for Mineral Resources and Education respectively, she never publicly acknowledged the contradictions in the political leadership of Nigeria. Whereas, she knows everything was not well with the country. So, we may not be wrong to conclude that she is only manipulating the minds of her audience (Nigerians and the entire World) into believing she is so committed to their welfare and development. She said all that in her capacity as the Vice President, World Bank (power and institution) who should know much about the running of the government of the country; although, she would not have made such comments in her capacity as minister.
On Abike Dabiri speeches, the study found that she selects her words “My decision not to contest in the next election was a hard one…But I took the decision to allow others come in to gain experience and also to allow true democracy prevail…” to be an ambassador of best democratic practice and to dissociate herself from the Nigerian regular politicians whose personal interest override the general and the people. The institution that influences her choice of words in this text is the political institution (All Progressive Congress). And, the ideology is democracy. Also, Dabiri’s choice of the following words “I have the belief that APC will triumph at the forthcoming 2015 general elections to enable Nigerians experience the desired change. I’m not only being optimistic at winning in Lagos State but also sure that APC will triumph at the federal level,…” is to portray the true ideology of every party politician who is always optimistic of victory in the polls until everything is over. She may also be doing that for personal interest as a card carrying member of APC, in order to secure a federal appointment which she later clinched. The true position of event based on the background knowledge of this study is that, the APC national leader Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu who is also the political godfather in Lagos state, would not allow any national assembly member to go beyond two or three terms. Therefore, the IDF is that, Dabiri would not make it public that she has been stopped to contest; rather, she selects her words to mean that she willingly relinquish her power to contest in order to allow other politicians who have not been there. She actually needs to buy legitimacy for the federal appointment.
She also uses the following lexical items, “The days that the Nigerian government will fold its arms while its citizens are maltreated to the point that some of them have lost their lives for no just cause are long gone” to serve the interest of Buhari’s government that she represents, a government that poses to be more attentive and caring than their predecessors (the PDP) to the plights of Nigerians within and outside the country; it is the responsibility of any spoke person to maintain this good image at all times. Therefore, the ideology in those words is reiterating the Change Mantra of the government she represents and the IDF is making people to believe that the government is working as promised.
On the women, it was discovered that Abike, like many women today is an unrepentant feminist. In her speech to Nigerian women journalists in Lagos, she meant to make the women feel very important and extraordinary in the discharge of their duty as journalists. She carefully selects her words to instruct and encourage the women journalists to be more professional and game changers, as she condemns Nigerian journalists dominated by men for not doing enough investigation before reporting. There is no doubt that she was only projecting a feministic ideology here. The IDF is to make the women see her as part of them, even though she is now into politics.
Implication of Study
A study titled “A Critical Discourse Analysis of Editorial Cartoons, Selected from the Guardian Newspaper” was done in 2011 by Akinboyewa, Anuoluwapo. The study selected editorial cartoons aimed at revealing the intended meaning hidden in the Discourse used in editorial cartoons, to his readers and explained the theory and tools used in extracting this meaning and its social relevance. The tools: text analysis, Interpretation and social analysis were adopted to reveal the Imbalance in the use of language among the highly placed over the lowly placed, thus the use of language reflects Power, Dominance, Injustice and Inequality. The relevance of Akinboyewa’s study to the current study is the area of linguistic field upon which the work is grounded. His study is grounded in CDA and the current study is also grounded in CDA. But this current study is not interested in editorial cartoon; rather it is using CDA to analyze the speeches of two Nigerian women leaders (Abike Dabiri and Obi Ezekwesili).
In 2015, Johanna Reponen did a research titled “Representations of Feminism and Men: Analysis of the campaign He For She’s launching speech and homepage”. In the paper, she analysed the UN women’s campaign ‘He For She’. She used the speech held by Emma Watson in the launching event of the campaign and the homepage of He For She. The aim is to explore how the campaign represents feminism and masculinity. The study found how feminist ideology is the one mainly present in the campaign. This study is relevant to the current one because of the feminist inclinations. The current study is interrogating how Abike Dabiri and Obi Ezekwesili have been influenced by Institution, Power and Ideology in their choice of words as observed in their language use.
Also, Olusegun, Olalere in 2016 wrote a paper titled “Women and Nigerian Politics: An Appraisal of 2015 General Elections.” The major thrust of the research is an appraisal of the dynamics of Nigerian women’s involvement in politics since the birth of the fourth republic with special reference to the 2015 general elections. The paper interrogates women participation in elective positions (Presidential, Gubernatorial, National and State Houses of Assembly elections), electioneering processes, campaigns and rallies among others. It adopts historical, descriptive and empirical methods in its analysis. The study, therefore, found that the involvement of women in Nigerian politics in the Fourth Republic has taken a new dimension especially with reference to the 2015 general elections. For the first time in the political history of Nigeria in the republic, a major political party in the country (All Progressives Congress) presented a female candidate as a standard bearer for the gubernatorial election in Taraba State. The relatedness of this and the current study is also in the feminist position. The current study is an advancement of the critical discourse analysis as a linguistic tool to interrogate the ideology, power and institution in the language of two Nigerian women who have served the public in different capacities. The major implication of the study is to advance CDA study to African women who have demonstrated their capacity to do some of the things they feel men do. The study has interrogated the influence of power, institution and ideology in 0bi Ezekwesili’s speeches and Abike Dabiri’s in their various socio-economic and political positions.
Conclusion
This study is a critical discourse analysis of Obi Ezekwesili and Abike Dabiri’s speeches. It adopts some conceptual framework such as identity and role, ideology, power and institution, discourse of prejudice, language use etcetera; while socio-cognitive and discourse–historical approaches are adopted as theoretical frameworks. The study’s contribution to knowledge is simply a marriage of CDA as a linguistic field with feminism. Although, this study is not the first of its kind, as far as this researcher’s knowledge is concerned, it may be the first to consider the data used (that is Obi Ezekwesili and Abike Dabiri’s speeches).
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