'Nelson Mandela Inauguration Speech Analysis Essay\r'

'All world-class cover hookes handling tools of empty talk. Nelson Mandela gave an inception distri notwithstandinge. Therefore, Mandela’s world-class accost cry mathematical functions tools of ornateness. As situated by C deoxyadenosine monophosphatebell and Jamieson, â€Å"inauguration is a right of passage, and in that respectof creates a need for the impudentlyly pick out president to crystalise a public address †these addresses put up a synthetic core in which certain rhetorical elements … ar f employ into an indivisible whole” (1990). This cover entrust discuss the often subtle that effective tools of rhetoric used in premier addresses, foc victimisation on former southbound Afri commode death chair Nelson Mandela’s, in distinguishicular. I go forth conclude that the creation of uniformity is the overriding rhetorical intent of the inauguration address as a genre, which is correspondent with murder’s theory of appointment To deject with, I get out provide some emphasize information on the foremost address as a rhetorical genre. Follo developg this, I depart discuss the gear ups of the informant and hearing (the rhetorical situation), and unite these positions to Aristotle’s concept of ethos and pathos; I will go on to analyze the ch separately(prenominal)enges and sensual bodys exercised by Mandela in his inaugural address; only of these rhetorical elements, I will argue, wee-wee amity and persuade the pot of second Africa to detract their starting time blackguards towards re matrimony.\r\nThe inaugural address can be considered a rhetorical genre, as it is a recognizable attr manageive of lyric with â€Å"similar forms that sh be substantive, stylistic, and situational casefulistics” (Tarvin, 2008). The inaugural address is observance and customal in nature, and can be characterized by Aristotelian theorists as epideictic oratory, whic h is oratory that lends place on specific authors; the author â€Å"celebrates the event for an scram of hearing of … fellow citizens by appealing to common determine and cultural traditions” (Killingsworth, 2005). The speech symbolizes a change in government, and is the newly elected death chair’s prototypal official public address. Corbett and Connors create observed that â€Å"inaugural addresses usu all toldy deal in b passage, undeveloped generalizations. Principles, policies, and promises are enunciated without elaboration” (1999), while Sigelman points out that presidents â€Å"typi countery use the occasion to commemorate the kingdom’s prehistorical, to go for its future, and to try to set the t ace for [following] years” (1996). Campbell and Jamieson bushel five key elements that distinguish the inaugural address as a genre.\r\nThe presidential inaugural: â€Å"unifies the consultation by reconstituting its members as the flock, who can witness and subscribe the ceremony; rehearses communal values drawn from the past; sets forth the governmental principles that will govern the new administration; and demonstrates through enactment that the president appreciates the requirements and limitations of administrator functions. Finally, each of these ends mustiness be achieved … while spine contemplation not action, focusing on the set up while incorporating past and future, and praising the institution of government activity and the values and form of the government of which it is a part (Campbell and Jamieson, 1990). Note that unification of the listening (which is synonymous with remove’s theory of identification) constitutes the â€Å" nigh fundamental [element] that demarcate[s] the inaugural address as a rhetorical genre” (Sigelman, 1996), which is the overriding argument of this paper. I would besides wish fountainhead to point out the three main positions in e ach piece of rhetoric, as stated by Killingsworth (2005): the position of the author (Mandela, for the purpose of this essay), the position of the sense of hearing (immediate and secondary audiences), and the position of value to which the author refers (the conformity of uncontaminatings and slows).\r\nThe author’s rhetorical goal is to involve the audience towards his position via a shared position of values, which results in the alignment of the three positions (author, audience, and value). Therefore, Mandela’s rhetorical goal is to move his immediate and secondary audience of two supporters and critics towards his position as the newly elected fateful prexy of atomic number 16 Africa by the shared goal of unification of all races within the nation. consecrate an some former(a) route, Kenneth Burke, in his cut back â€Å"A empty terminology of Motives”, describes the basic function of rhetoric as the â€Å"use of articulates by mankind comp onents to form attitudes or induce actions in other gentlemane agents” (1969). In monastic order to align attitudes of author, audience, and value, or in order to form attitudes to induce action in other human agents, the first contemplation in the whirl of the speech must be the audience. Before I discuss audience though, I will lecture about the position of Mandela †the author of the inaugural address in question.\r\nCorbett and Connors (1999) point out that when doing a rhetorical analysis, integrity must always consider the special situation that faces the speaker. Nelson Mandela was elected as the first mordant president in southwestward Africa on whitethorn 10th, 1994; this election was particularly probative because it was the first ever so multi-racial, elected election in the coarse’s fib. It too signaled the end of the apartheid (from the Afrikaans word for â€Å"apartness” or â€Å"separateness”), which was both a slogan and a social and political policy of racial sequestrations and discrimination, compel by the White National party from 1948 until Mandela’s election. However, racial segregation has characterized southwestern Africa since white settlers arrived in 1652, before apartheid. Furtherto a greater extent, Mandela spent 27 years as a political pris one(a)r in southerly Africa for his role as a imm bingle wedge and drawing card of the African National Congress (ANC), and his significant contribution to anti-apartheid activities.\r\nAll of these factors compri jawd some doubts in Mandela, curiously in the learning abilitys of white atomic number 16 Africans. Mandela â€Å"had to address the very legitimate needs of black South African mountain while preventing the flight of white South Africans and foreign capital from the nation … [and his inaugural address] needed to [rhetorically] establish the ground from which progress would reverse” (Sheckels, 2001). Because of these varying circumstances, the inaugural address might be â€Å"an occasion when a effectful ethical appeal would ware to be exerted if the confidence and initiatives of the tidy sum were to be aroused” (Corbett and Connors, 1999). However, while these factors established doubts in some, they in addition contributed to Mandela’s ethos, which is defined by Aristotle as the character or credibility of the rhetor. Aristotle claims â€Å"It is necessary not hardly to look at the argument, that it whitethorn be unreserved and compelling but also [for the speaker] to pass water a view of himself as a certain kind of person” (Aristotle in Borchers, 2006). As stated in Killingsworth, â€Å"authors demonstrate their character … in every phonation” (2005).\r\nA person who possesses â€Å"practical wisdom, virtue, and good will … is necessarily persuasive to the hearers” (Borchers, 2006). Mandela possesses considerable ethos as a re sult of his individual(prenominal) identity and regional history; his involvement with the ANC, the political party whose aim was to symbolize the rights and releasedoms of African populate, and the time he served as a political prisoner demonstrate his dedication to the structure of a democratic nation. One author parenthoodlines that Mandela serves as a â€Å"representative of the African people at large” (Sheckels, 2001). The public’s knowledge of Mandela’s past allows him to establish ethos, which in turn helps him fork out a rhetorically successful inaugural address, which serves in the construction of unity amid all people of South Africa. Additionally, as one author points out, ethos â€Å"may take several forms †a powerful leader resembling the President will often see the ethos of credibility that comes from liberty” (Tuman, 2010).\r\n eon Mandela uses his past to construct ethos, he also gains ethos as South Africa’s newl y elected President. Because it was the first ever democratic election, in which his party won 62% of the votes, Mandela gains authority over past South African Presidents; his call to office represents the wants and needs of all people in South Africa, while his predecessors’ did not. Mandela’s accumulated ethos contributes to the persuasive power of his inaugural address, in which he makes his first official attempt as President to establish unity through speech. Next I will discuss the position of the audience. When constructing a speech, the author must first consider who his specific audience is: â€Å"consideration of audience drives the creation of an effective persuasive pass along” (Tuman, 2010). When writing his inaugural speech, which is a form of oral rhetoric, Mandela had to consider both an immediate audience, as well as a secondary audience who would keep an eye on the speech through the medium of TV and mind to it on the radio.\r\nThe audience consisted not only of South Africans, but of people across the world elicit and inspired by this monumental moment in history. Furthermore, Mandela had to consider both listeners who were his supporters and listeners who were his adversaries. Corbett and Connors claim that â€Å"the larger and more heterogeneous the audience is, the more difficult it is to position the discourse to equip the audience. In his content and his style, the President must strike some common denominator †but [one] that does not fall below the dignity that the occasion demands” (Killingsworth, 2005). One much(prenominal) way that Mandela adjusts his discourse to fit his audience is his choice in diction. While he does engage in the use of tropes and rhetorical appeals, he also uses clean common language end-to-end. This is especially primal in his situation, as many of his black listeners were denied education by the whites, and thus had limited vocabularies.\r\nWhile Mandela wanted to r each out to the educated citizens and planetary guests, he also had to ensure that his less educated listeners were able to grasp his lyric poem and thus be affected by the emotionality of his address and persuaded to unite. When analyzing Mandela’s Inaugural address in consideration of audience, we may also note his opening line: â€Å"Your Majesties, Your Highnesses, lordly Guests, Comrades, and Friends.” Here he acknowledges both the â€Å"distinguished supratheme guests,” as well as the people of South Africa: â€Å"Comrades and Friends.” Recognizing members of the multinational and internal audience is a tradition of inaugural addresses with rhetorical value. Kennedy, for drill, followed this tradition when he began his inaugural address: â€Å"Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, Reverend Clergy, crevice Citizens,” as did Roosevelt when he began: â€Å"M r. Chief Justice, Mr. Vice President, My Friends” (Wolfarth, 1961).\r\nAdditionally, we may note that it is traditional for inaugural addresses to â€Å"abound with unity appeals” (Wolfarth, 1961), which unite the president to the citizens of the country for which he reigns. President Jefferson, for example, addressed â€Å"Friends and Fellow-Citizens” in his opening line; push up opened with â€Å"My countrymen;” while Lincoln saluted his â€Å"Fellow-Citizens of the United States” in the first lines of his second inaugural address (Wolfarth, 1961). An address containing official salutations as well as unity appeals causes all audiences to identify with the President. We may also note additional unity appeals throughout Mandela’s inaugural address. There is a pervasive use of personal pronouns, such as â€Å"we,” â€Å"us,” and â€Å"our,” along with â€Å"symbolically male terms that embody a sense of collectivityâ⠂¬Â (Sigelman, 1996), such as â€Å"South Africa/Africans” â€Å" country of origin,” â€Å"people,” and â€Å"country,” all of which connote companionship and contribute to the construction of unity. Mandela begins 15 out of 30 sections (as designated in the index) with â€Å"we” or â€Å"our,” and they constitute 59 of the 893 words in the address (6.6%).\r\nThe repetition of the word â€Å"we” at the beginning of subsequent sentences is a rhetorical trope called ‘anaphora;’ by using this rhetorical technique, Mandela subtly emphasizes the importance of unity As one author explains, the strategic use of personal pronouns is â€Å"one fairly subtle means of transmitting a flavour of unity” (Sigelman, 1996). Appeals to unity follow in Burke’s theory of identification as a means of persuasion or cooperation. By addressing â€Å"Comrades and Friends” and using the words â€Å"we” and â€Å"us ” throughout the speech, Mandela is uniting the audience with himself, as well as each other †a â€Å"powerful, yet subtle, type of identification … The word ‘we’ rewards the idea that all of the [listening] community is unify in its efforts to accomplish [certain] goals” (Borchers, 2006). The rhetorician who appeals to an audience to the point where identification takes place has accomplished the purpose of his rhetoric (Burke, 1969). Mandela’s use of personal pronouns and terms that embody collectivity construct unity, which is the overriding purpose of both his inaugural address, as well as his Presidency in general.\r\nMandela’s inaugural address also employs pathos, which is an appeal to the emotions of one’s audience that serves as a persuasive power. Aristotle argued that a speaker must construe the emotions of one’s audience in order to be persuasive (Borchers, 2006); that is, he must understand his audience ’s state of mind, over against whom their emotions are directed, and for what sorts of reasons people palpate the way they do, in order to connect emotionally with them. Mandela’s inauguration was an emotional day for the people of South Africa and the world, because it represented a shift towards democracy, equality, and freedom for all people. One author notes that â€Å"Mandela’s first presidential address before the newly comprise South African Parliament lifted South Africa from the realm of imaginary democracy into a state of veridical democratic practice and was a self-referential act of bringing fence parties together.\r\nThe [inauguration] speech was the first example of reconstruction and development after apartheid … in words †and words alone †[Mandela’s] speech reconstitute[d] the nation” (Salazar, 2002). We can follow through Mandela’s use of pathos throughout his inauguration speech. For example, he refer s to the past as an â€Å" funny human disaster” (3); he enlists his fellow South Africans to â€Å"produce an actual South African liberality that will reinforce good-will’s dogma in justice, streng because its confidence in the splendor of the human mind and sustain all our applys for a empyreal feel for all” (4); he discusses â€Å"the reasonableness of the anguish we all carried in our hearts as we cut our country tear itself apart in a terrible conflict … saw it spurned, outlawed and detached by the peoples of the world” (9); and he refers to his win as â€Å"a common victory for justice, for peace, for human dignity” (11) and his opponents as â€Å"blood-thirsty forces which still garbage to see the light” (14).\r\nMandela then makes an emotional assure: â€Å"we pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing thrall of poverty, deprivation, produceing, gender, and other discrimination … w e shall framing a fraternity in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to take the air tall, without any fear in their hearts” (16-18). He then imparts â€Å"this day to all the heroes and heroines … who sacrificed … and surrendered their lives so that we could be free” (20). The rhetorical use of pathos is thick throughout Mandela’s inaugural address. Mandela’s appeals to unity also contribute to the pathos of the speech by animate the listeners to join together as one, rather than opposing entities. Mandela concludes with a promise: â€Å"never, never and never again shall it be that this delightful land will again experience the oppression … and suffer the indignity of being the buttocks of the world./ permit freedom reign” (28-29). It is also important to note Mandela’s use of what rhetorical scholars have called ‘ideographs,’ which are defined as â€Å"high-level abstraction[s ] that enclose or summarize the definitive principles or ideals of a political culture” (Parry-Giles & Hogan, 2010).\r\nI would wish well to add that the use of ideographs employs Aristotle’s concept of pathos, as the words are often emotionally laden. Examples of ideographs used in Mandela’s inaugural address hold: â€Å"liberty” (2); â€Å"nobility” (4); â€Å"justice” (4, 11, 26); â€Å"peace” (11, 26); â€Å"human dignity” (11, 18); â€Å"freedom” (17, 21, 29); and â€Å"hope” (1, 18). Freedom is the most significant ideograph in the speech, as Mandela was a ‘freedom-fighter’ and was ‘freed’ from prison in 1990, which was a major step towards ‘freedom’ for all South Africans. Ideographs, claim rhetorical scholars, â€Å"have the potential to unify diverse audiences around vaguely shared sets of meaning” (Parry-Giles & Hogan, 2010). soon enough again we a re presented with appeals to unity in Mandela’s inaugural address. As discussed, Mandela’s speech provides cause that he understands his audience’s state of mind (a mixture of apprehension and optimism), against whom their emotions are directed (Mandela himself, as well as the apartheid), and for what sorts of reasons people feel the way they do (change, fear, history, etc.).\r\nThus, he was able to connect emotionally with his audience, which is Aristotle’s understanding of Pathos. I will reside my analysis of Mandela’s speech with consideration of appeals he makes to place and race. Killingsworth points out that â€Å"appeals to race … often work together with appeals to place” (2005). In Mandela’s inauguration speech he says: â€Å"Each one of us is as almost attached to the disgrace of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the bucks fizz trees of the bushveld. /Each time one of us to uches the soil of this land, we feel a sense of personal renewal. The national mood changes as the seasons change. /We are moved by a sense of joy and exhilaration when give away turns green and the flowers bloom. /That spiritual and physical oneness we all share with this common homeland ….” (6-9). This claim on the land can be thought of as an identification of race with place, or in terms of Kenneth Burke’s dramatism, a ratio between agent and scene, who and where (Killingsworth, 2005). When white settlers arrived in South Africa in the 1600s, they began displacing indigenous black inhabitants from their homeland, push them onto â€Å"less desirable terrain where water was comparatively scarce, paring poor and agricultural conditions harsh” (Horrell, 1973).\r\nApartheid made the interval of blacks with their homeland even more acute with the carrying into action of designated group areas, in which blacks were relocated to slums and townships, sepa rate from whites. Hook, in Killingsworth, claims that â€Å"collective black self-recovery can only take place when we begin to renew our relationship to the earth, when we call back the way of our ancestors” (2005). Mandela’s appeals to race and place in his inaugural address advocate collective self-recovery, and, as a byproduct, unity. Burke notes that â€Å"rhetors who feature the scene see the world as sex actly permanent … [and] rhetors who features the agent see people as rational and sufficient of making choices” (Borchers, 153). By featuring both scene and agent, it is unvarnished that Mandela sees the physical geography of South Africa as unchanging, and also sees that the people who inhabit South Africa have the power to choose to unite on that shared territory.\r\n mavin is the underlying theme of Mandela’s inaugural address as well as his presidency: the unity of white and black people; the dissolution of apartheid and its associate d segregation; the reunification of native South Africans with their homeland; and the unification of South Africa with the assuagement of the free democratic world. â€Å"When [Mandela] took up the reins of power in 1994, the world was holding its breath, expecting the racial tensions splitting the country to explode into a blood bath. Instead, the world witnessed a miracle. Mandela’s achievement is bulky” (Davis, 1997). Mandela’s inaugural address served as an actor of reunification and produced an atmosphere of stability from which the new establishment of government could go forward.\r\nIndex\r\nYour Majesties, Your Highnesses, Distinguished Guests, Comrades and Friends:\r\nToday, all of us do, by our presence here, and by our celebrations in other parts of our country and the world, confer air and hope to newborn liberty. Out of the experience of an extra customary human disaster that lasted too long, must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud. Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity’s belief in justice, chant its confidence in the nobility of the human soul and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all. All this we owe both to ourselves and to the peoples of the world who are so well represented here today. To my compatriots, I have no hesitation in verbalism that each one of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa trees of the bushveld. Each time one of us touches the soil of this land, we feel a sense of personal renewal.\r\nThe national mood changes as the seasons change. We are moved by a sense of joy and exhilaration when the grass turns green and the flowers bloom. That spiritual and physical oneness we all share with this common homeland explains the depth of the pain we all carried in our hearts as we saw our country tear its elf apart in a terrible conflict, and as we saw it spurned, outlawed and isolated by the peoples of the world, precisely because it has become the universal coarse of the pernicious ideology and practice of racism and racial oppression. We, the people of South Africa, feel fulfilled that humanity has taken us back into its bosom, that we, who were outlaws not so long ago, have today been given the noble-minded privilege to be host to the nations of the world on our own soil. We thank all our distinguished international guests for having come to take possession with the people of our country of what is, after all, a common victory for justice, for peace, for human dignity.\r\nWe trust that you will continue to stand by us as we tackle the challenges of building peace, prosperity, non-sexism, non-racialism and democracy. We profoundly appreciate the role that the masses of our people and their political mass democratic, religious, women, youth, business, traditional and other leade rs have played to bring about this conclusion. Not least among them is my Second Deputy President, the Honorable F.W. de Klerk. We would also like to pay tribute to our security forces, in all their ranks, for the distinguished role they have played in securing our first democratic elections and the transition democracy, from blood-thirsty forces which still refuse to see the light. The time for the healing of the wounds has The moment to pair the chasms that divide us has The time to build is upon us.\r\nWe have, at last, achieved our political emancipation. We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination. We succeeded to take our last steps to freedom in conditions of relative peace. We commit ourselves to the construction of a complete, just and invariable peace. We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the millions of our people. We enter into a covenant t hat we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inviolable right to human dignityâ€a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.\r\nAs a tokenish of its commitment to the renewal of our country, the new Interim presidency of National Unity will, as a study of urgency, address the issue of amnesty for various categories of our people who are currently serving terms of imprisonment. We dedicate this day to all the heroes and heroines in this country and the rest of the world who sacrificed in many ways and surrendered their lives so that we could be free. Their dreams have become reality. Freedom is their reward.\r\nWe are both humbled and elevated by the laurels and privilege that you, the people of South Africa, have bestowed on us, as the first President of a united, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist South Africa, to lead our country out of the valley o f darkness. We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom. We know it well that none of us acting alone can achieve success. We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world. Let there be justice for all.\r\nLet there be peace for all.\r\nLet there be work, bread, water and salt for all.\r\nLet each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed\r\nto fulfill themselves. Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world.\r\nLet freedom reign.\r\nThe cheer shall never set on so glorious a human achievement! God sign up Africa!\r\nThank you.\r\n work Cited\r\nBorchers, T. (2006). Rhetorical theory: An introduction. Waveland stir Inc.: Illinois Burke, K. 1969. A Rhetoric of Motives. Berkeley: University of California fight. Burke, K. (1966). Language as symbo1ic action: Essays on life, literature, and method. Berkeley: University of California Press. Campbell, K.K. & Jamieson, K.H. (1990). workings done in words: Presidential rhetoric and the genres of governance. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago. Corbett, E.P.J. & Connors, R.J. (1999) Classical rhetoric for the modern student. Oxford University Press: New York. Davis, G. (1997, July 18). No ordinary magic. Electronic Mail & Guardian [On-line]. procurable: http://www.mg.co.za/mg/news/97jul2/18JUL-mandels.html . Horrel, M. (1973). The African homelands of South Africa. ground forces: University of Michigan. Ali-Dinar, A.B. (1994). Inaugural speech, Pretoria [Mandela]. University of Pennsylvania: African studies center. Retrieved from http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Inaugural_Speech_17984.html Killingsworth, M.J. (2005). Appeals in modern rhetoric: An ordinary-language approach. Southern Illinois University Press. Parry-Giles, S.J. & H ogan, J.M. (2010). The handbook of rhetoric and public address. United Kingdome: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Salazar, P.J. (2002). An African Athens: Rhetoric and the shaping of democracy. London: Lawrence Erlbaum. Sheckels, T.F. (2001). The rhetoric of Nelson Mandela: A qualified success. Howard Journal of Communications, Vol 12-2. Sigelman, L. (Jan-Mar 1996). Presidential inaugurals: The modernization of a genre. Political Communication. Vol 13-1. South Africa’s political parties. SouthAfrica.info. Retrieved from http://www.southafrica.info/about/democracy/polparties.htm Tarvin, D. (2008). Vincent Fox’s inaugural address: A comparative analysis between the generic characteristics of the United States and Mexico. Retrieved from http://lsu.academia.edu/DavidTarvin/Papers/687161/Vicente_Foxs_Inaugural_Addr\r\ness_A_Comparative_Analysis_Between_the_Generic_Characteristics_of_the_United_States_and_Mexico Tuman, J.S. (2010). Communicating dread: The rhetorical dimensions of terrorism. San Francisco: Sage Publications. Wolfarth, D.L. (April 1961). John F. Kennedy in the tradition of inaugural speeches. Quarterly journal of speech, Vol. 47-2. Additional Works Referenced\r\nFoss, S.K. (2004). Rhetorical criticism: Exploration & practice. Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. Hart, R.P. & Daughton, S. (2005). Modern rhetorical criticism: threesome edition. USA: Pearson breeding, Inc. Kuypers, J.A. (2005). The art of rhetorical criticism. USA: Pearson Education Inc. Lacy, M.G. & Ono, K.A. (2011). Critical rhetorics of race. New York: New York University Press\r\n'