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ABSTRACT
This essay analyzes the rhetoric of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of post-conflict Liberia, for how it transformed national citizenship into cosmopolitan citizenship. Specifically, she promoted cosmopolitan values to global and regional audiences; codified cosmopolitan values into national policies and initiatives; and enabled Liberian women as citizens whose cosmopolitan practices fortified national, regional, and global communities. Through these concrete cosmopolitan practices, Liberian women performed as ideal citizens of the new democracy. Thus, this essay demonstrates how rhetorical scholars can turn to cosmopolitan theory to explain how rhetorical leaders can transform how and what it means to belong, especially for women.
Acknowledgements
The author thanks Bradford Vivian, Mary E. Stuckey, Jeremy Cox, and this essay’s anonymous reviewers for their direction and feedback. The author also wishes to thank Karrin Vasby Anderson for responding to an earlier version of this essay. For offering feedback to earlier versions of this essay, the author thanks colleagues in the Rhetoric and Citizenship Seminar at the RSA Institutes in Madison, Wisconsin, at the University of Richmond, and at University of Louisiana-Monroe. The author also wishes to thank her colleagues in the Department of Communication at the University of Georgia for their support and mentorship. Finally, it is with deep joy and gratitude that the author thanks her graduate students in her Rhetoric and Transnationalism seminar of spring 2016.
Notes
* The editor thanks Bradford Vivian for editing this essay.
1. Human Rights Watch, “How to Fight, How to Kill: Child Soldiers in Liberia,” February 2, 2004, 1. http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2004/02/02/how-fight-how-kill.
2. In the field of communication studies broadly, studies of cosmopolitan citizenship populate journals of intercultural communication and media and culture.
3. See, for example, Vanessa B. Beasley, ed., Who Belongs in America?: Presidents, Rhetoric, Immigration (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2006); David Josue Cisneros, The Border Crossed Us: Rhetorics of Border, Citizenship, and Latino/a Identity (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2013); Karma Chávez, “Border (In)Securities: Normative and Differential Belonging in LGBTQ and Immigrant Rights Discourse,” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 7, no. 2 (2010): 136–55; Sara L. McKinnon, “Positioned in/by the State: Incorporation, Exclusion, and Appropriation of Women’s Gender-Based Claims to Political Asylum in the United States,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 97, no. 2 (2011): 178–200.
4. Ronald C. Arnett, for example, examined the cosmopolitan and provincial aspects of a Barack Obama speech. Ronald C. Arnett, “Civic Rhetoric—Meeting the Communal Interplay of the Provincial and the Cosmopolitan: Barack Obama’s Notre Dame Speech,” Rhetoric & Public Affairs 14, no. 4 (2011): 631–71. See also, Kathleen Glenister Roberts and Ronald C. Arnett, eds, Communication Ethics (New York: Peter Lang, 2008).
5. Robert Asen, “A Discourse Theory of Citizenship,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 90, no. 2 (2004): 189–211.
6. Most often cited is Diogenes’ claim: “I am a cosmopolitēs.” William Desmond argues that this translates to “I am a citizen of the cosmos,” or a citizen of the universe. Put another way, Diogenes’ claim was that, as a wanderer, he was at home anywhere, unbound by city-states. William Desmond, Cynics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008), 200.
7. Martha Nussbaum, “Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism,” in For Love of Country: Debating the Limits of Patriotism, ed. Joshua Cohen (Boston: Beacon Press, 1996), 9.
8. Kathleen Glenister Roberts, “Dialog Ethics, Cosmopolitanism, and Intercultural Communication,” in Communication Ethics: Between Cosmopolitanism and Provinciality, ed. Kathleen Glenister Roberts and Ronald C. Arnett (New York: Peter Lang, 2008), 90; Ulrich Beck, Cosmopolitan Vision, trans. Ciaran Cronin (Cambridge: Polity, 2006), 49; Robert Post, “Introduction,” in Another Cosmopolitanism, ed. Seyla Benhabib (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 4.
9. Beck, Cosmopolitan Vision, 49.
10. Beck, Cosmopolitan Vision, 49.
11. Ulrike Vieten, Gender and Cosmopolitanism in Europe: A Feminist Perspective (Surrey, UK: Ashgate, 2012), n.p.
12. These few theorists include: Vieten, Gender and Cosmopolitanism in Europe; Pnina Werbner, “Introduction,” in Anthropology and the New Cosmopolitanism: Rooted, Feminist and Vernacular Perspectives, ed. Pnina Werbner (Oxford: Berg, 2008).
13. “23 Fast Facts about Women’s Oppression Worldwide,” Accessed January 1, 2016. https://amnestystlouis.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/23-fast-facts-about-womens-oppression-worldwide/; “UN Secretary-General’s campaign: United to end the violence against women. ‘Break the silence. When you witness violence against women and girls, do not sit back. Act.’ Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General.” UNiTE To End Violence Against Women. Accessed January 1, 2016. http://endviolence.un.org/situation.shtml.
14. Nancy A. Naples and Manisha Desai, eds, Women’s Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles and Transnational Politics (New York: Routledge, 2002); Aili Mari Tripp, “The Evolution of Transnational Feminisms: Consensus, Conflict, and New Dynamics,” in Global Feminism, ed. Myra Max Ferree and Aili Mari Tripp (New York: New York University Press, 2006).
15. See, for example, Rebecca Dingo, Networking Arguments: Rhetoric, Transnational Feminism, and Public Policy Writing (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012); Wendy Hesford, Spectacular Rhetorics: Human Rights Visions, Recognitions, Feminisms (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2011); Rebecca S. Richards, Transnational Feminist Rhetorics and Gendered Leadership in Global Politics: From Daughters of Destiny to Iron Ladies (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2015).
16. J. Gus Liebenow, Liberia: The Quest for Democracy (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987), 19.
17. Mary H. Moran, Liberia: The Violence of Democracy (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), 2.
18. Benjamin G. Dennis and Anita K. Dennis, Slaves to Racism: An Unbroken Chain from America to Liberia (New York: Algora, 2008), 3.
19. Kenneth C. Omeje, “Introduction: Discourses of the Liberian Civil War and the Imperatives of Peacebuilding,” in War to Peace Transition: Conflict Intervention and Peacebuilding in Liberia, ed. Kenneth C. Omeje (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2009), 10.
20. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), National Human Development Report: Liberia 2006, 42. http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/national/africa/liberia/LIBERIA_2006_en.pdf.
21. Melinda Adams, “Liberia’s Election of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Women’s Executive Leadership in Africa,” Politics & Gender 4, no. 3 (2008): 480–81.
22. Adams, “Liberia’s Election,” 481–82.
23. Nussbaum, “Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism.”
24. Amy Gutmann, “Democratic Citizenship,” in For Love of Country: Debating the Limits of Patriotism, ed. Joshua Cohen (Boston: Beacon Press, 1996), 69.
25. Gutmann, “Democratic Citizenship,” 70.
26. Jay P. Childers, “Dislocated Cosmopolitans,” Chap. 3 in The Evolving Citizen: American Youth and the Changing Norms of Democratic Engagement (University Park: Pennsylvania University Press, 2012), 54–84.
27. Veronika Fuest, “‘This is the Time to Get out in Front’: Changing Roles and Opportunities for Women in Liberia,” African Affairs 107, no. 427 (2008): 206.
28. Fuest, “‘This is the Time,’” 206.
29. Moran, Liberia, 90.
30. Moran, Liberia, 95.
31. Moran, Liberia, 82.
32. Fuest, “‘This is the Time,’” 216–17.
33. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, “Remarks by her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia, European Development Day Forum, Brussels, Belgium,” November 15, 2006, 4. All speech texts are found at Liberia’s official site for the president, “The Executive Mansion,” Accessed January 8, 2016. http://www.emansion.gov.lr/2content_list_sub.php?main=24&related=24&pg=mp. Speech titles are exactly as they appear on the pdf of each speech text.
34. Sirleaf, “Intervention by H.E. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at Clinton Global Initiative’s Panel Discussion on ‘Empowering Girls and Women,’ New York,” September 21, 2010, 5.
35. Sirleaf, “Remarks by H.E. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at Official Signing Ceremony of the Education Reform Act of 2011, William V.S. Tubman High School, Sinkor,” August 8, 2011, 3.
36. Sirleaf, “Inaugural Address of H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,” January 16, 2006, 12.
37. Sirleaf, “Address by Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia at the Opening Ceremony of the 2nd Meeting of ‘Women for a Better World,’ on the Occasion of International Women’s Day,” March 7, 2007, 6.
38. Sirleaf, “Opening Ceremony of the 2nd Meeting of ‘Women for a Better World,’” 8.
39. Sirleaf, “Annual Message to the Fourth Session of the 52nd National Legislature of the Republic by Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia, Capitol Hill, Monrovia,” January 26, 2008, 17.
40. Sirleaf, “Annual Message to the Fourth Session of the 52nd National Legislature,” 19. Sirleaf mentions anti-rape laws and other measures designed to punish violence against women in the following addresses: Sirleaf, “Transcript of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s Statement During the Groundbreaking on Friday, June 5, 2009, for the Construction of a New United States of America Embassy Complex in Monrovia,” June 5, 2009; Sirleaf, “Annual Message to the Sixth Session of the 52nd National Legislature of the Republic of Liberia. Theme: Our Nation is Heading in the Right Direction,” January 24, 2011; Sirleaf, “Opening Ceremony of the 2nd Meeting of ‘Women for a Better World’”; Sirleaf, “European Development Day Forum”; Sirleaf, “‘Leadership to End World Hunger,’ Remarks by Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia, On the Occasion of Receiving 2006 Africa Prize for Leadership Awarded by the Hunger Project,” October 21, 2006; Sirleaf, “Goodwill Message by Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at the Official Program of International Women’s Day,” March 8, 2008.
41. Sirleaf, “Special Remarks by Her Excellency President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, At Cross-Learning Initiative Conference on UN Security Council Resolution 1325,” April 13, 2010, 16.
42. Sirleaf, “Annual Message to the Fourth Session of the 52nd National Legislature,” 18; Sirleaf, “Goodwill Message,” 2; Sirleaf, “Annual Message to the Fifth Session of the 52nd National Legislature of the Republic of Liberia by Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,” January 25, 2010, 75.
43. Sirleaf, “Goodwill Message,” 3.
44. Sirleaf, “Opening Ceremony of the 2nd Meeting of ‘Women for a Better World,’” 5.
45. Sirleaf, “Opening Ceremony of the 2nd Meeting of ‘Women for a Better World,’” 10.
46. Benhabib, Another Cosmopolitanism, 20.
47. Luis Cabrera, The Practice of Global Citizenship (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 3–4.
48. The complex relationship between rhetoric, policy change, and shared social norms cannot fully be discussed here, but for a concise sketch, see Celeste Michelle Condit, Decoding Abortion Rhetoric: Communicating Social Change (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1990), 1–12.
49. Moran, Liberia, 40–48; Caroline Bledsoe, Women and Marriage in Kpelle Society (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1980), 110.
50. Stanton Peabody, “Women Who Made a Difference,” Liberian Studies Journal 31, no. 1 (2006): 63–89; Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership, Accessed April 16, 2015. http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/womeninpower/Africa.htm.
51. “Inter-Parliamentary Union,” Accessed June 26, 2015. http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/arc/world010615.htm.
52. Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership.
53. Tripp, “The Evolution,” 67.
54. Tripp, “The Evolution,” 67.
55. Sirleaf, “Keynote Address by H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia at the International Women Leaders’ Conference on ‘Women’s Leadership for Sustainable Development,’ Jerusalem and Haifa, Israel,” November 18, 2007, 1, 3.
56. Sirleaf, “Keynote Address by Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf President of the Republic of Liberia at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research Torino Retreat,” August 31, 2007, 6.
57. Sirleaf, “‘African Women and Political Participation,’ Lecture by H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia on the Occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), Accra, Ghana,” November 12, 2010, 9.
58. Sirleaf, “Remarks by H.E. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at Community of Democracies/Council of Women World Leaders Panel Discussion on ‘Women as a Critical Force in Democratic Governance,’” September 23, 2010, 1.
59. Sirleaf, “‘African Women and Political Participation,’” 2.
60. Sirleaf, “Opening Remarks by Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia at the International Spain-Africa Meeting, ‘Women for a Better World,’ Valencia, Spain,” March 27, 2010, 3.
61. Sirleaf, “Community of Democracies,” 3; Sirleaf, “‘African Women and Political Participation,’” 5.
62. Sirleaf, “Keynote Address by H.E. President Ellen Johnson on ‘Liberian Women’s Involvement in Peacemaking and Peacebuilding,’ In International Peace Institute’s African Leaders Series: Consolidating a Future in Peace, New York,” September 26, 2012, 3.
63. Sirleaf, “Statement by H.E. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at Launch of the Joint Global Program on Economic Empowerment for Rural Women,” September 27, 2012, 2.
64. Sirleaf, “Launch of the Joint Global Program,” 2.
65. Sirleaf, “Keynote Address by Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia at First Meeting of the Africa Commission,” April 16, 2008, 7.
66. Sirleaf, “First Meeting of the Africa Commission,” 7.
67. Sirleaf, “Speech Delivered by Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia at the 95th International Labour Conference,” June 7, 2006, 1.
68. Sirleaf, “International Women Leaders’ Conference,” 3.
69. Sirleaf, “International Women Leaders’ Conference,” 3.
70. Sirleaf, “International Women Leaders’ Conference,” 3.
71. Sirleaf, “International Women Leaders’ Conference,” 1.
72. James D. Ingram, Radical Cosmopolitics: The Ethics and Politics of Democratic Universalism (New York: Columbia University Press, 2013), 35; Kwame Anthony Appiah, “Cosmopolitan Patriots,” in For Love of Country: Debating the Limits of Patriotism, ed. Joshua Cohen (Boston: Beacon Press, 1996), 22.
73. Vieten, Gender and Cosmopolitanism in Europe; Pnina Werbner, “Introduction,” 2.
74. Naples and Desai, eds, Women’s Activism and Globalization.
75. Moran, Liberia, 95. See also Gracia Clark, Onions are My Husband: Survival and Accumulation by West African Market Women (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994).
76. See Clark, Onions are My Husband.
77. Sirleaf, “Statement by H.E. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at World Premiere of the Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund Video Documentary and Case Study: God First, Second the Market: The Story of the Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund of Liberia,” August 23, 2012, 3.
78. Sirleaf, “Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund Video,” 1.
79. Sirleaf, “Keynote Address by H.E. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at World Bank Seminar on ‘Women in the Private Sector: Good for Development and Business,’” Tokyo International Forum, October 11, 2012, 3.
80. Sirleaf, “Address by Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia on the Occasion of the 45th Commencement of Cuttington University,” July 9, 2006, 4.
81. Sirleaf, “Address by H.E. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at the 17th Convocation of the University of Agriculture at Abeokuta,” February 18, 2010, 3.
82. Sirleaf, “Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund Video,” 3; Sirleaf, “‘African Women and Political Participation,’” 2.
83. Sirleaf, “‘African Women and Political Participation,’” 2.
84. Sirleaf, “Intervention,” 2.
85. Sirleaf, “Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund Video,” 4.
86. Sirleaf, “Launch of the Joint Global Program,” 3–4.
87. Sirleaf, “Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund Video,” 4.
88. Sirleaf, “‘Women in the Private Sector’” 3, 4.
89. Sirleaf, “Statement by H.E. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at Goldman Sachs/CHF 10,000 Women Graduation Ceremony, Monrovia City Hall,” February 10, 2012, 3.
90. Sirleaf, “Keynote Remarks by H.E. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at Graduation for Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Project,” December 3, 2010, 8.
91. Sirleaf, “Graduation for Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Project,” 2–3.
92. Sirleaf, “Graduation for Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Project,” 2–3.
93. Sirleaf, “‘Behold the New Africa,’ Sixth Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, 2008,” July 12, 2008, 5.
94. Sirleaf, “Statement by Her Excellency Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia at State Dinner in Honour of his Excellency Mr. John Aygekum Kufuor, President of the Republic of Ghana, Monrovia, Liberia,” November 22, 2008, 2.
95. Gwendolyn S. Myers, “Dialogue Among Peace Messengers: Conditions of Liberian Women: A Political Dimension,” Daily Observer, April 21, 2016.
96. UN Women, “Women Police Making Strides Across Africa,” The World Post, April 14, 2016.
97. Alex Pearlman, “No Liberty for Liberian Women as Rapes Continue,” Global Post, September 21, 2012.
98. Michal Zebede and Shiza Shahid, “Liberia’s ‘Sex4Grades Epidemic is Ruining Children’s Lives,” Time, April 5, 2016.
99. Teresa Wiltz, “Feminism’s Vital Role in Rebuilding Liberia,” The Root, December 24, 2010.
100. Tamasin Ford, “Wronged Women of Liberia Reluctant to Revisit Human Rights Abuses,” The Guardian, February 28, 2012.
101. Roberts, “Dialog Ethics,” 90.
102. Roberts, “Dialog Ethics,” 89–104. Also see the edited volume for more works on ethics, cosmopolitanism, and provinciality.
103. Werbner, “Introduction,” 18.
104. Vieten, Gender and Cosmopolitanism, n.p.