Voice, agency and identity: a positive discourse analysis of ‘resistance’ in the rhetoric of Kwame Nkrumah

ABSTRACT

This paper uses positive discourse analysis to examine an independence leader's resistance rhetoric against colonialism, imperialism and neocolonialism. It analyses speeches delivered by Ghana's independence leader, Kwame Nkrumah, and finds that he adopts an anti-imperialist and anti-establishment stance through three processes: his explicit identification of Africa's conspiratorial enemy, his sculpting of a gallant/heroic leader image and his projection of a messianic identity. The paper offers insights into the exploration of text and talk that suggest inspiring discursive practices and illustrates how discourse can be used to advance the goals of marginalized/repressed groups in order to instigate progressive social change.

本文使用积极话语分析来研究独立领袖对殖民主义，帝国主义和新殖民主义的反抗言论。它分析了加纳独立领导人夸梅·恩克鲁玛（Kwame Nkrumah）的许多演讲，并发现他通过采取三个策略去支撑他的反帝国主义和反建制立场：他明确地指出了非洲的阴谋敌人，塑造了一个英勇的领导人形象和他对弥赛亚身份的预测。该论文认为，恩克鲁玛通过他的反帝国主义言论，促进了解放的话语，向被压迫的群体提供了振奋人心的信息。因此，本文提供了对文本和话语分析的深刻见解，这些建议提出了启发性的话语实践，并阐释了如何利用话语来推进被边缘化和/或压抑群体的目标，从而促进渐进式的社会变革。

KEYWORDS:

• Kwame Nkrumah
• colonialism
• discourse of resistance
• positive discourse analysis
• social action

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Mark Nartey studied in Ghana, Norway and Hong Kong. He is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of English at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and a member of the Research Centre for Professional Communication in English. He is an interdisciplinary scholar who specializes in corpus-assisted discourse studies and in the theory and application of critical discourse analysis in political, media and other public discourses. He is interested in the interplay of discourse, ideology and mythology. His recent papers have appeared in Corpora, Critical Discourse Studies, Social Semiotics and Journal of Language and Politics.