Politics, Ethnicity and the Postcolonial Nation: A critical analysis of political discourse in the Caribbean

227 Pages·2021·34.454 MB·English

by  Eleonora Esposito

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93
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
Politics, Ethnicity and the Postcolonial Nation
Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society
and Culture (DAPSAC)
issn 1569-9463
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General Editors
Jo Angouri, Andreas Musolff and Johann Wolfgang Unger
University of Warwick / University of East Anglia / Lancaster University
[email protected]; [email protected] and [email protected]
Founding Editors
Paul Chilton and Ruth Wodak
Advisory Board
Christine Anthonissen J.R. Martin Louis de Saussure
Stellenbosch University University of Sydney University of Neuchâtel
Michael Billig Jacob L. Mey Hailong Tian
Loughborough University University of Southern Denmark Tianjin Foreign Studies
Piotr Cap Greg Myers University
University of Łódź Lancaster University Joanna Thornborrow
Paul Chilton John Richardson Cardiff University
University of Warwick University of the Sunshine Coast, Ruth Wodak
Teun A. van Dijk Australia Lancaster University/University
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Luisa Martín Rojo of Vienna
Barcelona Universidad Autonoma de Madrid Sue Wright
University of Portsmouth
Konrad Ehlich Christina Schäffner
Free University, Berlin Aston University
Volume 93
Politics, Ethnicity and the Postcolonial Nation
A critical analysis of political discourse in the Caribbean
by Eleonora Esposito
Politics, Ethnicity
and the Postcolonial Nation
A critical analysis of political discourse
in the Caribbean
Eleonora Esposito
University of Navarra
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8
the American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
doi 10.1075/dapsac.93
Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from Library of Congress:
lccn 2021002692 (print) / 2021002693 (e-book)
isbn 978 90 272 0861 3 (Hb)
isbn 978 90 272 5998 1 (e-book)
© 2021 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Company · https://benjamins.com
To the Memory of my Mother
Fiorella di Martino
(1957–2019)

Table of contents
List of figures ix
List of tables xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Foreword xv
Chapter 1
Introduction 1
1.1 Swept by the Kamlamania 1
1.2 Caribbean political discourse: A blind spot 5
1.3 CDS in the postcolonial Caribbean: The master’s tools? 8
1.4 CDS as postcolonial critique: A way forward 12
1.5 Structure of the book 19
1.6 A short note on terminology 21
Chapter 2
Ethnicity, nationalism and the political process in Trinidad and Tobago 23
2.1 A short socio-political history 23
2.2 Ethnicity, identity and nationalism 39
Chapter 3
Theory and methods for a multimodal critique of political discourse 51
3.1 Contemporary political discourse: A case for visuality and critique 51
3.2 The discourse-historical approach 54
3.3 Social semiotics as critique 59
3.4 Multimodal CDS in action 62
Chapter 4
The leader 79
4.1 Strategies of positive self-presentation 80
4.2 Strategies of negative other-presentation 99
viii Politics, Ethnicity and the Postcolonial Nation
Chapter 5
The party 111
5.1 Main strategies of nomination and predication 112
5.2 Building the multi-ethnic coalition 126
Chapter 6
The nation 137
6.1 Building the national “in-group”: Evolving narratives 138
6.2 Building a common political past: Teaching history as action 142
6.3 Proud achievements and historic moments:
Narrating history as myth 147
6.4 Patterns of interdiscursivity and intertextuality 151
Chapter 7
Concluding remarks 165
7.1 Summary of findings 165
7.2 Towards a postcolonial CDS 170
7.3 Some final thoughts 175
7.4 Epilogue: Kamla 2010–2015 177
References 183
Index 205
List of figures
Figure 1. Trinidad and Tobago – ethnic composition (TTSCO 2011) 24
Figure 2. Electoral map – 2007 Election Trinidad and Tobago
(Psephos Election Archive) 38
Figure 3. Electoral Map – 2010 Election Trinidad and Tobago
(Psephos Election Archive) 38
Figure 4. Different levels of theory in DHA (In Wodak 2008) 56
Figure 5. Recursivity in DHA (In Meyer 2001) 68
Figure 6. Selected discourse-topics in Persad-Bissessar’s speeches
(after Reisigl and Wodak 2015) 70
Figure 7. Dimensions of analysis applied to Persad-Bissessar’s
speaking notes 75
Figure 8. “Leading Ladies” – picture from the Kamla 2010 booklet 91
Figure 9. “We Will Rise” – picture from the Kamla 2010 booklet 93
Figure 10. “Silky Serenade” – picture from the Kamla 2010 booklet 96
Figure 11. “I’ll be there” – picture from the Kamla 2010 booklet 98
Figure 12. “The Villafana”- Picture from the Kamla 2010 booklet 100
Figure 13. The Do So ad from the People’s Partnership 2010 campaign 101
Figure 14. Sequence of frames in the opening credits of the United Force
for Change video ad 123
Figure 15. Intradiegetic gaze in the United Force for Change video ad 125
Figure 16. Final handshake in the United Force for Change video ad 125
Figure 17. Front cover of the People’s Partnership manifesto 2010 133
Figure 18. Presentation of candidates in the People’s Partnership
manifesto 2010 136
Figure 19. Frames from the We Will Rise video ad 160
Figure 20. Final frame from the We Will Rise video ad 161