Rhetoric in the Red October Campaign: Exploring the White Victim Identity of Post-Apartheid South Africa

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Date

2014-09-29

Authors

Calitz, Willemien

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Publisher

University of Oregon

Abstract

This study explores whiteness through a rhetorical analysis of the language used in a speech made at a Red October campaign rally in South Africa in October, 2013. The Red October campaign positions white South Africans as an oppressed minority group in the country, and this study looks at linguistic choices and devices used to construct a white victim identity in post-apartheid South Africa. This thesis considers gender, religion, race, culture, class and ethnicity as intersections that contribute to the discursive construction of whiteness in the new South Africa. Ultimately, the study gives us a better understanding of whiteness, and particularly whiteness in South Africa, and the importance of language and power in certain political, social and cultural contexts.

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Keywords

Campaign, Language, Power, Race, Rhetoric, South Africa

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