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Pragma-dialectical analysis of rhetorical texts. The case of Barack Obama in Cairo
Abstract
The theory of pragma-dialectics has been developed largely with respect to dialectical argumentation, with dialogue between two interlocutors as a model. Rhetorical argument is significantly different, in that it is heterogeneous, large, and non-interactive. If the tools of pragma-dialectics can also be applied to the analysis of rhetorical texts, then the potential reach of the theory is broadened considerably. This possibility is explored through examination of U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo in 2009. Special attention is given to audience commitments, standpoint analysis, and strategic maneuvering. Results suggest that pragma-dialectics can be applied to rhetorical texts, although it is not always the most efficient or productive approach.
This essay originally appeared in Keeping in touch with pragma-dialectics, a festschrift to Frans van Eemeren upon his retirement (E. Feteris, B. Garssen, and F. Snoeck Henkemans, Ed.) (pp. 89–102), published in 2011. It is reprinted by permission of John Benjamins Publishing Company.
... Pragma-dialectics and strategic maneuvering have been examined in a number of domains including the medical domain (Goodnight, 2009;Goodnight & Pilgram, 2011;Pilgram, 2017;van Poppel, 2017), the legal domain (Feteris, 2009(Feteris, , 2017Jansen, 2017), and the political domain in which previous research has focused on political interviews (Andone, 2009(Andone, , 2013Andone & Gata, 2011), political speeches (Ietcu-Fairclough, 2009;Mohammed & Zarefsky, 2011), press conferences (Peng, 2017;Peng & Zhu, 2015) and debates (Doury, van Haaften & Snoeck Henkemans, 2011;Eckstein & Lefevre, 2017;Plug, 2017;Snoeck Henkemans, 2017;Toader, 2016, van Eemeren & Garssen, 2012van Haaften, 2017;Zarefsky, 2009). To the researcher's knowledge, strategic maneuvering has not been studied in the hearings held in the U.S. Congress nor in non-political issues that are investigated in this legislative body. ...
... Adopting the pragma-dialectical approach of argumentation, van Eemeren (2010) has employed the strategies of argumentation in examining the motto of the European Union "in Varietate Concordia". Mohammed and Zarefsky (2011) have used this model of analysis in examining Barak Obama speech in Cairo 2009, where they conclude that this approach helps in 'reconstructing' Obama's logic and shows how he manages to deal with multiple audiences simultaneously. ...
... Arguments emerge to manage the disagreement (Jackson and Jacobs 1980;Jacobs and Jackson 1989) as part of a complex network where distinct lines in relation to different issues crisscross and overlap (Aakhus 2002;Lewiński and Mohammed 2015). For arguers, navigating one's way into this network requires careful craft in order to keep under control the contributions that one's arguments make to the different interrelated issues present (Mohammed 2016a, b;Mohammed and Zarefsky 2011). For analysts, an important challenge when making sense of the communicative design of an argument is to determine what the different interrelated issues in the complex disagreement network actually are. ...
In today’s ‘networked’ public sphere, arguers are faced with countless controversies roaming out there. Knowing what is at stake at any point in time, and keeping under control the contribution one’s arguments make to the different interrelated issues requires careful craft (e.g. Mohammed and Zarefsky, in Feteris, Garssen and Snoeck Henkemans (eds) Keeping in touch with Pragma-Dialectics. In honor of Frans H. van Eemeren. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, 2011). In this paper, I explore the difficulty of determining what is at stake at any moment of the argumentative situation and explore the challenge that that creates for examining the strategic shape of arguments. I argue that a meaningful examination of networked argumentative encounters requires that the boundaries of an encounter remain ‘fluid. In dealing with the fluid boundaries, I suggest to identify “argumentative associates” and “standing standpoints”.
U.S. political discourse increasingly emphasizes Islam and Muslims. Rooted in political communication and religious discourse scholarship, this study seeks to identify broader trends and patterns in modern presidential discourse on Islam. Our quantitative content analysis builds on a sample of nearly 1,500 invocations of Islam and Muslims in U.S. presidents’ spoken domestic communications, ranging from Franklin Roosevelt (1933) to Donald Trump (2018). Results indicate that Islam largely entered presidential discourse during the Iran hostage crisis in 1979. Since then, references to Islam and Muslims have risen (particularly since the Clinton administration) and have tended to be embedded in foreign rather than domestic contexts. Presidential discourse on Islam has primarily focused on people (e.g., Muslims, Muslim Americans) and over time has become less likely to be linked to other communities of faiths. Presidents have consistently associated Islam and Muslims with notions of violence, but, with the exception of Trump, portrayals frame them as opponents or targets rather than enablers of violence. Our empirical findings are discussed in their historical and sociopolitical context. (Article link: https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/8705/2773)
Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, coping with radicalisation and jihadist terrorism has been at the forefront of the domestic and foreign policy agendas in Western societies. During this time, the influence that political leaders can exert in their interaction with institutions, citizens, and terrorist organizations has been demonstrated. We present a case study of the speech by Barak Obama on June 4, 2009 at the University of Cairo ("A New Beginning"). Its content and internal structure is analysed using the classification of virtues and strengths defined by Peterson and Seligman (2004) as a theoretical and conceptual reference within the framework of positive psychology. This speech marked a turning point in the relationship between the USA and the Arab-Muslim world and could be considered to be a genuine exercise in positive communication. Its implications are yet to be determined, because it continues to exert an influence on the Obama administration's domestic and foreign policy. In a globalized and networking world in which risks and adversities require innovative responses, more than ever we suggest that social communication capable of promoting virtues and strengths associated with optimism, hope, confidence, strength, or vitality is needed more than ever.
U.S. President Barack Obama’s rhetoric lends itself well as a highly interesting case study for exploring the possibilities of contemporary political rhetoric of being both successful on the one hand and rational, according to normative standards of argumentative discourse, on the other. Taking up the concept of “strategic maneuvering” as developed within Pragma-Dialectics (cf. van Eemeren 2010), a corpus of Obama’s speeches and books is analyzed in order to assess both its rationality and efficiency. The analysis shows that Obama not only knows extremely well how to use the classical inventory of (political) rhetoric, but also tries to overcome the standard strategic maneuvering of political rhetoric which is often polarizing and destructive. Obama tries to change this traditional style of political rhetoric by his orientation towards consensus and universal values and by his willingness to practice self-criticism. The evaluation of Obama’s political rhetoric has also shown, however, that Obama is sometimes forced to abandon his high ethical and rhetorical standards in order not to lose a substantial section of the U.S. voters. In some of these cases, it might be argued that his strategic maneuvering “derails”. All in all, however, Obama has shown us that a leading contemporary politician can overcome traditional party rhetoric by following new types of strategic maneuvering which, at least sometimes, successfully reconcile normative standards of rational discussion with rhetorical principles of efficient persuasion. Keywords: Barack Obama; political rhetoric; democracy; Pragma-Dialectics; strategic maneuvering; fallacy; pragmatic argument; irony; self-criticism
This paper is the second part of a two-part paper; the first part is entitled Delivering the goods in critical discussion (this volume). The general outlines of the framework we are developing for analysing argumentative discourse are explained in the first paper. As a brief illustration of the application of our method, we shall here reconstruct some important features of an argumentative discourse produced by William the Silent, our 16th century revolutionary.
Two authorities in argumentation theory present a view of argumentation as a means of resolving differences of opinion by testing the acceptability of the disputed positions. Their model of a “critical discussion” serves as a theoretical tool for analyzing, evaluating and producing argumentative discourse. This major contribution to the study of argumentation will be of particular value to professionals and graduate students in speech communication, informal logic, rhetoric, critical thinking, linguistics, and philosophy. © Frans H. van Eemeren and Henriette Greebe and Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Media argumentation is a powerful force in our lives. From political speeches to television commercials to war propaganda, it can effectively mobilize political action, influence the public, and market products. This book presents a new and systematic way of thinking about the influence of mass media in our lives, showing the intersection of media sources with argumentation theory, informal logic, computational theory, and theories of persuasion. Using a variety of case studies that represent arguments that typically occur in the mass media, Douglas Walton demonstrates how tools recently developed in argumentation theory can be usefully applied to the identification, analysis, and evaluation of media arguments.
Remarks by the President on a new beginning Available at http:// www. whitehouse. gov/ the_ press_ office/ Remarks_ by_ the_ President_ at_ Cairo
- B Obama
Strategic maneuvering with argument schemes in the European parliament
- F H Van Eemeren
- B J Garssen