CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study……………….…………………………………………………….1
1.1.1 Obi Ezekwesili………………………………………………………………………………2
1.1.2 Abike Dabiri………………………………………………………………………………...4
1.2 Statement of the Problem……………………………………………………………………4
1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study…………………………………………………………..5
1.4 Research Questions …………………….…………………………………………………..5
1.5 Scope and Limitation of the Study ………….………………………………………………6
1.6 Methodology…………………………………………………………………………………6
1.6.1 Research Design…….…………………………………………………………………….6
1.6.2 Sampling and Sampling Procedures………………………………………………………7
1.7 Significance of Study……………………………………………………………………….7
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.0 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….8
2.1. Discourse and Critical Discourse Analysis…………………………………………………8
2.2 Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA) and Feminist Post
Structuralist Discourse Analysis
(FPDA)………………………………………………………..………………………15
2.3 Text, Context and Discourse in Discourse Analysis (DA)…………………………………..17
2.4 Language in Use…….………..……………………………………………………………..21
2.5 Identity and Role……………………..………….…………………………………………..22
2.6 Position and Attitude……………………………………………………………………….25
2.7 The Discourse of Prejudice…………………………………………………………………27
2.8 Power and Ideology ……………………..……………………………….………………...31
2.9 Theoretical Framework……………………………….…………………………………….32
2.9.1 CDA Approaches and their Applicability to the Current Study………………………..32
CHAPTER THREE
POWER, IDEOLOGY AND INSTITUTION IN OBI EZEKWESILI’S SPEECHES
3.1 Introduction………….……………….………………………………………………………36
3.2 Analysis……………..………………………………………………………………………..36
3.3 Discussion……………………………………………………………………………………44
CHAPTER FOUR
POWER, IDEOLOGY AND INSTITUTION IN ABIKE DABIRI’S SPEECHES
4.1 Introduction………………………...………….……………………………………………46
4.2 Analysis……………………………………….………………………………...……………46
4.3 Discussion……………………………………………………………………………………54
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
5.1 Summary of Work……………………………………………………………………………56
5.2 Summary of Findings………………………………………………………………………57
5.3 Implication of Study…………………………………………………………………………62
5.4 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………64
Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………………...65
ABSTRACT
This study is a critical discourse analysis of Obi Ezekwesili and
Abike Dabiri’s speeches. It adopts some conceptual framework such as
identity and role, ideology, power and institution, discourse of
prejudice, language use etcetera; while socio-cognitive and
discourse–historical approaches are adopted as theoretical frameworks.
The data used are randomly selected speeches by the two prominent
Nigerian women. Findings reveal among other things that: the two
Nigerian women leaders studied have feminist tendencies as demonstrated
in their various speeches; the sociopolitical statuses of the two women,
at every point in time, determine their use of language; their speeches
are also conditioned by the institutions they represent at every point
in time; apart from their feminist ideologies, they also demonstrated
concerns at various levels for the welfare of the country in their
speeches such as advocacy for a dignified Nigeria; and the idea of
naturalization can be deduced from their speeches as they try to
identify with the suffering masses. The study’s contribution to
knowledge is simply a marriage of CDA as a linguistic field with
feminism. Although, this study is not the first of its kind, as far as
this researcher’s knowledge is concerned, it may be the first to
consider the data used (that is Obi Ezekwesili and Abike Dabiri’s
speeches).
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The major thrust of this dissertation is to analyze the speeches of
two of Nigeria’s frontline women, Obi Ezekwesili and Abike Dabiri from
the Critical Discourse Analysis perspective. The study is motivated by
the fact that ‘language as simple as the term seems is not only a means
of describing reality but plays significant roles in determining and
shaping reality and the world around us’ (Reponen 4). This reality has
been observed in the speeches of these women through their language use;
hence, there is need to study them. And, the best linguistic tool that
suits such a study, in this researcher’s own opinion, is critical
discourse analysis because of the relationship between language and
discourse. Fairclough (18-19) defines ‘language use’ as “socially
determined”, and ‘Discourse’ as “language as a form of social practice”.
According to him, language does not exist outside of society but is a
part of it. When people use language, they follow certain norms and
rules that have been socially determined, and language use affects, for
example, people’s world views and reality (Fairclough19). He adds that
‘language’ is a social process, in which both the production and
interpretation are included. He continues in explaining that language is
a social practice that is conditioned by the context, which includes
not only the immediate situation of language use but also society.
(19-20)
Fairclough (21) further explains that discourse can then be seen to
consist of three dimensions: the text itself (written or spoken), the
processes of its production and interpretation and the social conditions
relating to its production and interpretations. He also says that when
we produce and interpret language, we draw upon the knowledge which is
already in our heads, for example, about language, values and beliefs.
According to him, this knowledge is socially constructed, dependent on
our social relations and it is socially transmitted. Because of this
social nature, language is closely related to power and ideologies,
making it possible to dominate other people and shape societies
(Fairclough in Reponen 5). In line with the above assertion by
Fairclough, Obi Ezekwesili and Abike Dabiri, as a result of their
statuses have voiced their knowledge and opinion of the Nigerian society
in many issues especially as they affect the women and children.
In addition, Critical Discourse Analysis (henceforth CDA), like a
coroner’s office where a dead body, unable to speak, is dissected for
the purpose of discovering the cause of death, is the right place to
perform an autopsy on the discourse, spoken or written, in order to
unveil the underlying ideologies in it. CDA, as a method of analysis in
Discourse, tries to focus on relations between ways of talking and ways
of thinking, and highlights “the traces of cultural and ideological
meaning in spoken and written texts” (O’Halloran1,946). The ideologies
behind the speeches by Obi Ezekwesili and Abike Dabiri are, therefore,
relevant for this study.
1.1.1 Obi Ezekwesili
Dr. Obiageli ‘Oby’ Ezekwesili is a Senior Economic Advisor at Open
Society Foundations (OSF), a group founded by investor and
philanthropist, George Soros. She also jointly serves as Senior Economic
Advisor for Africa Economic Development Policy Initiative (AEDPI), a
program of the Open Society Foundations. In these roles, she advises
nine reform-committed African heads of state including Paul Kagame of
Rwanda and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia. Before joining OSF, she was
Vice President of the World Bank (Africa Region) in Washington, D.C.,
responsible for operations in 48 countries and a lending portfolio of
nearly $40 billion. From 2002 to 2007, Ezekwesili worked for the federal
government of Nigeria as Minister of Education, Minister of Solid
Minerals, head of the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit as
well as Chairperson of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency
Initiative (NEITI) where she led the first ever national implementation
of the global standards and principles of transparency in the oil, gas
and mining sectors. She was a key member of President Olusegun
Obasanjo’s Economic Team. Ezekwesili is a founding Director of
Transparency International, representing Africa at the global
anti-corruption body based in Berlin.
1.1.2 Abike Dabiri
Hon. Abike Kafayat Oluwatoyin Dabiri Erewa (Nee Erogbogbo) was Born
On 10th October 1962 at Ikorodu Lagos state, Nigeria. She is also an
alumnus of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, University of Lagos and
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA. She is a three
term member of Nigeria’s lower chamber (House of Representatives) from
Lagos state. During her period in the house, she chaired the Diaspora
committee. She is the current Senior Special Adviser on Foreign affairs
and Diaspora to President Muhammadu Buhari.
1.2 Statement of Problem
This study is a critical discourse analysis of speeches by Obi
Ezekwesili and Abike Dabiri. It is a study that dove tailed into
feminism and other social issues as observed from their various speeches
at various social functions. Since CDA is interested in the WHO of the
speaker and WHAT of the discourse (message), the study has attributed
some importance to these speeches because of the personality of the
speakers and the significance of their messages for societal
development. Thus, the Power and Ideology embedded in these speeches as a
result of the psychological disposition of the speakers are to be
unveiled.
1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study
This research, aims at unveiling the embedded ideologies in the
speeches of two prominent Nigerian women (Ezekwesili and Dabiri). This
will been achieved through the objectives below:
i. By uncovering the linguistic devices or
expressions used to cover their psychological input in these utterances.
ii. By establishing reasons why they have spoken the way they did at every point in time.
iii. By establishing the nexus between their social
status at the time of making the utterances and the significance of the
events where the speeches were delivered; since, they both served in
different capacities as stakeholders in nation building.
1.4 Research Questions
i. What are the linguistic devices or expressions
used to cover the psychological input in the speakers’ utterances?
ii. What is or are the reason (s) why they have spoken the way they did at every point in time?
iii. What is the relationship between their office at
the time of these speeches and the significance of the events that
shaped their speeches?
1.5 Scope and Limitation of the Study
The work covers solely the speeches of two out of many Nigerian women
who have contributed immensely to the social, political and economic
development of the country. The women so selected are Obi Ezekwesili and
Abike Dabiri. Ezekwesili’s speeches that were selected for the study
cover education, economy and feminism. For Dabiri, the study has
selected her speeches in relation to Nigerians in the diaspora,
political liberation for women and education.
No effort crowned with success is without challenge (s). The
unavailability of the target women (Obi Ezekwesili and Abike Dabiri) as a
result of their daily official commitment hindered the designed
interview structured for this research; therefore, the study relies
solely on their written speeches as delivered in different fora for want
of time.
1.6 Methodology
1.6.1. Research Design
The study is content analysis relying on secondary data. The data for
analysis were Obi Ezekwesili’s and Abike Dabiri’s written speeches
delivered at different events. The data for review of literature were
scholar’s opinions, positions, assertions, arguments, explanations
etcetera as reflected and contained in text books, handbooks,
unpublished projects and articles in journals.
1.6.2. Sample and Sampling Procedure
The data samples were randomly selected out of many speeches made by
the two women. The choice of selecting Obi Ezekwesili’s and Abike
Dabiri’s speeches was not because they are the most out spoken women in
Nigeria or Africa but for their experience in private and public
services respectively and their political involvement over time. Also,
their incessant comments about trending issues, in order to make their
own contributions in nation building as stakeholders necessitated this
choice. Out of the many speeches delivered at various fora by both
women, sampled speeches that relate to education, feminism, economy,
diaspora and politics became relevant for this study. The speeches were
partly collected from the internet and Women Development Centre, central
area, Abuja. For the literature review, some materials were from the
library and others from the internet.
1.7 Significance of the Study
Future researchers (especially women) will find this study
informative, resourceful and encouraging. The work will also be
resourceful for students and language teachers especially in gender
discourse and critical discourse analysis.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction
This chapter presents and review some conceptual frame works to the
subject of study. Some of the conceptual frame works in this study
include: discourse and critical discourse analysis, text, context and
discourse and feminist critical discourse analysis and so on. The
chapter also considers the theoretical framework and adopts social
cognitive and discourse historical approaches as they are more suitable
to the current study.
2.1. Discourse and Critical Discourse Analysis
Discourse, no doubt, encompasses all aspects of social relation and
practices. It is a broad term with various definitions and it
“integrates a whole palette of meanings” (Titscher, 42 in Bayram, 26),
covering a large area from linguistics, through sociology, philosophy
and other disciplines. According to Fairclough (24) ‘discourse’ refers
to “the whole process of interaction of which a text is just a part”. As
there are pervasive ways of experiencing the world, ‘discourse’ refers
to expressing oneself using words. ‘Discourses’ can be used for
asserting power and knowledge, and for resistance and critique. The
speaker expresses his/her ideological content in texts as does the
linguistic form of the text. That is, the selection or choice of a
linguistic form may not be a live process for the individual speaker,
but the discourse will be a reproduction of that previously learned
discourse. Texts are selected and organized in syntactic forms whose
"content-structure" reflects the ideological organization of a
particular area of social life (Dellinger, 19 in Bayram, 27).
Fairclough and Wodak (npn), say discourse is socially constituted and
socially shaped, linking a chain of texts, reacting to, drawing in, and
transforming other texts. The ideological effects of discursive
practices may help produce and reproduce unequal power relations through
the representation of actors and events and allow assumptions to go
unaddressed as mere common sense. Critical Discourse Analysis
(henceforth) CDA, therefore, provides a lens to make visible the opaque
aspects of discourse, the power relations and ideology underlying
language use. Fowler (62), states that, the “performative power” of
language is in its role as a “reality-creating social practice.”
Discourse works to bring into being that which it describes (Fairclough,
2), particularly in relation to groups that share a system of beliefs
about reality (Fowler, 63). According to Fairclough (8), texts are
elements of social events and are involved in the process of
“constituting the social identities of the participants in the events of
which they are a part.” Texts have “causal effects upon, and
contribute to changes in, people (beliefs, attitudes, etc.), actions,
social relations, and the material world.” These effects are mediated
by meaning-making and play a role in “inculcating and sustaining or
changing ideologies” (Fairclough 9). Here, ideologies are taken to mean
“representations of aspects of the world which can be shown to
contribute to establishing, maintaining and changing social relations of
power, domination and exploitation.” (9) Texts are good indicators of
social processes, so textual analysis can provide insights into social
change. Texts, and particularly media texts, are sites of contestation.
They may reflect social control and domination and, therefore, work to
reproduce inequity. They may reflect negotiation and resistance as well
(Fairclough, 202). Hybridity in texts highlights the potential for texts
to include discourses that are reproductive and/or productive,
discourses and counter discourses, in the same text. In addition, CDA
also requires attentiveness to the potential of discourses and practices
of resistance to ultimately contribute to reproductive effects. The
relations playing out between voices in public political discourse may
take the form of a “conversation” or “dialogue,” in which discourses
provoke responses and change over time (Fairclough, 202). In addition to
text, the elements of discourse include interactions, the processes of
production and interpretation of texts, as well as context, the social
conditions of production and interpretation (Fairclough, npn).
CDA seeks to further understand power relations and ideological
processes in discourse. It offers a “critical perspective on unequal
social arrangements sustained through language use, with the goals of
social transformation and emancipation” (Lazar 1).
It should be noted at this juncture that Critical Discourse Analysis
is synonymously used with Critical Linguistics (CL). CDA theory derives
from different theoretical backgrounds such as Rhetoric, Text
linguistics, Anthropology, Philosophy, Socio-Psychology, Cognitive
Science, Literary Studies and Sociolinguistics, as well as in Applied
Linguistics and Pragmatics (Wodak et. al.1). CDA is complex and
challenging while it requires a multidisciplinary, multi methodological
approaches by which the obscure relation between speech, social
cognition, power, society and culture is revealed, going beyond mere
observation, description and explanation (Fairclough in Van Dijk, 5).
Due to the vast heterogeneity of theoretical approaches and methodology,
the key practitioners of CDA suggest to define it as a “school” or
“paradigm” (Wodak et al. 5). Scholars have offered series of definitions
out of which are:
CDA sees discourse, language use in speech and writing as a
form of social practice. Describing discourse as social practice implies
a dialectical relationship between a particular discursive event and
the situation(s), institution(s) and social structure(s), which frame
it: … The discursive event is shaped by them, but it also shapes them.
That is, discourse is socially constitutive as well as socially
conditioned. It constitutes situations, objects of knowledge, and the
social identities of and relationships between people and groups of
people (Fairclough and Wodak, in Wodak et. al. 5).
Also, Fairclough says:
By CDA, I mean discourse analysis which aims to systematically
explore often opaque relationships of causality and determine between:
(a) discursive practices, events and texts, (b) wider social and
cultural structures, relations, and processes; to investigate how such
practices, events and texts arise out of and are ideologically shaped by
relations of power and struggles over power; and to explore how the
opacity of these relationships between discourse and society is itself a
factor securing power and hegemony. (132-133)
Therefore, CDA views discourse as a means to structure social life.
It scrutinizes visible and opaque structural relationships of dominance,
discrimination, power and control that occur in discourse, aiming at
the critical exploration of social structuring revealed in the use of
language (Wodak 10). Among the various ideologies that CDA tries to
unearth, the issue of gender (in)equality is always recurrent as society
continues to define and redefine the roles of men and women. This
aspect of CDA is Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA).
2.2 Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA) and Feminist Post Structuralist Discourse Analysis (FPDA)
According to Lazar ( 2), “feminist critical discourse analysis
(FCDA), like CDA examines the “complex and subtle ways in which
taken-for-granted social assumptions and hegemonic power relations are
discursively produced, perpetuated, negotiated and challenged.” FCDA
looks carefully at the complex workings of power and ideology in
discourse, but focuses particularly on the way these contribute to
sustaining a hierarchically gendered social order. Establishing a
feminist politics of articulation within CDA is necessary to theorize
and analyze the nature of gender in social practices.
The term “gender,” as explained by Lazar (3) functions as an
interpretive category that enables social actors to make sense of and
structure their social practices. Normatively, people are assigned one
of only two commonly accepted genders at birth, resulting in
consequences and constraints within concrete social practices. Gender
expression is neither materially experienced nor discursively enacted in
the same way for women (or men) universally. FCDA requires an
acknowledgement of differences among women (and men) and the forms of
sexism to which they are differentially subjected as complexly
constructed social actors (Lazar, 2-3). Social practices, far from being
neutral, are run through with relations of gender, class,
race/ethnicity, sexuality, age, (dis)ability, geography, and
intersections therein. McCall (1773) addressed the necessity of being
mindful of the way people are multiplying position as subjects. Her
research engages “provisionally” with “existing analytical categories”
as non-static points of understanding, in order to examine changing
inequalities among social groups through the complexity of different
contexts and social formations. However, Baxter (55) opines that in
recent years, a number of doctoral and post-doctoral students have begun
to explore and experiment with the use of a new theoretical
and methodological approach to gender and language study: that of
Feminist Post- Structuralist Discourse Analysis (FPDA). While there is a
growing international interest in the FPDA approach, it is still
relatively unknown in the wider community of discourse analysis. There
is little published work as yet which directly draws on FPDA, but much
fascinating work in the pipeline. At the moment, it is just a small fish
in the big sea of discourse analysis; its future is far from certain
and it may well be swallowed up whole by larger varieties, or choose to
swim with the tide of Critical Discourse Analysis, which to some extent
it resembles. Of all the leading approaches to discourse analysis in the
field, FPDA has most in common with CDA. Yet, FPDA and CDA have quite
different theoretical and epistemological orientations. While they share
commonalities in theory and methodology, the two approaches arguably
have contrasting outlooks on the world and seek divergent outcomes. He
later expanded on the background and defined FPDA as: an approach to
analyzing and textualizing discourses in spoken interaction and other
types of text. It draws upon the poststructuralist principles of
complexity, plurality, ambiguity, connection, recognition, diversity,
textual playfulness, functionality and transformation. The ‘feminist’
perspective on poststructuralist discourse analysis considers ‘gender
differentiation’ to be a dominant discourse among competing discourses
when analysing all types of text. It regards gender differentiation as
one of the most pervasive discourses across many cultures in terms of
its systematic power to discriminate between human beings according to
their gender and sexuality. (Baxter 56)
This definition of FPDA developed from the ideas of the formalist,
Bakhtin (1981), and the poststructuralists, Derrida (1987) and Foucault
(1980), in relation to power, knowledge and discourses. It has also been
inspired by the feminist work of Walkerdine (1998), and Weedon (1997),
among others. Baxter further illustrated that, theoretically, FPDA has
definite connections and parallels with current versions of ‘feminist
CDA’. He recognises that CDA is in no way a monolithic construct, but
rather a multidisciplinary perspective drawing upon diverse approaches.
As far as it is possible to generalise, both FPDA and feminist versions
of CDA share a key principle: ‘the discursive construction of
subjectivity’.