Oluwayemisi Olusola Adebomi: Power Expressions in the Computer-Mediated Political Discourses of Select Ghanaian and Nigerian Female Politicians

MIASA Public Lecture

Lately, politicians from the Ghanaian and Nigerian political spaces have resorted to new media platforms for the propagation of their political messages. This is due to the ability of these channels to spread (political) messages to a wider audience within the shortest possible period, and engender wider political engagement. In spite of the fact that the new media provide ample opportunities for male and female politicians, studies have focused largely on the linguistic investigation of the computer mediated (new media) discourse of male politicians from these countries. The few available literature on the linguistic analysis of female political discourse have been on their misrepresentation as weak or verbose.  Using van Dijk’s Political Discourse Analytical model with the accompaniment of Susan Herrings Computer Mediated Discourse Analysis as theoretical frames of reference, the present study attempts a qualitative and quantitative linguistic analysis of the computer mediated discourse of six selected female politicians (presidential candidates), three from Ghana and three from Nigeria. Three questions will be answered: (i) How do female presidential candidates in Ghana and Nigeria express power in their computer-mediated discourse? (ii) How has the new media invigorated gender-inclusive political conversation in Ghana and Nigeria? (iii) Do linguistic competence and new media visibility contribute to the political output of the Ghanaian/Nigerian female presidential candidates?

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