A Companion to African Rhetoric, edited by Segun Ige, Gilbert Motsaathebe, and Omedi Ochieng, presents the reader with different perspectives on African rhetoric mostly from Anglophone sub-Saharan Africa and the Diaspora. The African, Afro-Caribbean, and African American rhetorician contributors conceptualize African rhetoric, examine African political rhetoric, analyze African rhetoric in literature, and address the connection between rhetoric and religion in Africa. They argue for a holistic view of rhetoric on the continent.
Segun Ige is visiting assistant professor of English at Howard University. Gilbert Motsaathebe is a research professor at the North-West University. Omedi Ochiengis a teacher of rhetorical theory and criticism; the rhetoric of philosophy; political theory and practice; and aesthetic praxis at Denison University.
Contents Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction by Segun Ige Part I: Conceptualizing African Rhetoric What is African Rhetoric? The Constitutive Imagination in Olaudah Equiano's The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings Omedi Ochieng Towards an Understanding of African Rhetoric: A Decolonial Approach Yunana Ahmed African Oral Tradition: A Twenty-First Century Perspective Rewai Makamani Classical Rhetorical Ethics: Implications for African Rhetoric Segun Ige Part II: African Political Rhetoric Real and Imagined: African Union's 100-Year Construction of Africa (1963-2063) Segun Ige A Tale of Two Namibian Political Parties: A Stylistic and Rhetorical Analysis of the 2014 Election Manifestos of SWAPO and DTA Political Parties Petrina Batholmeus and Jairos Kangira Alienation in Contemporary African Presidential Rhetoric: Muhammadu Buhari and Biafra Rhetorical Performance Aliyu Yakubu Abdulkadir Part III: African Rhetoric, Languages, and Literature An Afrocentric Approach to Understanding 'Face' and the Rhetoric of Collective Identity Busayo Ige Graphological Strategizing as Solution to Problems of Linguistic Heterogeneity: Translatability and Orality in Written Poetic Discourse of English Expression Mabel Osakwe African Rhetoric as an Emergent Subfield: A Review of Literature and Reflections on Critical Issues Nancy Henaku and Ruby Pappoe African Rhetoric and Literature: A Journey through Words and Writings Aaron Smith Yoruba Chants and Chanting as Rhetorical Devices Yomi Daramola, Femi Abiodun, and Olusegun Titus Calypso Poetics: The Rhetoric of Trinidad's Lingua Franca Kela Francis A History of African American Orature, the Badman Hero, and Gangster Rap Dennis Winston From a Grubby turf to a dome: Praise Poetry as a rhetorical stratagem in political domain Stanley Madonsela Rhetoric, Orality and Embryonic Trends in Africa and Beyond: Unpacking the Oratorical Genius of Mbuli Gilbert Motsaathebe Part IV: Rhetoric and Religion in Africa Epistemological Considerations of Religious Rhetoric in Africa: Language, Spirituality, and Incantation Discourse Rufus O. Adebayo Index About the Authors
"A Companion to African Rhetoric does a wonderful job of introducing the diversity of concerns, objects, and approaches in the study of African rhetorics." -- Kundai Chirindo, Lewis & Clark College "A Companion to African Rhetorics is long overdue. Editors Ige, Motsaathebe, and Ochieng, along with 17 other scholars, have assembled the most comprehensive introduction-to date-to the breadth and depth of scholarship in African rhetorical traditions, showcasing surprisingly diverse theoretical origins, practices, languages, and literatures. In brilliant comparative fashion, each essay in this collection either disrupts, enriches, or troubles existing assumptions about what is (or is not) inherently African, rhetorical, democratic, and diasporic, attending to communicative theories and practices that have emerged from within-or more importantly, emerged across and between-colonial borders and contexts. Wenze kahle!" -- Tarez Samra Graban, Florida State University "The first of its kind among studies of rhetoric in Africa, A Companion to African Rhetoric is a rich collection of essays covering a wide variety of rhetorical topics. With exceptional depth and scope-from deft theoretical treatises to insightful rhetorical analyses, critical commentaries, and empirical studies-the book will be a game changer in rhetorical studies, in global and comparative rhetorics. And it will likely set a new paradigm for the study of African and African Diaspora rhetorics." -- Kermit Campbell, Colgate University
