Political Passion. A contribution to the study of pathos in political speech: The case of Kirchner Argentina, 2003-2010

DAGATTI, MARIANO

Copenhague

Congreso; Rhetoric in Society 4: "Contemporary rhetorical citizenship: purposes, practices, and perspectives?; 2013

International Society for the History of Rhetoric

This paper aims to demonstrate the relevance of the ?passional dimension? in shaping new political subjectivities in contemporary societies. The construction of subjectivity in political discourse triggers identification processes that inform the social body and move around objectives, instructions and practices. Hence, the attractiveness of the analysis of political pathos and of the inquiry of its ties with social processes under way. We propose to outline a conceptual frame of pathos in Rhetoric. The corollary is a methodological approach to the putting into discourse of the political subject from a discoursive-rhetoric perspective (Amossy, 2008; Charaudeau, 2009; Plantin, 2011). Our case study is the public oratory of former Argentine President Néstor Kirchner, which allows us to glimpse the relationship between emotions, social imaginary and politics. Preliminary results hint at the importance of passion in the consolidation of the dynamics of political loyalty, and their influence on the design of long-term symbolic confrontations and affiliations (nation v. imperialism, federalism v. centralism, oligarchy v. populism) which dominate the ideological framework of society in Argentina.