The African Association for Rhetoric (AAR) in collaboration with the School of Media and Communication, Pan-African University announces its 2012 International colloquium in Nigeria.

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The Nigerian nation is a product of series of rhetorical exchanges from the colonial times to post-colonial era, and the series of transitions that have occurred between military and civilian regimes. Nigeria plays a vital role on the continent of Africa, not simply because it is the most populous nation on the continent, but more so that the presidents and the intelligentsia have contributed significantly to the shaping of Africa as a discursive entity. Parallel to their participation on the African continent, Nigerian politicians have given public discourse different definitions and meanings at different historical periods and this may have contributed largely to the pejorative outlook that people have on rhetoric. A rather simplistic understanding of rhetoric as a compositional and transactional enterprise for turning politicians into celebrities undermines and subverts the potential constructive uses of rhetoric. Since scholarship has established rhetoric as an important instrument for maintaining management and governance systems, scholars can deliberate on how to rethink and represent rhetoric for productive uses in the Nigerian public domain.

Rhetoric therefore needs to be re-introduced as an instrument for social and political development along with its ethical dimensions rather than the pervasive a/im-moral applications that currently obtains. Perelman has suggested that rhetoric possesses ‘architectonic qualities’ and this would have to be defined for the Nigerian people through rigorous debates between academics, practitioners and civil society. Following questions and more crave answers: How has Africa fared with diverse rhetoric (s) that has been deployed by leaders since 1960’s? How can African positively use rhetoric for the development of its countries?

ऀThe debut colloquium of the African Association for Rhetoric (AAR) is part of the Association’s Africa wide initiative to encourage dialogue among and between scholars and practitioners of rhetoric and experts from other cognate disciplines like, political science, social psychology, International Relations, Economics, International development, law, and similar disciplines. The colloquium will also be used to launch that AAR’s chapter in Nigeria.

AIMS

The Association’s aims include the following:

• To initiate coordinated enquiry into different uses of rhetoric in Nigeria

• To use the colloquium as a platform to launch the Nigerian chapter of the African Association for Rhetoric (AAR)

• To utilize the occasion as a public ed8ucation forum for the application of Development Rhetoric as a means of assessing the state of development in Africa, and

• To create a forum where Nigerian rhetorical scholars can begin to debate issues around rhetoric with the hope of further dissemination through scholarly publications as part of a bigger African Rhetoric project.

The conference seeks to gather together a multidisciplinary, multisectoral array of scholars and practitioners whose interests relate to Rhetoric and Political Leadership in Nigeria. This conference should be of interest to researcher and scholars in Rhetoric, Political Science and International Relations, Law, Economics, Leadership, English Studies, Communication Studies, Sociology and Development Studies.

Theme: Rhetoric and Political Leadership

Sub-themes:

• Rhetoric, Democracy and Democratisation in Africa

• Rhetorical Leadership vs Transformational Leadership

• Election Campaign: Use and Abuse of Rhetoric

• Deliberative Processes and Parliamentary Rhetoric: The Tensions

• Speechwriting, Oratory and Public Identity

• Development Rhetoric

• Rhetoric, Dirty Hand Politics and Public Ethics

• Political Responses to Environmental Changes in the 21st Century

• Rhetoric, Financial Crisis and Africa

• Women Talk: Gendered Political Discourse

• Transformational Education and Research in Rhetoric

• Special Panel: Mass Media, Political Communication and the Nigerian Public

• Roundtable: The Prospect of Rhetoric in Nigeria

Submission deadlines

Abstracts April 27, 2012 - Length: 250 [max]

Papers: June 30, 2012 - Length: 6000 [max excluding references]

Representatives from different disciplines

• Media

• Politicians

• Government

• Civil Society / NGO

• Educational sector

• Presidency

• Funders

• Diplomatic community

• Graduate Students

Outcome

Conference and Presentation format: Keynote speakers and the academic paper presentation will be at the Pan African University auditorium. Keynote presentation normally last for an hour: 45 minutes will be allocated for paper presentation and 15 minutes for discussion. Other paper presentation will only last 30 minutes per presentation: 20 minutes for paper presentation and remaining 10 minutes for discussion. The Gala dinner will be held at Sharaton Four Points Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos

About the Co-Conveners

Dr Segun Ige completed the PhD in 2002, specialising in rhetoric at the University of Natal, Durban. Dr Ige has lectured at a number of universities including University of Natal, Durban, University of Cape Town, and University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Dr Ige is presently C.E.O of JOI Consulting Cape Town, South Africa and editor of the African Journal of Rhetoric (AAR), also Editor Balagha: African Rhetoric Quarterly [online]. Dr Ige has co-edited (with Professor Tim Quinlan) a forthcoming book entitled: African Responses in HIV/AIDS: Between Speech and Action. UKZN Press, 2012

Professor Emevwo Biakolo, is Dean, School of Media and Communication, Pan-African University. Professor Biakolo, is a renowned scholar in the area of cultural communication and has published extensively in African Philosophy and African Literature. He has lectured locally and internationally, and his international experience includes the Directorship of an International consulting firm in Botswana. Biakolo is a versatile academic whose exploits in teaching and research have taken him through core areas of Media, Communication, Research, Advertising and many more.

Call for Papers - The 3rd International Biennial Conference of the African Association for Rhetoric June 30-July 2 2011 

Current research in leadership has revealed that society does not really trust the leaders that they elect or appoint to leadership positions. Very few social and political systems across the globe today can boast of good leadership. Most crises that the world faces today, poverty, conflict, epidemics, financial meltdown, environmental degradation, energy cirises and other kinds of disasters are blamed on the leadership structures that are responsible for maintaining stability in these respective sectors. All of these systems have their attendant rhetoric or rhetorical processes through which they seek to foster cohesion and restoration of their sectors or communities. The role and importance of rhetoric in different fora are not yet crystallised, particularly how these impact on Africa, either within the cohort of African states or  in their interaction with the rest of the world.

Call for Papers
African Presidential Rhetoric

African Journal of Rhetoric 2009 

This maiden edition of African Journal of Rhetoric is a collection of papers presented at the first colloquium of the African Association of Rhetoric (AAR) and papers that were later solicited from expereinced researchers. This volume critically looks at the role that rhetoric plays during an impasse between Government and civil society.