Public Address in Africa

Name: Public Address in Africa
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Author: Dane Kiambi
ISBN: 978-1-4331-9835-9

Kiambi, Dane

Public Address in Africa

An Analysis of Great Speeches by African Personalities

by Dane Kiambi (Author)

Media and Communication

Summary

This first-of-its-kind book illuminates the powerful oratory of African leaders, activists, and intellectuals, exploring speeches that have shaped the continent's history. From Patrice Lumumba's call to end oppression in Africa to Nana Akufo-Addo’s critique of economic disparities with the West, this anthology spans pivotal moments. Each speech is analyzed and contextualized, highlighting themes of colonialism, liberation, unity, and self-reliance. It addresses a significant gap in global discourse, celebrating the rhetorical prowess driving Africa’s quest for equity. Reflecting the complexities of the African experience, from fighting colonialism to pursuing economic empowerment, this collection is a valuable resource for scholars, students, and professionals. It testifies to the enduring impact of African oratory, amplifying marginalized voices and providing insights into the continent’s way of life. This groundbreaking book inspires future generations to work towards a thriving Africa.

Excerpt

Cover
Halftitle Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Preface
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Celebrating African Oratory: The Power of Voices and Rhetoric
Chapter 2: Glory to Freedom Fighters and Long Live Africa: Patrice Lumumba’s Speech Celebrating Congo’s Independence in 1960
Chapter 3: Unity as a Weapon for Colonialism and Imperialism: Kwame Nkrumah’s 1963 Clarion Call for Africa to Unite
Chapter 4: I am Prepared to Die: Nelson Mandela’s Rivonia Speech in 1964
Chapter 5: Communism Is a Sun of Hope: Samora Machel’s Speech Marking Karl Marx’s 100th Anniversary in 1983
Chapter 6: We, the Oppressed, Shall Triumph: Thomas Sankara’s Speech to the General Assembly of the UN in 1984
Chapter 7: We Africans are on Our Own, So Let’s Work Together: Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s Speech to the South African Parliament in 1997
Chapter 8: We Are a Free People, Not Beggars: Robert Mugabe’s Address at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002
Chapter 9: A Brighter Day for Kenya: Mwai Kibaki’s Speech on His Inauguration as Kenya’s 3rd President in 2002
Chapter 10: Let Our Children Inherit a World of Beauty and Wonder: Wangari Maathai’s Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, 2004.
Chapter 11: It Was Tough, But We Did It: Africa’s First Woman President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Speech at Harvard Commencement in 2011
Chapter 12: Young Economies Should Play A Part in Global Value Chains: Mukhisa Kituyi’s Address to Chinese Trade Forum in 2013
Chapter 13: Beauty Has No Shade: Lupita Nyong’o’s Speech at the ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards, 2014
Chapter 14: A Better World is in Our Hands: Graça Machel’s Speech at the United Nations Mandela Peace Summit in 2018
Chapter 15: We are Wounded, But not Vanquished: Paul Kagame’s 2019 Speech Remembering 25 Years After the Rwanda Genocide
Chapter 16: Africa Can Eradicate Poverty and Surprise the World: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s Speech at Harvard Kennedy School, 2019
Chapter 17: A Quarter is not Enough, Only Half is Enough: Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka’s Address to the Commission on the Status of Women in 2020
Chapter 18: Africa’s Future Burns Bright on the Horizon: Cyril Ramaphosa’s Address on Africa Day in 2020
Chapter 19: Africa, Arise! Akinwumi Adesina’s Speech at the Africa Person of the Year Award Ceremony in 2020
Chapter 20: Long Live Africa! Moussa Faki’s Speech on the African Union’s 60th Anniversary
Chapter 21: Rebuilding Trust and Reigniting Global Solidarity: A Call for Structural Reforms and Historical Injustices in Nana Akufo-Addo’s UN Assembly Address in 2023
Index

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Kiambi, Dane, 1975- author.

Title: Public address in Africa : an analysis of great speeches by African personalities / Dane Kiambi.

Description: New York : Peter Lang, 2025. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Subjects: LCSH: Speeches, addresses, etc., African—History and criticism—20th century. | Speeches, addresses, etc., African—History and criticism—21st century. | Oratory—Africa—20th century. | Oratory—Africa—21st century.

Classification: LCC PN4055.A35 K53 2025 (print) | LCC PN4055.A35 (ebook) | DDC 809.509/9609045—dc23/eng/20250509

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2025006723

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2025006724

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.

The German National Library lists this publication in the German

National Bibliography; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

Cover Credit: Mykyta Dolmatov

Cover Images

(c) iStock

(c) Shutterstock

ISBN 9781433198328 (paperback)

ISBN 9781433198335 (hardback)

ISBN 9781433198342 (ebook)

ISBN 9781433198359 (epub)

DOI 10.3726/b22882

Published by Peter Lang Publishing Inc., New York, USA

info@peterlang.com - www.peterlang.com

All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.

Any utilization outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.

This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming, and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems.

This publication has been peer reviewed.

To my late parents, John Kiambi and Joyce Karimi Kiambi—though you are no longer with us, your presence remains ever felt. Your wisdom, love, and unwavering values continue to guide and inspire. This work stands as a testament to the legacy you instilled, and in your memory, it carries fragments of our shared journey.

To my cherished daughters, Alexis and Ariana—you are the brightest lights in my life, the embodiment of joy, love, and boundless potential. Your curiosity and resilience inspire me every day. This book is dedicated to you, a reflection of the dreams and possibilities you represent. May it serve as a reminder of the strength and brilliance you hold within you.

With deepest love, always.

Preface

I can imagine that Public Address in Africa would be of considerable value, perhaps as a supplementary text, in a course focused on African history or politics. I have taught a course in American presidential rhetoric, and, as the students and I progressed through speeches, both pedestrian and powerful, I often felt as if I were teaching history or politics, not just public address. And that is because speeches are not just speeches but important historical documents.

Public Address in Africa, however, is far more than a supplementary textbook. Rather, it is a major contribution to public address studies and, in fact, an important challenge to those who engage in such studies.

Public address scholarship has long been focused on white men, mostly American with a few European exemplars tossed in. Over the past several decades, the canon had been challenged and expanded, so, now, that scholarship admits women as well as men and women of color. But that scholarship is still not as global as it should be.

Wearing another hat and working in an English department, I tried to bring attention to the wealth of English language literature in places like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica and other Caribbean Island nations, and all over Africa. Gradually, colleagues wedded to studying Chaucer, Shakespeare, Melville, and Faulkner came to know authors such as Margaret Atwood, Patrick White, Derek Walcott, and Chinua Achebe—all now with international fame. I would not try to argue that English departments have “gone global,” but they are not as narrowly focused as they once were. In fact, some have realized that paying attention to English language literature written throughout the world added to their reach and their status, especially as American schools began to embrace “global awareness” as a goal.

This text, then, invites—challenges—those in communication to “go global.” There is more to British public address than Winston Churchill, and there is interesting political oratory just to the North in Canada and throughout the Commonwealth of Nations. One might lump it all together in a single, big anthology, but, given how the public address is tied to specific history and politics, it is better to focus on segments of this global oratory. This book does that, considering much of the public address that has played a significant role in different African nations. The invitation—and the challenge—is to embrace this rich body of work in public address scholarship and teaching.

And, to survey African public address, one must go a bit beyond English language oratory. When I taught Canadian literature, I always assigned a novel by Gabrielle Roy. I had many reasons but one was to signal to students that “Can Lit” was not just in English. And, so, with African public address, there are French and Portuguese texts, translated in such a manner to maintain as much of the quality of the original as possible. To be true to Africa, one cannot stick to just one language tradition.

Let me be clear: Africa is vast, and the nations that now comprise it are different—different histories, different cultures, different languages (although many function governmentally using English). There are, however, commonalities, especially South of the Sahara. Tribal movement over centuries across the continent connects places far apart, and almost all of these places endured colony status. How the places were colonized varied: European people occupied some areas but only extracted wealth from others. But, throughout the continent, one finds the imprint of the colonizer on border lines, on educational systems, and on how politics and government are conducted. Thus, there are parliaments with their discourse and presidents with theirs.

Africa often surprises the American student. Some naïve students think that Africa is a single country; many think Africa is much smaller than it is. And, unfortunately, many think Africa is primitive—with jungles, villages, unusual customs, and certainly no parliaments and presidents. I traveled with a group of students to Kenya. Downtown Nairobi surprised them, as did the shopping malls, resort hotels, and a luxurious train connecting Nairobi to Mombasa. Yes, there were traditional marketplaces, and, hosted by the Mau Mau, we did go on safari and saw, close-up, elephants, giraffes, and lions. Kenya offered variety—tied to its complex history, but it did look, in places, not that different than the “modern” places the students came from. Ghana does not look like Kenya; neither Ghana nor Kenya look like South Africa. There are differences from nation to nation, but throughout these places, much contradicts the stereotype. That “much” involves not only physical structures but governmental ones, the ones that produce important discourse.

This book gives the instructor and student access to a body of African political discourse that both focuses on a given nation’s story and raises some of the pan-African issues that unite sub-Sahara Africa. Thus, instructor and student can “go global” when it comes to the study of public address. Daniel Webster back in the Nineteenth and John F. Kennedy in the Twentieth Century may well be inspiring, but public address is a global phenomenon, especially in countries with something of a Democratic tradition. The public address curriculum ought to acknowledge as much and take the student well beyond the United States and—to a small extent—Western Europe. Public Address in Africa facilitates that shift—allowing the opportunity to be seized and the challenge to be accepted. The text also assists the student by both highlighting what makes the anthologized speeches African and providing a straightforward guide to understanding their rhetorical effectiveness.

Theodore F. Sheckels

Charles J. Potts Professor of Social Science Emeritus

Professor of English and Communication Studies Emeritus

Randolph-Macon College

Ashland, Virginia

CHAPTER 1 Celebrating African Oratory The Power of Voices and Rhetoric

Speeches are important because they help the speaker engage, educate, or entertain the audience (Zelko, 1956). The current knowledge, practice, and purpose of public speaking draw upon the Western tradition of ancient Greece and Rome (Highet, 2015).

Although not much has been published on the practice of public speaking in Africa, many speeches have been delivered to articulate the hopes, struggles, and aspirations of the African people. The speeches, often made by individuals in positions of authority and power, have not only inspired generations of Africans but have also echoed across borders, offering insights into the broader African experience.

Details

Pages: XII, 284
Publication Year: 2025
ISBN (PDF): 9781433198342
ISBN (ePUB): 9781433198359
ISBN (Softcover): 9781433198328
ISBN (Hardcover): 9781433198335
DOI: 10.3726/b22882
Language: English
Publication date: 2025 (July)
Keywords: African oratory liberation unity resilience self-reliance economic equity public speeches African leaders socio-political landscape empowerment activism rhetoric public speaking inspirational speeches Africa's history
Published: New York, Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, Oxford, 2025. XII, 284 pp.
Product Safety: Peter Lang Group AG

Biographical notes

Dane Kiambi (Author)

Dane Kiambi, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His research interests include international PR, public affairs, & public diplomacy. He has published in journals like PR Review, Journal of Communication Management, Mass Communication & Society, Place Branding & Public Diplomacy, Journalism, and book chapters.

Public Address in Africa

Summary

Excerpt

Table Of Contents

Preface

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1 Celebrating African Oratory The Power of Voices and Rhetoric

Details

Biographical notes

Key Subject Areas