Micronations and Postnational Rhetorics. Issue 4 (2nd October 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chirindo, Kundai
• Is Part Of: Women's studies in communication. Volume 41:Issue 4(2018)
• Page Start: 383
• Page End: 393
• Publication Date: 2018-10-02
• Subjects: African rhetoric -- nationalism -- nationalist rhetoric -- postcolonial studies -- Wangari Maathai; Communication -- Sex differences -- Periodicals; Women in mass media -- Periodicals; Sex differences in mass media -- Periodicals; 302.2082
• DOI: 10.1080/07491409.2018.1551686
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0749-1409

Abstract

Abstract: This essay challenges the model of nationalism long favored in rhetorical scholarship by repositioning it as just one among numerous possibilities. To illustrate an alternative perspective, I employ a new materialist approach to postcolonial nations in sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, I draw on Wangari Maathai's later work to juxtapose Westphalian nationalism to micronationalism. I argue that close attention to spatial and material dynamics in the African postcolonial context compels us to reconsider rhetoric's ties to the nation-state. I highlight some consequences of the materiality of space, nation, and rhetoric for rhetorical studies in thinking about rhetoric and (post)nationalism.