Political Myth-making, Nationalist Resistance and Populist Performance: Examining Kwame Nkrumah's Construction and Promotion of the African Dream [Paperback]

Using the socio-political discourse of Kwame Nkrumah, a pioneering Pan-Africanist and Ghanas independence leader, Nartey investigates the notion of political myth-making in a context underexplored in the literature.

Using the socio-political discourse of Kwame Nkrumah, a pioneering Pan-Africanist and Ghanas independence leader, Nartey investigates the notion of political myth-making in a context underexplored in the literature. He examines Nkrumahs construction of a myth described in the book as the Unite or Perish myth (i.e., the idea of a United States of Africa being a prerequisite for the survival of Africa in the post-independence period), exploring the rhetorical resources he deployed, categorizing and analyzing key tropes and metaphors, and setting out the myths basic components.

This book focuses on three areas: an investigation of political myth-making as a social and discursive practice in order to identify particular semiotic practices and linguistic patterns deployed in the construction of mythic discourse; the unpacking of the discursive manifestation, representation, features, and functions of political mythic themes; and finally to propose and implement an integrated discourse analytical framework to account for the complexities of mythic discourse and political narratives in general. It analyzes how Nkrumah deployed his discourse to concurrently construct heroes and villains, protagonists and antagonists, as part of an ideological mechanism aimed at galvanizing support for and instigating action on the part of the masses towards his lifelong African dream.

Narteys book steps out from the conventional domain of critical disclÃV