A Pentadic Interrogation of Yahya Jammeh's Economic Rhetoric of Antiretroviral Drugs: Rhetorical Motives and Implications

Abstract

ABSTRACTAfter claiming to have a cure for HIV/AIDS, the president of the Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, accused the West of engineering antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) for the exploitation of Africans. Using Kenneth Burke's dramatistic pentad, this article interrogates Jammeh's rhetorical motivations, the sociocultural context that aids Jammeh's rhetoric, and speculates on the impact of Jammeh's rhetoric. In a drama dominated by purpose, the pentad reveals scapegoating, invocation of colonial and neocolonial fears, and appeal to the cultural meanings of health and healing as the binding elements of Jammeh's rhetoric. With these rhetorical strategies, Jammeh, temporarily, engenders identification with Gambians living with HIV/AIDS, nudges them toward his herbal concoctions, evades ARVs provisions for them, but fails to capture the confidence of his country over the long term.