Abstract
Ideology has great influence on the traits and behaviors of leaders. It is the vehicle by which we could understand our leaders and our leaders could understand us. The present paper is an endeavor to reveal the ideological dimension that is embedded in the discourse of Nelson Mandela, with special reference to his address No Easy Walk to Freedom which was delivered in 1953. It is conducted on the approach of Critical Discourse Analysis. Van Dijk's (2004) Political Ideological Strategies and Wodak's (2005) Discursive Strategies of Positive Self- and Negative Other-Presentation were accommodated to achieve the objective of the study. The findings demonstrated that Van Dijk's strategies of actor description, positive self-presentation and negative other-presentation and Wodak's two chosen strategies of argumentation and perspectivation were supportive in exploring the ideologies penetrated in Mandela's discourse. They five strategies proved to be helpful devices in exploring the fundamentally embedded ideologies in Mandela's discourse which are and inferiority. White superiority was the ideological foundation of the white minority to establish the apartheid system in South Africa for decades, whereas black inferiority was the ideological foundation of the black majority to sustain different forms of resistance against the white governments. Therefore, it could be perceived that the social acts of both the blacks and the whites were formed and structured in terms of these two ideological foundations.
Highlights
The term ideology has been tackled amid considerable controversy. Kress (1985) acknowledges that it is difficult to pin down the term ideology which is considered one of the more controversial topics in the fields of philosophy and sociology
Kress (1985, p. 29) demonstrates that the term ideology has been subjected to different accounts in that it has extended from the innocuous set of beliefs and ideas to the more controversial ones such as the "false consciousness", or the "ideas of the dominant ruling class"
26 Between July last year and August this year forty-seven leading members from both Congresses in Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Kimberley were arrested, tried and convicted for launching the Defiance Campaign and given suspended sentences ranging from three months to two years on condition that they did not again participate in the defiance of the unjust laws
Summary
The term ideology has been tackled amid considerable controversy. Kress (1985) acknowledges that it is difficult to pin down the term ideology which is considered one of the more controversial topics in the fields of philosophy and sociology. The term ideology has been tackled amid considerable controversy. Kress (1985) acknowledges that it is difficult to pin down the term ideology which is considered one of the more controversial topics in the fields of philosophy and sociology. Wodak (2007) believes that ideology is regarded as one of the thorniest terms of opinions and beliefs. Van Dijk (1998) views that ideology remains fuzzy and unsettled and researchers admit to the vagueness of this notion and the confusion of its theoretical analysis. 29) demonstrates that the term ideology has been subjected to different accounts in that it has extended from the innocuous set of beliefs and ideas to the more controversial ones such as the "false consciousness", or the "ideas of the dominant ruling class". 2) tackles the modern debates on ideology by considering two main strands. The first is that "Ideologies as false theories about reality can be overcome and replaced by scientific theories and/or scientifically founded agency", whereas the second assumes the "dialectical" notion by viewing "ideology" as being an unavoidable moment in the process of thinking and acting
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