Interrogating the African Polis: Rhetorical Questions, Pathos, and the Rhetorical Situation in the Selected Speeches of P. L. O. Lumumba

Abstract

Since antiquity, speechmaking has been a vital medium through which societies articulate ideas, values, and collective concerns to both specific and general audiences. Speeches are media for passing pertinent issues and ideologies from the speaker to the audience. Aristotelian principles of rhetoric- logos (logic), ethos (ethics), and pathos (emotions) are applied by orators and acclaimed speechmakers when making and delivering speeches. This study seeks to investigate how P. L. O. Lumumba uses rhetorical questions in the speeches: Tiro: Old Soldiers Never Die (2017), Nelson Mandela: Icons Never Die (2018), The Rise and Fall of Africa on the Account of the African Politician (2017), otherwise called ‘Magulification of Africa’, The Time is Now (2019), and The Past, Present and Future of Pan-Africanism (2021). These selections are a focused yet representative corpus suitable for achieving the aims of the study. Theoretically, the study applied Aristotelian principles of Rhetoric together with Burke’s theory of identification and Bitzer’s rhetorical situation. In terms of methodology, the study adopts a qualitative, library-based approach, utilising progressive sampling guided by the objectives of the study. This article finds that P. L. O. Lumumba’s use of rhetorical questions operates as a leitmotif that strengthens the performative and persuasive force of his oratory by creating pathos, challenging the mindset of the audience and transforming them into active participants throughout the speech.