Abstract

Against the backdrop of the tension between rational and rhetorical discourse, the thrust of this paper is to ascertain the side of the tension that social discourse in Nigeria is heading. To accomplish this goal, purposively selected textual exemplars were presented on two titled tables. The selected textual exemplars were interpreted within such categories as ideological discourse and categorical claim to knowledge. The interpretation reveals that public discourse in Nigeria is drifting towards a discourse anomaly known as rhetoric of presentation.  Realizing that further anomaly could be found in Nigerian discourse when other interpretive categories are used to study other discourse genre in Nigeria, the paper recommends further studies in order to keep track of the insidious but destructive march of rhetoric of presentation in Nigerian social discourse.

Key Words:  Rhetoric of Presentation, Ideological Discourse, Unmodalized Claim to Knowledge, Truth 

^JCMRJournal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, October  2010, 49 - .58

About the author

Fred A. Amadi Ph.D, is a lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, Rivers State University of Science & Technology, Nkpolu, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

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Article Citation

Amadi, F. A. (2010): Rhetoric of presentation in Nigerian social discourse. Journal of Communication and Media Research 2(2): 49 – 58.