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The Science of Public Speaking from a Western Philosophical Perspective: A Focus on Female Speakers

Received: 21 September 2019     Accepted: 14 October 2019     Published: 24 October 2019
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Abstract

The paper relies on certain key modern Western theorists to deal with public speaking as a science and as an art while putting a special focus on female speakers. It studies the techniques of public speech and reveals the sources of power that allow an oratress to manipulate and persuade her receivers. It also states the limitations of woman’s public confrontation with a mixed audience. The point is that the gender of the female speaker may weaken the impact of her performance on her targeted addressees because of the hostile societal view towards women as leaders, the view of the female body as a source of delight by a male audience and as a generator of money by a capitalist sponsor. However, women performers can even deliver more influential verbal orations than males if they use their own female qualities and adhere to a set of tools such as rhetoric, body language, feminine manners, histrionic character, etc. A powerful public address can help woman resist commodification in a capitalist culture and objectification in a patriarchal society.

Published in Arabic Language, Literature & Culture (Volume 4, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.allc.20190403.13
Page(s) 60-67
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Female, Public, Speaker, Power, Performance, Politician

References
[1] Aston, E and G. Savona (1991). The Theatre as Sign-System: A Semiotics of Text and Performance. London: Routledge.
[2] Benveniste, E. (1971). “Analytical philosophy and language.” Problems in General Linguistics, trans. M. Elizabeth Meek. Miami: U of Miami P, pp. 231-38.
[3] Bowlby, R. (1985). Just Looking: Consumer Culture in Dreiser, Gissing, and Zola. London: Methuen.
[4] Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex.” New York: Routledge.
[5] Calhouned, C. (1999). Ed. Habermas and the Public Sphere. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
[6] Erickson, Y. (2003). “Defining political performance with Foucault and Habermas: strategic and communicative action.” Theatricality. T. Davis and T. Postlewait (Eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[7] Foucault, M. (11 March 1976). “Society must be defended.” Lectures at the Collège de France: 1975-76, trans. D. Macey. M. Bertain and A. Fontana, Eds. Penguin Books, pp. 239-264.
[8] Foucault, M. (1979). Discipline and Punishment: The Birth of the Prison, trans. A. Sheridan. New York: Random House.
[9] France, P. (1965). Racine’s Rhetoric. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
[10] French, J. R. P. and B. Raven. (1959). “Bases of social power.” Studies in Social Power. D. Cartwright (Ed.). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, pp. 150-167.
[11] Habermas, J. (1991). The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, trans. T. Burger with F. Lawrence. Cambridge: MIT Press.
[12] Ingram, D. (2005). “Foucault and Habermas.” The Cambridge Companion to Foucault, G. Gutting (Ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 215-261.
[13] Kennedy, G. A. (1980). Classical Rhetoric and its Christian and Secular Tradition from Ancient to Modern Times. London: Croom Helm.
[14] Leith, D. and Myerson. G. (1989). The Power of Address: Explorations in Rhetoric. London: Routledge.
[15] Lukes, S. (2004). Power: A Radical View, 2nd ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
[16] Lukes, S. and L. Haglund (April 2005). “Power and luck.” European Journal of Sociology, 46 (1): 45-66.
[17] Merriam Webster Online. Merriam Webster.
[18] Nikitina, A. (2011). Successful Public Speaking. Arina Nikitina & bookboon. com. Academic Transfer.
[19] Ryan, M. P. (1999). “Gender and public access: women’s politics in nineteenth-century America.” Habermas and the Public Sphere. C. Calhoun (Ed.). Cambridge: The MIT Press.
[20] Toffler, A. (1991). Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth, and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century. New York: Bantam Books.
[21] Tookey, H. (2003). Anais Nin; Fictionality and femininity: Playing a Thousand Roles. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
[22] Vosquil, L. M. (2004). Acting Naturally: Victorian Theatricality and Authenticity. Virginia: University of Virginia Press.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Nodhar Hammami Ben Fradj. (2019). The Science of Public Speaking from a Western Philosophical Perspective: A Focus on Female Speakers. Arabic Language, Literature & Culture, 4(3), 60-67. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.allc.20190403.13

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    ACS Style

    Nodhar Hammami Ben Fradj. The Science of Public Speaking from a Western Philosophical Perspective: A Focus on Female Speakers. Arab. Lang. Lit. Cult. 2019, 4(3), 60-67. doi: 10.11648/j.allc.20190403.13

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    AMA Style

    Nodhar Hammami Ben Fradj. The Science of Public Speaking from a Western Philosophical Perspective: A Focus on Female Speakers. Arab Lang Lit Cult. 2019;4(3):60-67. doi: 10.11648/j.allc.20190403.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.allc.20190403.13,
      author = {Nodhar Hammami Ben Fradj},
      title = {The Science of Public Speaking from a Western Philosophical Perspective: A Focus on Female Speakers},
      journal = {Arabic Language, Literature & Culture},
      volume = {4},
      number = {3},
      pages = {60-67},
      doi = {10.11648/j.allc.20190403.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.allc.20190403.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.allc.20190403.13},
      abstract = {The paper relies on certain key modern Western theorists to deal with public speaking as a science and as an art while putting a special focus on female speakers. It studies the techniques of public speech and reveals the sources of power that allow an oratress to manipulate and persuade her receivers. It also states the limitations of woman’s public confrontation with a mixed audience. The point is that the gender of the female speaker may weaken the impact of her performance on her targeted addressees because of the hostile societal view towards women as leaders, the view of the female body as a source of delight by a male audience and as a generator of money by a capitalist sponsor. However, women performers can even deliver more influential verbal orations than males if they use their own female qualities and adhere to a set of tools such as rhetoric, body language, feminine manners, histrionic character, etc. A powerful public address can help woman resist commodification in a capitalist culture and objectification in a patriarchal society.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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    AB  - The paper relies on certain key modern Western theorists to deal with public speaking as a science and as an art while putting a special focus on female speakers. It studies the techniques of public speech and reveals the sources of power that allow an oratress to manipulate and persuade her receivers. It also states the limitations of woman’s public confrontation with a mixed audience. The point is that the gender of the female speaker may weaken the impact of her performance on her targeted addressees because of the hostile societal view towards women as leaders, the view of the female body as a source of delight by a male audience and as a generator of money by a capitalist sponsor. However, women performers can even deliver more influential verbal orations than males if they use their own female qualities and adhere to a set of tools such as rhetoric, body language, feminine manners, histrionic character, etc. A powerful public address can help woman resist commodification in a capitalist culture and objectification in a patriarchal society.
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Author Information
  • Faculty of Arts and Humanities of Kairouan, University of Kairouan, Kairouan, Tunisia

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