One Word to Rule Them All: ‘Civic-Mindedness’ and Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen’s Nationalist Covid-19 Rhetoric
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One Word to Rule Them All : ‘Civic-Mindedness’ and Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen’s Nationalist Covid-19 Rhetoric . / Villadsen, Lisa Storm.
In: Punctum. International Journal of Semiotics, Vol. 6, No. 2, 26.02.2021, p. 229-248.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - One Word to Rule Them All
T2 - ‘Civic-Mindedness’ and Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen’s Nationalist Covid-19 Rhetoric
AU - Villadsen, Lisa Storm
PY - 2021/2/26
Y1 - 2021/2/26
N2 - The essay is a case study critically engaging the Danish Prime Minister’s rhetorical leadership during the early phase of the COVID-19 crisis. Through conceptually oriented rhetorical criticism of a series of press conference speeches given by the PM, the essay demonstrates how her rhetorical leadership in the early stages of the corona crisis relied on communitarian appeals couched in nationalistic terms whereby contributing to stopping the spread of the virus gradually became inscribed in a Social Democratic narrative about community and solidarity and which eventually was presented as part and parcel of an essential ‘Danishness.’ The argument is that the PM’s speeches successfully framed the national response to the epidemic as just that, a national or even nationalistic response. Analysis of the salient phrases ‘standing together by keeping apart’, ‘civic-mindedness,’ and ‘taking care of Denmark’ inform the characterization of the PM’s rhetorical strategy and its ideological underpinnings. The term ‘civic-mindedness,’ specifically, was used as a short-hand referent for all the government’s instructions, advice, and admonitions to change the public’s behavior, and functioned as a guideline for the people in Denmark regarding their understanding of and reactions to the corona epidemic. One word to capture many words, and one word to guide, even rule, a people.
AB - The essay is a case study critically engaging the Danish Prime Minister’s rhetorical leadership during the early phase of the COVID-19 crisis. Through conceptually oriented rhetorical criticism of a series of press conference speeches given by the PM, the essay demonstrates how her rhetorical leadership in the early stages of the corona crisis relied on communitarian appeals couched in nationalistic terms whereby contributing to stopping the spread of the virus gradually became inscribed in a Social Democratic narrative about community and solidarity and which eventually was presented as part and parcel of an essential ‘Danishness.’ The argument is that the PM’s speeches successfully framed the national response to the epidemic as just that, a national or even nationalistic response. Analysis of the salient phrases ‘standing together by keeping apart’, ‘civic-mindedness,’ and ‘taking care of Denmark’ inform the characterization of the PM’s rhetorical strategy and its ideological underpinnings. The term ‘civic-mindedness,’ specifically, was used as a short-hand referent for all the government’s instructions, advice, and admonitions to change the public’s behavior, and functioned as a guideline for the people in Denmark regarding their understanding of and reactions to the corona epidemic. One word to capture many words, and one word to guide, even rule, a people.
KW - Faculty of Humanities
KW - civic-mindedness
KW - Mette Frederiksen
KW - corona speeches
KW - rhetorical leadership
KW - banal nationalism
KW - civic-mindedness
KW - corona epidemic
KW - banal nationalism
KW - Mette Frederiksen
KW - rhetorical leadership
U2 - 10.18680/hss.2020.0030
DO - 10.18680/hss.2020.0030
M3 - Journal article
VL - 6
SP - 229
EP - 248
JO - Punctum. International Journal of Semiotics
JF - Punctum. International Journal of Semiotics
IS - 2
ER -
ID: 256632680