During my undergraduate experience at the U of C, I developed an interest in rhetoric – so much so that I did an honours project on scholarly ethos. I also took a class focusing on the rhetoric of popular culture. Below is a rhetorical analysis I wrote in that class on one of my favourite annual events, Canada Reads, that offers a fine example of how the elements of Aristotelian rhetoric remain relevant today.

In the opening round of the 2014 Canada Reads debate panelist Wab Kinew convincingly employs a psychologically-laden emotional appeal to defend Joseph Boyden’s 2013 novel, The Orenda. In using vivid language delivered as spoken-word poetry, Kinew draws on the underlying tension surrounding the ongoing reconciliation of Indigenous issues in Canada to evoke support for a novel that addresses an historical injustice from an aboriginal perspective.

Canada Reads is an annual book debate broadcasted on CBC radio and television. Staged as a reality-television elimination-based competition, five notable personalities each champion a Canadian novel as the one novel that all of Canada should read. The distinctly Canadian competition takes place over four days and is recorded for broadcast with a live studio audience. The panelists sit in the round as each is given one minute to make a statement in defence of their chosen book, a central element to the debate that follows. Each day the debate results in the elimination of a book until one remains as the successful Canada Reads title.

The April 2014 debate’s theme was to select “A Novel to Change Our Nation” (CBC Reads, 2014). Joseph Boyden’s The Orenda was included for its content dealing with Canada’s ongoing, and complicated, relationship with Indigenous Peoples. This book was defended by Wab Kinew who is known for his broadcasting, academic, and hip-hop performance experience (Wab Kinew, 2014). In addition to being the director of Indigenous Inclusion at the University of Winnipeg, Kinew “a member of the Midewin, is deeply invested in improving the lives of the indigenous people of Canada” (Wab Kinew, 2014). As an aboriginal academic, journalist, and activist, when Wab Kinew defends Boyden’s The Orenda his ethos connects him to his pathetic argument in a meaningful, relevant manner. The very origin of his emotional appeal for this book is grounded in who he is, not just what he says.

In a rousing one-minute spoken word argument, Kinew’s pathos successfully invokes an affective sense of tension, anticipation, and confrontation. In using the other book’s titles as a part of his argument, Kinew’s language is an adapted example of enargeia – “making things move as if they were alive” (Longaker and Walker, 215) – that heightens the energy of his argument. This is exemplified when he states “CBC asked me, ‘Wab, what should Canada read?’ I said check out, ‘Read Louis Riel’s Half Blood Blues and get up to speed, go spend a year in a rez house unfit for Cockroach habitation, then spend the Year of the Flood on the Lake St. Martin First Nation” (0:31). When Kinew raises each book and slams them down to accentuate his point he is able to get “the audience affectively invested in a key part of the argument” (Longaker and Walker, 216). The combination of Kinew’s physical presence – from his direct eye contact with the camera to his Tribe Called Red (a Canadian aboriginal rap group) t-shirt – and his careful manipulation of the titles of the competing books is akin to what Longaker and Walker call an “associative network established by the rhetor” (p. 219). In employing this pathemata, Kinew ties the works of the titles to a feeling (Longaker and Walker, 219) that is resonant with the CBC audience, making good use of kairos and taking advantage of the rhetorical situation.

As he concludes, Kinew continues to embed feeling in each word he utters. When he states “This is not the myth of missionary, this is confession for colonization. It gives voice to the Indigenous so we can have a new conversation. Without that, no truth – no reconciliation. And that’s why The Orenda is the book to change our nation.” (0:48), his emphasis on “truth” and “reconciliation” is ripe with connotative political meaning and emotion in Canada. This is yet another example of how Kinew’s consistent use of alliteration, rhyme and repetition successfully unites his argument with emotion to induce an affecting response from the audience.

This initial argument foreshadows the eventual outcome of Canada Reads 2014: Wab Kinew’s affective argument persuades his fellow panelists to select Joseph Boyden’s The Orenda as the one novel all Canadians should read. Throughout the one-minute spoken-word defence of The Orenda, Wab Kinew’s vivid language, combined with his charismatic style and delivery, results in a creative spoken-word performance that successfully unites the ethos of its rhetor with the pathos of the argument.

References

CBC Reads with Jian Ghomeshi. (2014). Retrieved March 10, 2014 from http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/

Longaker, M. G. & Walker, J. (2011). Rhetorical Analysis: A brief guide for writers. Glenview, IL: Pearson.

Kinew, K. (2014, March 3). Spoken Word defence of The Orenda on Canada Reads [Video file] Retrieved from http://wabkinew.ca/the-orenda-spoken-word/

Wab Kinew. (2014). Retrieved March 10, 2014 from http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/wab-kinew.html