Lo político y lo retórico: un análisis de la retórica guevariana entre 1959 y 1967
Date
2018
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Since his death in October of 1967, the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto
Guevara de la Serna has been the focus of countless articles, essays and academic
investigations. As a result, the ability to contribute to an already extensive
understanding of Guevara’s life requires the implementation of unique and original
perspectives. Therefore, this work seeks to analyze the rhetoric employed by Guevara
between 1959 and 1967, placing a greater emphasis on discourse than on action, thus
elevating an underappreciated element of Guevara’s revolutionary strategy. In its
most elementary conception, this analysis employs the scholarship of Omar Swartz as
a theoretical foundation, underscoring the isocratic tendencies of Guevara and
demonstrating their prevalence throughout Marxist ideology. ☐ Moreover, this investigation seeks to organize Guevara’s rhetoric according to
two distinct and separate planes; it demonstrates that Guevara’s political intuition
depended upon his rhetorical dexterity, his capacity to target separate audiences in
opposing fashions. In essence, Guevara’s strategy seeks to divide his rhetoric between
populist and intellectual formulations, targeting emotion and reason respectively. In
doing so, Guevara follows the model set forward by Lloyd Bitzer, modeling rhetorical
responses according to their rhetorical situations. While Guevara’s populist rhetoric
serves to instigate the coalescence of revolutionary fervor, his intellectual
argumentation operates as a convincing force within moderate factions. ☐ Each of these formulations enjoyed varying levels of success. By comparing
the efficacy of Guevara’s rhetoric in both Cuba and Bolivia, this analysis also argues
that the political and social conditions of each country created the disparities seen in
each of Guevara’s endeavors. While Guevara enjoyed the support of both the
vanguard and the peasantry in Cuba, his rhetoric failed to reach similar factions during
the Bolivian campaign, due, in part, to the mythical image that grew from his Cuban
experience.
Description
Keywords
Language, literature and linguistics, Foco, Guevara, Logos, Praxis, Retórica