RHETORIC OF CLIMATE CHANGE: A PENTADIC ANALYSIS OF PROF. WANGARI MAATHAI’S KEYNOTE ADDRESS ON AGROFORESTRY

Proponents of the critical modernist view believe that freedom can only be found in a careful examination of the apparatus of oppression as it is constituted socially. This study attempted a pentadic analysis of Africa’s 2004 Nobel Laureate, Wangari Maathai’s keynote address at the 2nd World Congress on Agroforestry in 2009. In the speech, she challenges development partners, government officials and the private sector in a subtle way, and urges them to stand up and be counted among truly committed helpers. The paper utilizes the Pentadic style associated with Burke's Pentad on Dramatism to unearth salient
issues explored in the speech. Among findings is that Maathai seems to have relied more on images that embody the experiential level of not just Kenya, but that of Africa, and most especially of the common man. She effortlessly subsumes all other issues and concerns under Agroforestry until Agroforestry becomes a
pivot around which other salient issues of climate change revolve. The speech is able to establish Agroforestry as key towards improving the living conditions of the people through effective management of both their human and material resources. Maathai’s greatest strength is her courage at a gradual buildup of narratives aimed at challenging development stakeholders to stand up and be counted among truly committed helpers, using the parable of the hummingbird.