Feminine Style Rhetoric and Best Practices for Interpreters as Agents for Audience Empowerment: A Study of the Voices of Michelle Obama and Kamala Harris

Abstract

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Throughout history, women have been as underrepresented in politics as in many other leadership positions. Excluding some remarkable but rare exceptions, it is not until very recently that female politicians have started to play more prominent roles in the public arena. The present chapter aims at analysing the rhetoric personas of Kamala Harris and Michelle Obama, powerful Democrat, feminine, racialised rhetors. Our analysis focuses on whether these two speakers follow similar rhetorical patterns that can be considered representative of the feminine style rhetoric (Campbell, 1989). We then move onto considerations for interpreters who work with speakers of this nature, arguing that it is essential to bring special attention to delivering the original message in a way that empowers the audience: we therefore seek to identify best practices for interpreters to successfully replicate in their target language the power dynamics stemming from feminine style rhetoric.