Between the “Nestornauta” and “Citizens Front”: rhetorical strategies in public discourses of Cristina Kirchner (2010-2016)

Abstract

This paper examines the discursive strategies of the former President of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. We analyse two periods: the rst one, since late 2010 until the end of 2015, and the second one, during the year 2016, immediately after Kirchner Government. We attempt a comparative analysis of characteristics of the discursive construction of imaginary entities (Verón, 1987) which are present in the speech of the political leader. We present a corpus study formed by several political discourses pronounced by Fernández during the last ve years. In these public interventions, we recognize dierent practices of construction of political identities and divergent ways of political articulation. This work adopts a qualitative approach to examine and describe some social and historical context factors that are important to understand the use of cultural symbols as a political tool. The hypothesis that guides our research is that, as the political reality is dynamic and complex, political leaders choose dierent styles of construction of history. In this case, those discursive styles vary from a strong identity politic until a broad formulation that includes the alliance of dierent parts of society (political parties, social movements and union trades). The option presently chosen by the former Argentine President was the second.