Event: Conference on Political Rhetoric in Malta
Date: Saturday 22 April 2023
Time: 08:30 - 13:30
Venue: University of Malta, Valletta Campus
A public conference in Maltese on political rhetoric is being held on Saturday 22 April 2023, from 08:30 to 13:00, in the Aula Prima of the Valletta Campus of the University of Malta in St Paul’s Street, Valletta. This event is open to academics, students and the general public and entrance is free, but online registration is required as places are limited.
The theme of the conference, organised jointly by the Department of Public Policy (FEMA) and the Department of Maltese (Faculty of Arts) is “Il-Qawwa tal-Kelma: Ir-Retorika Politika” (The Power of the Word: Political Rhetoric). Eight academics from various fields will focus on the rhetorical strategies employed by public speakers, many of whom are leading figures in Malta’s recent history, and the historical contexts in which they gave their speeches.
Two of the speakers at the conference will be talking about the rhetoric of Dom Mintoff. André DeBattista will discuss how the Church and the religious narrative feature in the writings and speeches of Mintoff, while Christabelle Borg will deal more specifically with his oratorical skills in his speeches at mass meetings in the beginning of the 1960s.
Lara Stagno will be talking about how Eddie Fenech Adami transformed his ethical charisma into effective rhetoric in the speeches he gave in 1981 and 1982, while Omar Seguna will analyse the development of educational thought in the writings of former ministers Ugo Mifsud Bonnici and Evarist Bartolo.” Adrian Grima’s talk will focus on Andrea Dibben’s use of ethos as a means of persuasion at a protest by leftist activists in 2019 calling for clean politics and a just society.
The other three academics will adopt a wider perspective: Anne Marie Thake will deal with political rhetoric in Malta as seen through election slogans; Clyde Puli will look at the moral rhetoric in the debate about the introduction of abortion in Malta; and Christa Boffa will talk about means of persuasion in contemporary Maltese political discourse.
The conference will be opened by Mario Thomas Vassallo, head of the Department of Public Policy, and Carmen Sammut, Pro Rector for Student & Staff Affairs and Outreach, who will talk about the beauty of Interdisciplinarity in the University of Malta’s strategy plan. Two open floor discussions will be moderated by academics Justine Somerville and George Vital Zammit. Closing remarks will be made by Michael Spagnol, head of the Department of Maltese, and the Dean of FEMA, Emmanuel Said.
This is the second year running that these two departments from different faculties of the University of Malta are co-organising a public conference. In April 2022, Parliament hosted the first in this series of conferences called “Lingua Politik” on politics and literature in the writing of Oliver Friggieri. A book with the proceedings of that first conference, edited by Mario Thomas Vassallo and Michael Spagnol, and published by the Office of Speaker in collaboration with the two University departments, will be launched on April 20, 2023, two days before the second conference.
Details of the conference and a link to the registration form are also available on malti.mt and on the conference event Facebook page with the title, “Konferenza | Il-Qawwa tal-Kelma: Ir-Retorika Politika.”