Rhetoric Society Quarterly May 2015

Legitimizing Leadership: Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s 2007 Inaugural Address

María Alejandra Vitale Schlumberger (Ireland)

Abstract

In this essay, I examine how Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner used her 2007 inaugural address to legitimize her political leadership. Placing the address within Argentina’s political climate and working in light of the fact that Fernández de Kirchner’s spouse was the out-going president, I use theories of political ethos to examine the challenges Fernández de Kirchner faced in inaugurating her presidency. I suggest that she constructed a hybrid ethos, combining multiple presidential images to reconcile competing concerns. I treat in depth three elements of that hybrid ethos: the ethos of a presidential couple that positioned Fernández de Kirchner alongside her popular husband; the ethos of a woman president building on a tradition of other influential Argentine women; and the ethos of a teacher-expert whose knowledge authorized national leadership. Enacting these varied ethoi, I argue, Fernández de Kirchner turned political challenges to her advantage and crafted the presidency she would assume.

Journal
Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Published
2015-05-27
DOI
10.1080/02773945.2015.1032856
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
teacher development argument
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

References (32)

  1. Carlés Aboy (2014)
    Nueva Sociedad
  2. Arnoux Elvira et al. (2012)
    UNASUR y sus discursos. Integración regional. Amenaza externa. Malvinas
  3. Austin John L. (2003)
    Cómo hacer cosas con palabras. Trans. Genaro R. Carrió and Eduardo A. Rabossi
  4. Basset Yann. (2003)
    ALCEU
  5. Borón Atilio. (2005)
    Periferias
Show all 32 →
  1. Campbell Karlyn Kohrs (2008)
    Presidents Creating the Presidency. Deeds Done in Words
  2. Charaudeau Patrick. (2005)
    Le discours politique: les masques du pouvoir
  3. Cheresky Isidoro. (2002)
    Revista Nueva Sociedad
  4. Cheresky Isidoro. (2006)
    La política después de los partidos
  5. Cheresky Isidoro (2003)
    De la ilusión reformista al descontento ciudadano
  6. Dagatti Mariano. (2013)
    Discurso, política y acumulación en el kirchnerismo
  7. Dagatti Mariano. (2011)
    Rétor
  8. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2015)
    “Discurso de la Presidenta de la Nación, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, en el Acto de As…
  9. Gallo Adriana. (2008)
    Espacios públicos
  10. Guivant Julia Silvia. (1986)
    La visible Eva Perón y el invisible rol político femenino en el peronismo: 1946–1952
  11. Maingueneau Dominique (2002)
    Pratiques
  12. Maingueneau Dominique (2014)
    10.3917/ls.149.0031
    Langage & Societé  ↗
  13. Martínez Fabiana. (2013)
    Discurso, política y acumulación en el kirchnerismo
  14. Montero Ana Soledad. (2012)
    ¡Y al final un día volvimos! Los usos de la memoria en el discurso kirchnerista (2003–2007)
  15. Navarro Marysa (1977)
    10.1086/493454
    Signs  ↗
  16. Navarro Marysa (1982)
    Latin American Populism in Comparative Perspective
  17. Novaro Marcos (1998)
    Los caminos de la centroizquierda: dilemas y desafíos del Frepaso y de la Alianza
  18. Perelman Chaïm (1989)
    Tratado de la argumentación. La Nueva Retórica. Trans. Julia Sevilla Muñoz
  19. Duarte de Perón, Eva (2015)
    Latin America Since Independence: A History with Primary Sources
  20. Searle John. (1986)
    Actos de habla
  21. Sigal Silvia (2004)
    Perón o muerte. Los fundamentos discursivos del fenómeno peronista. Buenos Aires: Legasa
  22. Torre Juan Carlos (2005)
    Argentina en perspectiva. Reflexiones sobre nuestro país en democracia
  23. Ugarte Manuel. (1924)
    La Patria Grande
  24. Verón Eliseo. (1987)
    El discurso político. Lenguajes y acontecimientos
  25. Vitale María Alejandra. (2009)
    Forma y Función
  26. Vitale María Alejandra (2011)
    Linguagem em (Dis)curso
  27. Zamudio Bertha (2000)
    La explicación. Buenos Aires: EUDEBA
CrossRef global citation count: 1 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Argumentation Mar 2026
    Between Rationality and Self-protection: Student-Constructed Arguments on Fast Food Consumption and Antibiotic Overuse as Public Health Issues in Biology Education ↗
    Eliza Rybska; Michał Klichowski; Costas P. Constantinou; Barbara Jankowiak
    writing pedagogy teacher development argument qualitative research
  2. Prompt: A Journal of Academic Writing Assignments Jan 2026
    A Murder Most Technical: Gamification, AI, and Rhetorical Genre Studies in the Technical Writing Classroom ↗
    Justin Cook
    genre theory writing pedagogy service learning teacher development argument collaborative writing technical communication professional writing
  3. Res Rhetorica Jan 2026
    With the kindergarten teacher in explorative processes ↗
    Ove Bergersen; Heidi Olsen-Hagen
    rhetorical criticism feminist rhetorics writing pedagogy teacher development argument
  4. Assessing Writing Jan 2026
    How reliable and valid is peer evaluation in adolescents’ L2 argumentative writing? ↗
    Albert W. Li; Steve Graham
    writing pedagogy teacher development argument assessment multilingual writers grammar and mechanics literacy studies
  5. Argumentation Sep 2025
    Teachers’ Perceptions of Argumentation in Citizenship Education: Psychometric Validation of the AASES Instrument and Mediation Analysis of Sociodemographic Variables Using SEM ↗
    Delfín Ortega-Sánchez; Carlos Pérez-González
    teacher development argument assessment gender and writing