Windhoek — Two eminent southern African scholars of rhetoric have compiled the first-ever book on gender rhetoric in their region.

Jairos Kangira, an Associate Professor of English at the University of Namibia, and Philippe-Joseph Salazar, a Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, are the co-editors of 'Gender Rhetoric: North-South', a compilation of scholarly articles on gender rhetoric. The book was published by Poly Press of Namibia last month.

The book is the first of a series planned for publication annually under the theme: African Year Book of Rhetoric. The publication was made possible by the National Research Foundation of South Africa. The mai-den copy carries papers by eminent scholars from South Africa, France, Zimbabwe, the United States, Namibia, Germany, Asia and Germany. The writers include Sergio Allogio (Cape Town), Barabara Cassin (CNRS, Paris), Nocole Dewandre (European Commission, Brussels), Zifikile Gambahaya (Zimbabwe), Cheryl Glenn (Penn State), Ruvimbo Goredema (Cape Town), Gerard A. Hauser (Colorado), Jairos Kangira (Namibia), Jens Elmelund Kjeldsen (Bergen) Berit von der Lippe (Oslo) Pedzayi Mashiri (Zimbabwe) Themba Ratsibe (Cape Town) and Philippe-Joseph Salazar (Cape Town).

Five of the contributors are women. This is remarkable, given that as communications expert, Dr Karen Foss, puts it, for many years "rhetorical action and standards of eloquence were highly gendered in that rhetoric was synonymous with and considered to be the province of men. The assertion of authority and expertise, the use of logical argument, and the deliberate manipulation of discourse to affect an audience's beliefs and actions were seen as masculine prerogatives, unsuited to women and even impossible for them to attain given their biological nature (Campbell 1981)".

"In addition, women were typically denied the education necessary to learn the art of rhetoric. At every level, then, considerable cultural complicity was required to insure that there was no place for women in rhetoric."

Simply defined, rhetoric is the art of persuasive communication. There is a serious dearth of books published in and on rhetoric in Africa and expectations are that this book and others planned will contribute to the body of knowledge on the subject and related disciplines.

African universities have generally neglected the teaching and study of rhetoric despite the fact that rhetoric plays an important role in society on a daily basis.

In contrast, the Centre for Rhetoric Studies at the University of Cape Town has promoted the cause of rhetoric for the past 15 years. Some of the topics covered in the book include African feminism and the African woman's struggle for identity, gender and the South African beauty industry through the eyes of a young black marketer, rhetoric as salvatory, gender rhetoric in HIV/AIDS discourse through the eyes of women writers, rhetorical situations in everyday discourse, feminine subjectivity in a man's world, benevolent philanthropy and farewell as a sign of love. The book will be useful by students and lecturers in the humanities and social sciences. Already before the ink is dry, two lecturers at the University of Namibia have identified chapters they have started using in English and Sociology respectively.