From Personalization to Parrhesia: A Multimodal Analysis of Autobiographical Recalls in Barack Obama’s Political Speech - Conflict and Multimodal Communication: Social Research and Machine Intelligence - page 345

The autobiographical recall happens at the very beginning of the speech (min.
1.34), in what could be seen as the social part of the self-presentation of the speaker
to his audience. It starts with the description of his father's life:
“My father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village in Kenya. He grew up
herding goats, went to school in a tin-roof shack.”
While the audience, gathered in a big hall and waiting for the more important
speakers to come, move around the hall and chat, Obama turns his gaze all around,
stressing his will to reach all the people with his words. He smiles expressing
affection and nostalgia for the memory of his father. He describes the poor school
he attended using iconic gestures that stress how this building was little more than
a hut. He speaks rather quickly, but the tone of his voice shows his will to describe
clearly and sincerely the poor situation of his family. His voice, in fact, has a peak
of intensity on the words “herding goats” as if to signal “this was the story of my
father; I do not want to hide his humble origins.”
The description of the family goes on, turning to his grandfather (min. 1.45):
“His father - my grandfather - was a cook, a domestic servant to the British. But my
grandfather had larger dreams for his son.”
Here again Obama slowly turns his gaze around and then looks firmly at the
audience in front of him. The voice is clear, while batonlike gestures stress the
meaning of the words. When communicating clearly his grandfather's condition
as domestic servant, Obama's facial expression shows his distress; however, it is
quickly brought under control. His entire body seems to communicate his pride for
the sufferings linked to the colonial past of his family: a proud attitude expressing
his dignity and gratitude for his ancestors, which in this case may be clearly
distinguished from an arrogance due to his prominent social position (Poggi and
D'Errico 2012 ). He gazes fixedly into the camera and turns slowly from one side of
the audience to another, as if to ask to all his listeners to pay attention to his words.
He describes also with iconic gestures the tin roof of the poor school shack attended
by his father. All of his body language seems to add to his words, to make as clear
as possible the poor condition of his father's life.
Having so clearly stated the social condition of pariah of the family into which
he was born, Obama goes on to describe the life projects of his parents (min. 1.55):
“Through hard work and perseverance my father got a scholarship to study in a magical
place, America, that shone as a beacon of freedom and opportunity to so many who had
come before.”
In this passage, Obama stares right in front of him, looking steadily into the
camera, as if expressing his will to speak not only to the audience gathered in the
hall but also to those watching him on television. His batonlike gestures are constant,
especially when he describes America as a “magic place.” He pauses briefly before
these words, as if to emphasize them. After stating clearly his pariah condition
as a descendant of colonial servants and declaring his love for America, Obama
introduces the most difficult part of his autobiography, i.e., his birth as a son of a
racially mixed couple. As was clearly shown by studies on racial prejudice, in fact,