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 349

Table 17.2 FACS analysis 1

1
But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last
decade or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants
Coding AUs

Decoding

1 C 2 Doubt C certainty C signal illustrator

conveys to the audience that the risky choice of speaking frankly about his family's
poor and humble circumstances is due to the will to communicate openly his trust
in democracy and in spite of the personal discomfort that these memories might
cause him to this day. His preference for the political outcome of his speech over
the more natural inclination to escape from that discomfort in such a situation of
self-exposure is therefore striking evidence of his emotional resources and of the
energy behind his will to advance the political discourse to face the crucial point
of democracy, i.e., the equal opportunities offered to all, regardless of the starting
conditions of their lives.
FACS analysis 1 “But the West is not responsible ::: ” (Table 17.2 ).

17.4 5 April 2009 Obama Prague Speech

on Nuclear Weapons

This speech was given in Prague on 5 April 2009, on the occasion of the US-EU
summit, to an audience of 30,000. Obama declared that the United States would
undertake concrete actions for a world without nuclear weapons. In this speech
he used autobiographical memories to equate the realization of his dreams with
the realization of the people of the Czech Republic. The message of hope includes
everyone without distinction.
Here again Obama introduces his own autobiographical memories in the first part
of his speech, aimed at fulfilling the social role of self-presentation to his audience.
He starts out by stressing his positive attitude toward the people hosting him and his
family, remembering the Czech friends he had during his youth in Chicago (min.
2.27):
“I've learned over many years to appreciate the good company and the good humor of the
Czech people in my hometown of Chicago . ”

He looks at his audience, gathered in the main square of the old town of Prague,
smiling to them, thereby creating a climate of intimacy despite the distance between