The Youth Ideology: A Critical Anaylsis of Digital-Analogue Metephor in 2013 Presidential Elections in Kenya

Abstract

Digital-analogue metaphor was a political construct that described the two major competing forces in the 2013 elections: Jubilee and the CORD coalitions of political parties. The study set out to demonstrate the ideological property of metaphor using the digital-analogue metaphorical catch phrase that was adopted by the Jubilee Coalition of political parties. The main objectives of this study were to map out the conceptual bearings of the digital-analogue metaphor as used in the 2013 election campaigns by the Jubilee coalition, to examine whether the digital-analogue metaphor did shape electorates’ attitudes, beliefs and ultimate voter decision in 2013 presidential elections and finally to critique the digital analogue positioning of the Jubilee coalition of political parties. The study sidestepped other metaphors used at the election time and located itself in a time frame between 24th December 2012 and 1st March 2013. The scholarly context of this study was marked by ideology in political communication, politics and metaphor in political campaign communication as well as ideology and persuasion. Lakoff’s (1980) Conceptual Metaphor Theory was the guiding principle to this study for it hoists metaphor above its linguistic value to consider the conceptual property on which this study is founded. This study adopted an interpretative research design targeting all the telecast campaign coverage between 24th December 2012 and 1st March 2013. This period stipulated for the video data fitted this study in the sense that the Jubilee Coalition of political parties was inaugurated on the said date in December 2012 and the 1st of March 2013 marked the end of Campaigns. The video clips as well as the FGD participants were purposively sampled in terms of specific relevance to the objectives of this study. The study made use of video method of data collection as well as FGDs. The video clips used in this study were sought from the mainstream TV channels namely Citizen TV of Royal Media Services (RMS), Kenya Television Network (KTN) of Standard Group (SG) and Nation Television (NTV) of Nation Media Group (NMG). The clips were transcribed and then interpreted for their conceptual relevance to the digital-analogue metaphor. This study established that the digital-analogue metaphor was a discursive narrative that served the Jubilee Coalition victory of electoral attitude and therefore support. The metaphor aptly carried and conveyed the youth ideology as a political campaign concept that was largely definitive of Jubilee coalition campaigns of the 2013 polls. The findings of this study will avail an opportunity to scholars and the society in general to understand how metaphors can transmit ideologies which shape the socio-political attitudes of the public.