Resumen de An African (World Cup) victory? Critical analysis of the French ambassador to the US’ response to Trevor Noah’s teasing comment
On 17th July 2018, Trevor Noah, a South-African TV host in the US, claimed in his show that «Africa [had] won the World Cup». The day after, Gérard Araud, the French ambassador to the US at the time, replied –via an official letter published through twitter– that ‘nothing could be less true’.
This paper aims to analyse such piece of official communication from the French government from the perspective of peace studies and especially communication for peace. Indeed, the debate on identity in France is still ongoing and produces conflictive situations, whether personal or collective and whether within or outside the borders of the country. This academic work is a critical discourse analysis of the above-mentioned case study. Its objective is to know if the official letter shared via Twitter by the French ambassador to the US is considered as communication for peace: a form of communication aiming at transforming the root causes of violence regarding the topic of identity in France. This paper also drafts possibilities for deep change on the conception and perception of French identity which would convey an idea of peace culture. The socio-psychological, rhetorical and critical communication traditions will be employed to deconstruct the French ambassador’s deep-rooted discourse within the French republican model. The universalist and hegemonic speech presented by the French official is thus identified as unable to transform the root causes of violence and proposals for alternative peaceful types of communication are suggested.
