ABSTRACT

This article details a study of mythological storytelling in the Ghanaian media. It analyzes a number of news articles about a Ghanaian celebrity, Yvonne Nelson, in the wake of leading a protest to pressure the government to find a lasting solution to a two-year energy crisis in Ghana. Drawing on discourse-mythological analysis, the paper explores the discursive construction of hero mythology in the representation of Yvonne Nelson. The analysis reveals that Yvonne Nelson’s association with Yaa Asantewaa, a legendary Ashanti queen mother who led the Ashanti War of the Golden Stool against British colonialism in 1900, casts her in a “rebellious” role that reflects archetypal traits of mythological heroism. Consequently, she is depicted as a valiant warrior queen, a straight-talking woman of the people and the voice of the voiceless. This study contributes to the linguistic analysis of myths, moral stories and narratives in the media and illustrates how daily news content can be used to tell eternal stories.

摘要

本文详细介绍了对加纳媒体中神话故事的研究。它分析了一些关于加纳名人伊冯娜纳尔逊的新闻文章，在领导抗议以迫使政府为加纳两年的能源危机找到持久解决方案之后。本文通过话语神话分析，探讨了伊冯娜·纳尔逊(Yvonne Nelson)表征中英雄神话的话语建构。分析显示，伊冯娜·纳尔逊与传奇的阿散蒂王太后 Yaa Asantewaa 的联系，她领导了 1900 年反对英国殖民主义的阿散蒂金凳战争，使她处于“叛逆”角色，反映了神话英雄主义的原型特征。因此，她被描绘成一个勇敢的战士女王，一个直言不讳的人民女性和无声的声音。