Gesture in Political Communication: A Case Study of the Democratic Presidential Candidates During the 2004 Primary Campaign

Abstract

In this article, I investigate forms and functions of hand-gestures in two Democratic Party primary debates during the 2004 presidential campaign. I argue that in an age of televised politics, the study of “politics as cultural practice” (Schudson, 2001 Schudson, M. 2001. Politics as cultural practice. Political Communication, 18: 421–432. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) should include the descriptive analysis of bodily expression. This analysis could form the foundation for studies of audience responses and media effects. Analysis of hand gestures made by the Democratic Party candidates shows that the candidates enacted a shared code of pragmatic gesticulation, using hand gestures to mark speech acts and display aspects of information structure and thereby providing viewers with visual structure that facilitates the parsing and processing of speech. The one exception to this shared code was Howard Dean, who mainly enacted a single, repetitive hand gesture—a raised index finger—which embodied a hierarchical address of the audience. The article seeks to integrate a classical perspective—that of Quintilianus (1922/100) Quintilianus, M. F. 1922. The institutio oratoria of Quintilian, Edited by: Butler, H. E. Vol. 4, London: Heinemann. [Original work published ca. 100] [Google Scholar]—with modern microanalysis.