Language and power in genocidal regimes : an analysis of the rhetorical function of language in Pol Pot's Cambodia, Rwanda and Hitler's Germany / by Christina M. Morus

This study endeavors to gain insight into the rhetorical function of language in genocidal regimes through the examination of congruencies, among Pol Pot's Cambodia, Hitler's Germany and the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Hitler's Germany is used as a model to expand upon the relationship between language and ultimate power, and as a basis for comparison. This paper considers specific ways language is tied to power in each of these regimes, through the examination of rhetorical artifacts from each. Using Foucault's framework of language and power, this analysis asserts Bosmajian's perspective on the Language of Anti-Semitism, and examines the way in which the construction of language influenced Hitler's Germany vs. Pol Pot's Cambodia and the recent genocide in Rwanda.