Education as a space to overcome “indifference and social discrimination”

argumentation and identities in a statement of a college professor

Abstract

This article aims to analyze and interpret elements of the argumentative process in the speech of a college professor, considering aspects of the constitution of its identity as citizen, student and professional of a higher education institution. The corpus consists on a written statement, which has relevant elements to her academic, personal and professional growth activities. The theoretical contribution comes from the New Rhetoric, studies linked to the argument in the speech and the relationship identity and citizenship. The results indicate that in the analyzed speech, there is a cause and effect relationship between educational background in higher educational and improve of the quality of life. To defend the thesis and the central arguments of her speech, the professor uses, above all, the arguments based on the real structure, in which the access to higher education represents the main cause for the fight against poverty and social discrimination.