Abstract:

Daily conversations are charged with nuances of symbolic power, evenly or asymmetrically distributed, shaping social relationships between groups or individuals. This sociolinguistic inquiry examines top-down and bottom-up power dynamics, manipulation and resistance in Bole Butake’s Dance of the Vampires, a political play portraying a monarch who sacrifices his people for the quest of absolute power. The study is a trimodal investigation which extends beyond the usual monolithic treatment of language-power relationships by including manipulation and resistance in power dynamics analysis. Power dynamics, manipulation and resistance variations in the examined play were analysed through the lens of Foucault’s social theory of power and Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive framework. The content analysis method was used to analyse selected power variables. The findings reveal that power exercise among characters in the scrutinized play is multifold. Power dynamics variations in top-down relationships express power asymmetry manifested through critiques, honorifics, commands, royal proclamation, destitution decree, signature and seal, questioning, warning, threat and conditioning. Resistance to power hierarchy in bottom-up relationships is exercised through disapproval of orders, arrest and destitution of the ruler. Manipulation is orchestrated by the monarch to control the thoughts of his subordinates, using devices such as corruption and gaslighting. It emerges from the writer’s political ideology that social contract, collectivism and egalitarianism should guide political rulers in governance. The study concludes that the language of power in creative writing reflects hierarchical and top-down models’ power in intergroup communication and institutional structures.