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First published March 1988

Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream": The Speech Event as Metaphor

Alexandra AlvarezView all authors and affiliations
Volume 18, Issue 3
https://doi.org/10.1177/002193478801800306

Abstract

This article studies Martin Luther King's speech, "I Have a Dream," delivered on August 28, 1963, at the Washington Mall, as a sermon in the black Baptist tradition. Considering "performance as situated in context... as unfolding or arising within that context" (Hymes, 1981: 81), this sermon, which is a dialogue between speaker and audience, has, in addition to the "message" contained in the code, a broader ethnographic meaning. The speech event itself is metaphorical in nature, signaling political protest.

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Volume 18, Issue 3
Pages: 337 - 357
Article first published: March 1988
Issue published: March 1988

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Alexandra Alvarez
Georgetown University
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