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2026 - Volume 9 - Number 1

Constructing Power and Gender: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Claudia Sheinbaum’s Inauguration Speech

Marlene Berenice de la Cruz Zúñiga * ORCID: 0009-0007-8881-9019
University of Guanajuato, Department of Languages, Guanajuato, MEXICO

Open Journal for Studies in Arts, 2026, 9(1), 9-18 * https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojsa.0901.02009d
Received: 6 June 2026 ▪ Revised: 12 August 2026 ▪ Accepted: 28 August 2026

LICENCE: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

ARTICLE (Full Text - PDF)

ABSTRACT:
This study applied a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) technique for the analysis of Claudia Sheinbaum’s inaugural speech as the first woman president in Mexico. The analysis is based on Van Dijk’s (2015) model, and it examines how discourse strategies, used in discourse at both the micro and macro levels, can construct collective identity, political ideologies, and social representations through the construction of in-group and out-group construction, positive self-representation, negative out-group representation and ideological polarization. The findings indicated that Claudia Sheinbaum used discourse strategies in order to construct an inclusive discourse by talking about certain social groups and problems which that had not been explicitly mentioned in previous inaugural speeches in Mexico, such as indigenous communities and gender equality. In analyzing Sheinbaum’s speech in the context of a historically male-dominated political system, this study will provide insights into how the current Mexican political discourse shapes leadership, authority, and collective identity.

KEY WORDS: critical discourse analysis, Claudia Sheinbaum, political discourse, power relations, Mexico.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Marlene Berenice de la Cruz Zúñiga, University of Guanajuato, Department of Languages, Guanajuato, MEXICO.

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