19

This article explores the discursive strategies to legitimise President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita over a one-year period, from his nomination as president in September 2013. In the multilingual context of Mali, it intends to analyse how the President uses languages (French, Bambara), language registers (formal, informal), and religious and proximity rhetoric to meet the various criticisms of his presidency. The President’s speeches symbolically rely on a political imaginary – described here – shared by the Malian society, which he links to the country’s political and security situation since 2012. From this example, the article intends to provide keys to understanding the language practices of power in Mali in general.