Riding on the 'Crescendo' of Political Personas: Engendering a Female Political Icon

this study was premised on the observation that the construction and presentation of the self is a prominent feature of the life of every politician. That conbstruction of the self, is even more blatant with female politicians who in their political journeys have to contend with the turbulence of cultural beliefs that have led to politics being a male dominated vocation. Using the idea of persona, a concept that explains the presentation of the self and "masks" that people wear to construct themselves, this study explored the personas that Margaret Nasha adopted in order to overcome male chauvinism, cultural huddles, and struggle for women empowerment that were inherent in Botswana politics. Specifically, this paper explored the construction of the self by Margaret Nasha in order to identify what personas she negotiated and constructed , and how she deployed and employed those personas in her political engagements to be able to become: a Member of Parliament (MP), Assistant Minister, Minister, and finally the Speaker of the Botswana Parliament. Using Document Analysis and Semi-Structured Interviewing methods, this study has unearthed that Margaret Nasha adopted multiple personas that enabled her to navigate the rough, too demanding and male dominated political terrain. Those personas enabled her to become one of the most decorated female politicians in Botswana. This study has also established that Margaret Nasha benefitted immensely from the political personas that were espoused by her political counterparts, most predominantly her male political colleagues.