How President Nasheed established his political identity through Dhivehi linguistics

You probably know her mostly as the Maldives' native language Dhivehi teacher at the Centre for Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) in Male' and rightly so because Aminath Ibrahim has been teaching our mother tongue for a long 22 years and after retiring has the privilege of publishing a Master's Degree dissertation for the Maldives National University (MNU), the first of its kind in Dhivehi, which analyses how President Nasheed established his political identity through the use of Dhivehi linguistics.

Titled "Political Identity Gaaim Kurumugai Bahu Ge Dhauru" (loosely translated as "The Role of Linguistics in the Establishment of Political Identity"), the 123-page study was published as a book in 2016, and sold for MVR 200 (USD 13), and explores how President Nasheed created his political identity and strengthened the role of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) through his oratory and Dhivehi linguistics skills.

Aminath recognized her findings based on the close scrutiny of 10 key speeches by President Nasheed and the critical opinions of 4 linguistics specialists who were not identified in order to safeguard their privacy.

Aminath wrote that her pioneering work deals with finding out the role of language in the shaping of political identity and that she chose as a case study the political speeches as the primary source from President Nasheed who ruled Maldives from 11 November 2008 to 7 February 2012.

She rightly claims that more research and analytical theses can be conducted based on her findings which were bestowed "Distinction" status by MNU and earned her a Master's Degree in Dhivehi Language and Culture.

Aminath, who holds a Bachelor's Degree in Dhivehi Language, is the author of many Dhivehi language books and also acted as an Academic Counselor.