Readers Response #24

In the article, “Tllili Tlapalli: The Path of the Red and Black Ink”, Gloria Andzaldua informs her readers on what kind of sacrifice and the importance writing has on her. She describes writing as “her whole life”, starting from a very young age.

Andzaldua’s article can be related to Berger’s “Ways of Seeing”. Both authors focus in some part on art and history and further apply that to writing. Reading Andzaldua’s article, I can also relate it to many other authors’ concept of identity.

QD:

1. Andzaldua defines Western Art as dead objects instead, while nature of tribal art work has an identity. I think with the technology established today, art is becoming a lot more communal rather than individual.

2. I do not think it should have been written in any other way. Despite being aimed towards creative writing, it is also good to be exposed to many different types of writing.

I wasn’t really engaged in this piece; for the most part I thought it was boring. Not too hard to comprehend but discussed a lot of different topics outside of writing.

Readers Response #23

In the article “Viewpoint the Laugh of the Medusa,” Helene Cixous argues that women should use their own voice in their writing, rather than the voice of others. Cixous also covers the negative aspects that have come over women’s writing, such as men’s writing forcing women to not write with their voice.

I can really relate Cixous’ article to Flynn’s article. Both authors discover the difference of women and men’s writings. Although, Cixous focuses more on the negative aspect that men have on women while Flynn focuses on the differences between the two.

QD:

1. This piece made me a bit uncomfortable. Cixous made it very clear her opinion on men and it wasn’t a good one. I don’t think she attempted to create discomfort. I believe she spoke her mind with no filter.

2. I think that she wants women to write in their own voice despite of the image men have put on female writers. I think she suggests that writing can help you find yourself and form your own identity.

I didn’t mind this article. Although, it was very confusing at some points, I can’t really relate to her argument about identity and her opinion that men influence how a woman writes.

Reading Response #22

In the article, Transgender Rhetoric’s: (Re) Composing Narratives of the Gendered Body, Jonathon Alexander explores the concept of transgendered theories. He exams samples by students prompted with transgendered theories to prove the point that transgender theories inspire feminist compositionist pedagogical approaches to seeing gender as a social construct.

I think this article can be related to Smitherman’s article on Black English. They are both sort of trying to get their own race, gender, and way of writing across to the readers. Both authors are trying to teach these topics in the classroom.

3. According to Alexander teaching trans pedagogy in the classroom results in exposure to gender roles, social norms, and the intersections between gender and politics, although, he only exposes this to white college students.

4. I think he considers gender a construct because he explains it as a “tricky word to define” (200). Being that transgendered is merely a category for a wide range of many different genders. Alexander quotes Feinburg stating “Millions of females and millions of males in this country do not fit the cramped compartments of gender that we have taught to be “natural”… (200)”, when describing the implications of this construct being both “personal” and “political”. Alexander believes that being knowledgeable of such a construct is not only useful for better understandings, but to help interrogate the contracts of gender we are familiar with.

Reading this article, I didn’t really think the article was that effective or persuasive. I do not agree with the concept of teaching transgender topics to students as helping them be more well-rounded and knowledgeable.

Readers Response #21

In the article, “God Don’t Never Change”, Geneva Smitherman discusses racism in writing. She believes that white grammar and black grammar differs, and how black people write should be considered as a separate style. Because of that black people should not be graded incorrectly because grammar.

Smitherman’s article can be related to Gee, Wardel, Flynn and many others. I believe what they have most in common is how someone’s identity shapes the way they write and how they are viewed to others. They also both cover that how someone is brought up, has a huge influence on their writing.

QD:

2. Smitherman uses Black Idiom rhetorically by providing many different examples of Black English throughout her article.

3. I believe that language supplies power for many different races and classes because how you speak reflects your character and personality and being knowledgeable can bring power.

I personally didn’t like this article. I thought that it wasn’t well supported, I personally don’t believe in white and black’s having separate and specific uses of language.

Readers Response #20

In the article, Composing as a Woman, Elizabeth Flynn explores the concept of the role gender plays in writing. She argues that most of the writing that is acknowledged and given credit for comes from men. She explains the intellectual difference between men and women.

I can relate this article to Gee’s article with the concept of identity. Also, many other articles we have read about how identity shapes your writing. It’s very relative to the concept that Flynn is trying to explore but also with a different topic.

Before You Read:

1. I have never seen much gender role difference when it comes to the public school I have attended all of my life. I believe that the teachers in my school treated both genders the same.

 QD:

1. I believe that Flynn has acknowledged the fact that most of the time a woman’s input or opinion, even as a scholar is often ignored and not seen as a figure of authority when it comes to writing. This relates to the marginalization of other minorities because the diversity of opinion is what valued in today’s world.

I enjoyed reading the article. It didn’t relate to other articles that we have explored too much, it was nice to cover different topics. I also thought the topic was interesting.

Readers Response #19

In the article, Memoria Is a Friend of Ours: On the Discourse of Color, Victor Villanueva introduces a new look at discourse. His main concern is that he is an “uneasy mix of races that make for no race at all yet find themselves victim to racism” (176). He believes that his discourse should reflect that he is an American, from Brooklyn, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll, with an ancestry dating back before the Europeans, a person of color and an academic.

Victor Villanueva’s article can be related to Gee’s concept of primary and secondary discourse. Villanueva suggests that he was born into a primary discourse by prejudice. He believes that there should be a discourse for all of his interests having nothing to do with the color of his skin.

QD: 7. I believe that Villanueva was born into the Discourse of being Puerto Rican. I believe that his secondary Discourse included the things that he liked or hobbies, although they weren’t the same as other people his race. I think it is more complex than Gee’s article accounted for. There is always more to a person than the race they are born into.

I think that Villanueva is making a very good point about discourse communities. Almost every discourse communities come along with a certain social view or stereotype. I liked the examples provided to back up what Villanueva was trying to accomplish.

Readers Response #18

In the article, Autism and Rhetoric, by Paul Heilker and Melanie Yergeau, they introduce the concept of autism being rhetoric. They explore the definition of rhetoric, stating “most definitions of rhetoric focus on the role of communication in social interaction” (262). They then proceed by stating the definition of autism. “… The way that autism presents itself in the world, per the medical establishment, have to do with communication in the social realm.” (262) They discover that, with two like definitions, autism is a rhetorical phenomenon.

Heilker and Yergeau, unlike most professionals, “contend that autism is a rhetoric, a way of being in the world through language, a rhetoric we may not have encountered or recognized frequently in rhetoric…” (262) Swales believes that the role of communication in social interaction is bound only by his six characteristics.

I enjoyed reading this article, because it was about a topic I never really explored. I think that the way these scholars think is fascinating. I respect the kind of connection Heilker and Yergeau made between rhetoric and autism.

Project #3 Intro and Conversation

James Porter describes a discourse community as, “A group of individuals bound by a common interest who communicate through approved channels and whose discourse is regulated.”(91) A discourse community shares the same assumptions about what is appropriate and what is not within the community.

Discourse communities are often studied by professionals and have many different views. James Paul Gee views discourse communities as an “identity kit”. He thinks that with a discourse community comes along an appropriate costume, instructions on how to act, talk, and write. He believes in the concept of having a primary discourse, the one you were born into, and every discourse after that is considered to be secondary. “Our primary Discourse constitutes our original and home-based sense of identity, and” Gee believes, “it can be seen whenever we are interacting with “inmates” in totally casual (unmonitored) social interaction.” He refers to the discourses to the social institutions that have a demand and command a secondary Discourse.

John Swales, however, has a very different view of what a discourse community is or the characteristics of one. Swales’ gives us six defining characteristics of what a community must acquire to be considered a discourse community. These characteristics are as followed:

“1. A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals. 2. A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members. 3. A discourse community uses it participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback. 4. A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims. 5. In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has required a specific lexis. 6. A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise.”(471-473)

Swales’ also introduces the concept of genre. “Genres are types of texts that are recognizable to readers and writers, and that meet the needs of the rhetorical situations in which they function.”(467) Swales’ believes that genre, in a discourse community, is very evident.

                Amy J. Devitt states, “Contemporary genre analysis focuses on the actual use of texts, in all their messiness and with all their potential consequences”, when introducing genre analysis. (99) Genre analysis is used to tie together actual language to bits of language that have underlying idea. This analysis makes the conflict between discourse communities evident. Although people of other discourses try to make the information understandable to everyone, genre analysis reveals the fact that the users have different beliefs, purposes and interests. “The communal agendas of those who create genres may conflict with the interests of those who use them – users who would ideally reproduce the ideologies and agendas of the legal community, but who do not.”(103)

                Elizabeth Wardle takes a different approach to deciphering the many possibilities a discourse community has. Although many authors can agree on one thing, the definition of a discourse community, they all add their own unique niche within the conversation. Wardle’s niche is identity and the concept of someone being a “tool” to the discourse community, rather than a member. Wardle does a study on Alan, a new employee, fresh out of college. In her study she discovers that, unlike Gee, Alan was never really apart of the discourse community, but just a “tool”. Because he saw himself as such a high position in his work place, he decided that he would not change his writing habits, or email habits, just because of the specific discourse community he was in. This resulted in a change in his identity. He was not looked at as a higher position, more like a tool to the company. Wardle wraps her argument by stating:

“Allan’s example illustrates that learning to write in new communities entails more than learning discrete sets of skills or improving cognitive abilities. It is a process of involvement in communities, of identifying with certain groups, of choosing certain practices over others; a process strongly influenced by power relationships – a process, in effect, bound up tightly with identity, authority, and experience.”(533)

Despite all of the ongoing conversation about discourse communities I believe that, to further the concept of a discourse community, we need to discuss the negative impact stereo types can have on such discourses. Many people like to think that cheerleading isn’t classified as a sport or to be a cheerleader you need to be ditzy. Sean Branick states, “The world of…” in my case, cheerleading, “…is more complicated than it may seem to the public eye”.(571)