preliminary genre analysis-10.doc5.doc

7/30/2019 Preliminary Genre Analysis-10.doc5.doc

1/6

Gerald Azul

9/4/2012

Tuesday and Thursday at 9:00 am

Preliminary Genre Analysis

Political science is a multi disciplinary discipline. It blends all social sciences to analyze

people and situations. Political scientists are sometimes referred to as analysts, and as analysts

they usually break down situations psychologically, sociologically, or historically. Sometimes

analysts are able to use all three and maybe more. Political scientists/analysts share their analyses

with one another through personal writings and publishing them in scholarly journals. Journals

are either very broad or very specific to a subject. Journals and journal articles are the political

science genre. As an aspiring political scientist, I can learn the ropes of this community

through their genre (journals). Analyzing a genre will show you how a community works and

communicates. Through genre I can learn to communicate with others political scientists.

Genres are a reflection of a discourse community, in this the political science major.

Genres are where members of a community socially interact and create meaning. Genres are a

written method of communication within a community. Political scientists participate in the

community by reading and writing articles in journals. Absorb what others have to give, and

contribute what you can. According to Swales, a discourse community requires group

participation and feedback. This is achieved through genres.

I have attempted to analyze the genres of the political science community by accessing

articles from the UCF library databases. That website brought me multiple articles. For this

assignment I chose three. They are written by Gordon H. McCormick; a Department of Defense


2/6

analyst, James Petras; sociologist and political activist, and Humberto Fontova; a Cuban Exile

and sociologist.

The subject I am researching is the real Che Guevara and his politics in use today. Che

Guevara was a key figure in the Cuban Revolution and the communist government afterwards.

He is a legendary figure, a folk hero to the proletariat, and a highly controversial individual.

Analyses on this man are highly skewed by ideological standing (right or left wing). In

researching this subject, I will attempt to remove the legendary aspect of Che and the

polarization of his image. My goal is to create an objective analysis on Che as a character and his

politics in use today.

Setting

The articles I obtained were from the UCF library databases. The database I used was

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. Other articles in the same journals I retrieved my specific

articles were all political analyses. They range from specific analysis to certain countries and

events, or broad overviews of regions and events. My topic, which is the real Che Guevara and

politics/views in relation to todays world, has been thoroughly analyzed in this database. The

database also provided broad overviews of Che Guevara. Two of the three articles were in depth

analyses of Che. This shows that political analysts go deeper into subjects/topics more than the

general public. Many who know of Che Guevara merely have an elementary understanding of

this political figure. Political scientists/analysts are a specialist group that breaks down politics

and people into smaller disciplines like psychology and sociology.


3/6

Subject

I have obtained three articles. They are written by Gordon H. McCormick, James Petras,

and Humberto Fontova. The article by James Petras put Che Guevara into perspective with

contemporary revolutions, especially in Latin America. Latin America today is pretty much a

refuge for far left ideologies, for example Venezuela and their leader Hugo Chavez; a far left

politician. He is a more pro Che Guevara analyst. For example, most analysts who are not pro

Che refer to him as a murderer. Petras refers to him as a revolutionary. Petras is the left wing perspective on this subject. The book which my second article originated from by Humberto

Fontova analyzes the true character of Che Guevara. He attempts to remove the mystique and

folk legend perspective of Che Guevara. For example; Fontova refers to Che Guevaras travels

as a doctor as hoboing. He removes the romantic image of Che as a roaming doctor/rebel

without a pure cause to fight for. Being a Cuban Exile almost automatically makes his analysis

right winged. The image he creates of Che Guevara is that of a hippy living in Haight- Ashbury.

Fontova brings about a conservative view of che, but I do like how he tries to break down Che

Guevara as a person, removing all the mystique from the man. The third article by Gordon H.

McCormick is a broad overview of the legendary Che Guevara. It mainly contains a brief

history as to why he is so revered by the world today. It would be something you can find on

wikipedia or any basic source of knowledge. For example; McCormick explains how Ernesto

Guevara became known as Che. You can find this piece of information in almost any article

about Che Guevara. His article is quite elementary, only basic information is provided. The other

two articles are more in depth.


4/6

Participants

The main audience of these articles is fellow political scientists and analysts. Not only do

they read these articles, many write their own articles with their own analysis. For this topic,

mainly political scientists and analysts with a specialty in revolutions will have much interest in

these articles. It wasnt until after the 1960s academics took up studying revolution, especially in

todays world where terrorism is a problem, and events like the Arab Spring. The authors are all

analysts. Gordon H. McCormick is an analysts that has worked for the Department of Defenseand other agencies with similar objectives. James Petra is a political scientist and sociologist, as

well as an activist. Humberto Fontova is a Cuban Exile and a sociologist. Political science is a

blend of other social sciences, this is why two of the three authors are sociologists. This shows

that the political science/analyst community breaks down politics and people into more

disciplines. Fontova analyzes Che from a sociological perspective. This is so the people can have

a full understanding of certain politics and people.

Feautures

The recurrent feature in these articles is Che Guevaras political ideology (Marxist

Leninist). The difference between the three is the analysis. For example, Fontova removes the

legend of Che from the individual and analyzes him as a person. Petras puts Che in

contemporary revolution terms and how his ideology would be today. For example, he mentions

a clich about Che; he wrote along the lines of, Che would shoot the people who wear shirts


5/6

and other memorabilia. McCormick actually keeps the legendary aspect of Che. His article is

mainly about what made Che a legend, not necessarily as in depth as the other two analyses. All

the articles are written in sections. Each begin with a quick overview, and then jump into the

analysis. For example, every article addresses Ches time as a revolutionary, and then go into

their personal analysis. The voices are highly monotone, emotion is not a value to these writers.

The information is basically presented to you, this isnt entertainment.

Patterns

The genre of these articles is for the political science crowd. In turn these are written in

the APA format, or at least cited in this manner. The articles are written in sections, and each

section is an elaboration/presentation of evidence for a certain argument or analysis. It shows the

values these authors have. They value their perspective and present them to the reader in an

upfront manner. The best way for the writers to convey their messages is in an upfront logical

manner. These are used normally with research in liberal arts. For example in Comp 1, my class

was assigned to do ethnography. After the research was conducted of a certain discourse

community, the data was written up in the APA format. This format is usual with liberal arts like

history, especially when a specific event or time period is researched and the writer has a specific

analysis. From these articles especially when doing extensive research allow the reader to gain a

certain perspective. In time the reader can create his or her own perspective and analysis, then

write of it. The attitude of the articles is generally biased. Che Guevara was a political figures,

and all politics are biased, they are a simply a theory like genres and genre analysis in writing.

The writers attitude toward the world go from anti-imperialist to American conservative. Each


6/6

authors article is usually skewed by the right or left wing in relation to the country and lifestyle

they were raised in.

Conclusion

The political science major is a multi disciplinary disciple. Its purpose is the analyze

people and situations using social sciences. From my articles most political scientists specialize

in psychology, sociology, and history. There could be more, but most analysts fit in these

categories, especially when analyzing a political figure. Much of political science is theory. It is

backed by evidence, but it relies on perception. The framing of evidence is key to proving a point. Personal prejudices also affect an analysts analyses. For example Humberto Fontova, as a

Cuban exile, it is almost natural for him to have a disliking for the legendary image of Che. The

political science field is so dynamic. Everything is based off of perception, one piece of evidence

can be interpreted in so many different ways. In turn the communities genre is dynamic, for

genres are a reflection of the community. The political science will always have a steady flow of

articles and journals due to the dynamic nature of the field. Every contribution could be

considered almost breakthrough. Each interpretation is highly valued for others to build off of.

This is an evolving field.

preliminary genre analysis-10.doc5.doc

Documents