preliminary genre analysis.doc4.doc
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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 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. All in short,
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 to articles from multiple
journals. For this assignment I chose three. They are written by Gordon H. McCormick; a
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Department of Defense analyst, James Petras; sociologist and political activist, and Humberto
Fontova; a Cuban Exile and sociologist.
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.
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
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politician. 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. 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.
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 Defense
and 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
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a full understanding of certain politics and people. The first rule of war is to know thy enemy.
This cant be done by googling your subjects.
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
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
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upfront manner. The flow of the articles is that there is none. The flow resides in the individual
subheadings. The values is not prettiness of the writing, as in lyrical flow, but mainly how well
the message is delivered to the receiver. 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 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
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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.