Class Prompts
- Prompt One: I suppose to a degree they do meet Swales’ criteria of a discourse community because they seem to cite several sources from the scientific community to prove their point (their extremely racist point, but their point none the less). One of Swales’ criteria is that a discourse community is yo have a broadly agreed set of public goals; the individuals taking part in The Mismeasure of Man seem to have an agreed set of goals: they seem to think that cranial size and shape dictate the measure of a man (intelligence and worth wise). They also seem to intercommunicate with one another, because otherwise how would the reading have been published without the authors being able to cite the resources they spoke to; this fits another Swales’ criteria for a discourse community.
- Prompt Two: This particular discourse community published the novel The Mismeasure of Man in order to spread their information and findings. They are the sole members responsible for creating the reading AND publishing it, AND promoting it to the general public. The author wrote the novel with the dominating thought process being: the social and economic differences between human groups—primarily races, classes, and sexes—arise from inherited, inborn distinctions and that society, in this sense, is an accurate reflection of biology. It was published by a paleontologist and sold as a scientific journal arguing his point to be fact. It was received well by the public and earned many positive glowing reviews as well as many rewards from the literary and scientific communities.
- Prompt Three: The author, Stephen Jay Gould, basically handed the American public a scientific reason to be complete and utter racists. He did not just tell them that he suspected the African-Americans to be of a lesser intelligence because they did not originated from America; he cited scientific evidence essentially calling them brothers to Great Apes. The Jim Crow Laws are fully centered around full segregation, making the white man obviously much more socially powerful than that of an African-American man; Gould’s “research” and citations in The Mismeasure of Man just handed the public a solid reason to want and force the strong Jim Crow Laws. Gould compared the African-Americans to animals, and the American public treated them as such with the Jim Crow Laws and social rejection within the society.
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