Author: m.brigando

(Michael Brigando) Intersectionality 101

From what I have pieced together from the post on reddit, intersectionality is pretty much the blatant distinction, whether intentional or circumstantial, of inequality in society. This can include race, gender, social class, and dis/ability. Sometimes, intersectionality can be subjective, for example, one might see inequalities between men and women, while one sees no inequalities between the two genders. It could even be objective, for example, one who is paralyzed from the legs down won’t have the ability to do certain kinds of work, while a person with no disabilities would be able to. Intersectionality, to sum it up is just a focus on the contrasts in society that make people different from each other. The concept itself also may affect the way someone lives their life too.

Something I’m curious about though is about the emphasis on intersectionality in today’s age. Why does so many people seem to express their disapproval for inequality, but actually do nothing to stop it? I know this isnt the case for everybody, but some contrasts I’ve seen on a societal scale have been created due to the fact that it didn’t actually exist there in the first place, but instead thought it was there, and such a psychosis lead to its fruition.

(Michael Brigando) Tools for Analyzing Texts

The concept of analysis, just like rhetoric, is a very useful tool for reading and writing texts. Also just like rhetoric, we as people use our analyzing skills just about every day when we come across things such as advertisements to the way people act, even if we don’t know it. Analysis can be be seen as a group of qualities about something or someone that are seen when they are looked at with depth, and what the textbook calls, different lenses. What this is is really just a bunch of questions to ask yourself in order to help with the basis of one’s analysis. The most basic ones include audience, or the intended group of people meant to read the text, genre, or the type of category the piece fits into, purpose, or the reason for creating the text (which is different than the argument, and media, or the type of medium that was used to write and/or publish the text. Other lenses we may use without realizing it include kairos, or the timeliness of the text (how fast it gets its point across) and exigence, or what circumstances (such as popular beliefs of the time) lead to the text’s creation.

The one question this text left me with is more about the application of these types of techniques in everyday life, and that is just how many more techniques will I be able to utilize at a conscious level after this semester. I’m sure I use a substantial amount of the things we will learn in this class already, but just how many of these things will be opened up to in depth?