{"id":2172,"date":"2019-11-29T13:58:48","date_gmt":"2019-11-29T13:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/davis\/?page_id=2172"},"modified":"2020-03-22T12:50:49","modified_gmt":"2020-03-22T12:50:49","slug":"analysis-of-a-pathological-text","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/davis\/courses\/rhe-330e-pathos\/rhe-330e-pathos-assignments\/analysis-of-a-pathological-text\/","title":{"rendered":"UPDATED:Analysis of a Pathological Text"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n

For this assignment you will write a 4-5 page, double-spaced, researched paper analyzing a pathological text and describing the feelings this artifact provokes in you, citing at least 2 additional sources and documenting them in a Works Cited page at the end.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

For our purposes, a \u201cpathological text\u201d inscribes and propagates aberrant passions already in circulation. Partly in reaction against our shared exposedness to one another and so to \u201crhetoric\u2019s sensorium,\u201d pathological texts insulate and tribalize: they invite violence by inspiring or reinforcing passionate attachment (love, hope, loyalty, compassion, identification) to an\u00a0us<\/em>\u00a0and bitter disavowal (hate, anger, fear, disgust, contempt) of a\u00a0them<\/em>, while resisting rhetorical engagement that could challenge the clean distinction.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Specifics<\/strong><\/p>\n

Artifact Selection.\u00a0<\/em>Select a pathological text (an \u201cartifact\u201d) that circulates publicly (currently or historically), and that has proved somewhat \u201ceffective\u201d with a certain audience, making it worthy of analysis. You might select, for example, a bigoted rant, manifesto, or scientific theory; a defense of a sexist or racist (or heterosexist, ageist, or ableist) law or policy or platform; the propagation of a reckless conspiracy theory, etc. **Please steer very clear of any artifact that could be traumatic or too intense for you.** This assignment asks you to engage with an injurious text, but its affective piercing should not be\u00a0traumatizing<\/em>\u00a0for you.<\/p>\n

Be sure to choose an artifact that is\u00a0itself<\/em>\u00a0pathological and not one that aims to describe, explain, or analyze such a text. Describing, explaining, and analyzing this text will be\u00a0your<\/em>\u00a0job.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Artifact length<\/em>. Your artifact should be complex enough to sustain the sort of analysis required by this assignment. If it\u2019s too long to adequately address in a 4-5 page analysis, you may focus in on a specific chapter or section in it.<\/p>\n

Artifact Possibilities<\/em>. I\u2019ve gathered a few\u00a0pathological texts and lots of background info here,<\/a>\u00a0to help jumpstart your thought processes, but feel free to ignore these. You might check the the Southern Poverty Law Center\u2019s list of\u00a0extremist groups<\/a>, along with its\u00a0Hatewatch<\/a>\u00a0publication, for other ideas. The\u00a0Anti-Defamation League\u2019s site<\/a>\u00a0is also a good resource, and\u00a0this page<\/a>\u00a0most specifically, which offers a \u201cshort list of\u00a0 people and organizations espousing virulent anti-Semitic views with active accounts on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.\u201d\u00a0Joseph Uscinski\u2019s site<\/a>\u00a0lists and describes some conspiracy theories, too, including this list (published on Politico) of the\u00a0top 5 most dangerous ones<\/a>\u00a0of 2016. You may also have just seen the perfect artifact to use on your twitter feed or some other social media site.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Analysis Composition<\/em>.\u00a0You\u2019ll actually be making an argument: you\u2019ll argue that the artifact you\u2019re analyzing is a pathological text. And your analysis will function as your evidence for that claim. Your paper should have 4 sections, plus<\/strong> a Works Cited page in which you correctly document all the sources you\u2019ve cited in the analysis:<\/p>\n

1) An introduction<\/em>\u00a0to the artifact and its rhetorical\/historical context (target audience, purpose, etc.), along with your claim\u00a0that<\/em>\u00a0this is a pathological text and\u00a0why<\/em>\u00a0you consider it a pathological text: briefly, what is this text\u00a0doing<\/em>\u00a0that makes it pathological, according to our definition? Document your artifact in the Works Cited page.<\/p>\n

2) An analysis<\/em>\u00a0of the pathetic appeals in this artifact in which you demonstrate its pathological operations. (Remember that you\u2019re analyzing a pathological\u00a0text<\/em>, not its author\u2014we are not pathologizing an individual.) Start by noting this artifact\u2019s presumed ingroup and outgroup and what makes that distinction clear; if it\u2019s not all that clear, explain that.<\/p>\n

Then explain very specifically: 1) which feelings this artifact is likely to provoke in the ingroup, and 2) how it is likely to provoke them\u2014that is, what pathetic appeals the artifact makes to provoke such feelings (charged language, vivid description, identificatory terms, etc.).<\/p>\n

Quote the artifact as textual evidence for your argument, cite texts we\u2019ve studied in the class as sources to support your analysis, and document all sources in the Works Cited page. This will be the most developed section of the essay.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>3) A brief description<\/em>\u00a0of the feelings this artifact stirs in\u00a0you<\/em>. You chose this artifact because you consider it a pathological text, so you are probably not its target audience, and the feelings it may elicit from that audience will likely not be the ones it provokes in you. But experiencing and reflecting on how this pathological text affects you, and on your own inability to\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0be affected by it, affirms your situatedness in what Hawhee calls \u201crhetoric\u2019s sensorium.\u201d<\/p>\n

4) A brief conclusion<\/em>\u00a0that reiterates the ways this artifact is pathological or that otherwise wraps up your essay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget your Works Cited page.<\/p>\n

Main Page<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Course Description<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Texts\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0Assignments\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0Schedule\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0Resources<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Overview For this assignment you will write a 4-5 page, double-spaced, researched paper analyzing a pathological text and describing the feelings this artifact provokes in you, citing at least 2 additional sources and documenting them in a Works Cited page at the end.\u00a0 For our purposes, a \u201cpathological text\u201d inscribes and propagates aberrant passions already […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"parent":175,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"nosidebar-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2172","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/davis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/davis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/davis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/davis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/davis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2172"}],"version-history":[{"count":65,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/davis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2669,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/davis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2172\/revisions\/2669"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/davis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dwrl.utexas.edu\/davis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}