Upload
others
View
1
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Tamburello
Leanna Tamburello
Laura Martinez
ENC 1101
3 April 2013
My Discourse Analysis: The Food Pantry
Background
“A discourse community is made up of individuals who share a broadly agreed
upon set of common public goals” said John Swales (Swales 466.) John Swales is a
scholarly writer who studied the concepts of a discourse community. For my college
ENC 1101 class, I was given an assignment, or something of a challenge. I had to go out,
observe and explore a discourse community that was not familiar to any of my own.
Many would probably think it was a scary task…well it most certainly was! For my
discourse community, I volunteered at a
Food Pantry in my hometown of Cocoa
Beach. This took place in the back of the
East Coast Christian Center Church. For
those who do not know, a food pantry is for
homeless, or very low-income families, families who make up to 10,000 per year to be
precise. When I first walked up with the friend I was volunteering with, we had been a
little bit late. There was a line out the back door of about 50 people; children, mothers,
and families. Seeing this was quite sad. Knowing that people cannot provide for their
families. What was even worse was seeing the drug addicts. As vulgar as it is, there were
so many people with rotten teeth, twitching, scratching, boils and blisters all over their
1
Tamburello
faces and more. It made me realize that I am never going to get into drugs. Not that I had
ever considered it before anyway. Other types of people I saw waiting in line were older
men trying to hit on me as I walked up to the door, like they have never seen a women
before. I was quite uncomfortable. Which is why the rest of the time I worked in the back
bagging food that had been donated to the church. The other possible job to have would
have been to sit up front at the desk signing people in to receive their bagged foods and
handing them out directly to the customers. I would say that 75 percent of the food they
had us giving out was rotten. This particular day they were only bagging fruits and
vegetables. When I asked the volunteers if this was okay, one woman replied with words
that just about said “beggars can’t be choosers.”
Method
I chose to not only observe my discourse community, but also participate in it and
get hands on experience of how the people worked together, communicated, etc. I stayed
in the back and bagged food four brown bags at a time. I had a paper with a list of
questions (See Appendix One) and when I learned the answers, either through
conversation with my coworkers or from just plain observation, I wrote the answers down
when I had time. Also, I took personal evaluation of each person, in my head, by asking
each of my fellow volunteers the same questions so I could see what kind of people they
were. The few questions I could not answer by observing, I used in my interview with the
man at the front desk named Chris Richards. I interviewed him to find out things such as,
how the Food Pantry got started, how to gain power as a volunteer, etc. (See Appendix
Two.) I volunteered for four hours, 10:00 a.m-2:00 a.m. I was interested in finding
themes and patterns in people. Themes or patterns such as, how the volunteers work
2
Tamburello
together, if it is organized, are the volunteers genuinely kind or do they have hidden
agendas, etc. This led me to my analysis and focus point, I wanted to focus on the
organization and structure of the place
and also the volunteers level of authority.
Evidence and Analysis
Aside from not caring about the
people receiving this food, there was a
very productive system at the Food
Pantry. It was very organized and
systemized. There was a line and people had to sign in at the front desk, show their ID’s
and receive tickets to make sure they wait their turn. I learned that this was something
Tony Mirabelli, a well-respected writer, defined as a kind of structure (Mirabelli 538-
556.) The food pantry is similar to Tony’s article because although his motive was
different, he talks about how he evaluates a restaurant. In this restaurant there are all sorts
of structure and rules to make the place successful. There are ways to make to waiters
and waitresses connect with the customers. To have structure, one needs to have ways of
getting information across to customers, and employees. This will later be defined as
genres. I also noticed that everyone I spoke to and evaluated individually in my head had
different levels of authority and different motives for being there. This will also later be
defined, it will be defined as common public goals and personal goals.
Evidence and Analysis:
Genres
3
Tamburello
John Swales uses six categories to characterize a discourse community. Those
categories are:
1) Has a broadly agreed set of common goals.
2) Has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.
3) Uses its participatory mechanisms to provide information feedback.
4) Utilizes and possess one of more genres.
5) Has an acquired lexis.
6) Has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content.
The characteristic that ties the most into my discourse community of the Food Pantry is
genres. Genres are “how things get done, when language is used to accomplish them”
(Swales 472.) Examples of genres would be a
Facebook page, a group email, group text
message, business card, sign in sheet, filing
system etc. At the Food Pantry there is a business card and there is a ‘Certification of
Eligibility to Take Food Home’ form (See Appendix Three & Four.) The sign in sheet is
very important because it allows for structure. There are rules you have to follow, such as
not being allowed to receive food from the food pantry more than every two weeks. It
allows structure and allows the authorites to make sure everyone is being treated equal.
Evidence and Analysis:
Authority & Multiliteracy
I noticed that although everyone was a volunteer, there were different levels of
authority throughout the work place. Tony Mirabelli defines this as multiliteracies.
“Workers do not just read and write texts: They also read people and situations”
4
Tamburello
(Mirabelli 538.) Before this project, I thought multiliteracy or to be literate meant to read
and write. I now know that it really means much more than that. It means to be able to
work in rhetorical situations. According to Mirabelli, waiters and waitresses need to be
literate in the sense of needing to be able to read their customers, know the menu, and
know if the customers are happy, unhappy, rude, etc. It is a lot of nonverbal
communication, knowing who is boss, and knowing how to read and please people.
The Food Pantry uses multiliteracies non-verbally. Even though no one gets paid
and nothing says in writing who has the upper hand, everyone knows who the higher
power is. There is one man who runs the Food Pantry named Sam. He is the one who
signs everyone’s community service sheet and gives him or her the opportunity to
volunteer there. He has every right to tell someone they can’t come back, or ‘fire’ him or
her. Therefore, everyone respects him because he is basically the boss. This is not in
writing, but people are able to read the situation, and rhetorically figure it out. Many
people do not know it, and before this assignment neither did I, but everyone uses
rhetorical situations and multiliteracies in their everyday life.
Evidence and Analysis:
Goals
Swales also talks about common public goals and person goals. When I
interviewed Chris, I asked how the food pantry began he replied jokingly yet
sarcastically, “hungry people.” Knowing also that this was the common public goal of the
Food Pantry, his sarcasm and melancholy lead me to another question. “Why are you
here today volunteering?” he replied, “My wife makes me.” (See Appendix Two.) After
some laughter and socializing, I decided I was going to ask others the reason they were
5
Tamburello
volunteering, because surely teenagers were not there at the crack of dawn to help feed
low-income families. Four out of seven of them were there for community service hours
for school. As I observed one older gentleman, every time I would go to put something in
a bag that looked even remotely edible, he would ask me for it and set it aside in a corner.
When I asked him what his corner of stocked up food was for, he told me it was for him,
that he brings it home for himself. I then put together that each person working, was there
for his or her own personal reason while the common public goal was still being fulfilled.
The hungry were being fed, and the people who were volunteering were there for reasons
that benefitted them.
Conclusion
John Swales made an argument that a person could be a part of a discourse
community without being assimilated in it (Swales 467.) I believe this assignment helped
me realize that is very true. This is spot-on because I was able to interact and join the
Food Pantry for a day, yet I am not fully a part of it, I don’t receive texts or emails from
the volunteers or get called in to volunteer when someone is missing, however, if I
wanted, I could go back and get some service hours in here and there. From this
assignment, I have learned a great deal. From the assignment directly and the discourse
community I chose, I learned all about a different lifestyle. I learned that other people do
not have life as fortunate as I do. On the contrary to that, I learned that as for the people
who were volunteering to help, none of them actually cared about the well being and
hunger for the poor, but had ulterior motives to benefit themselves. As a result of this
assignment, I learned the process of analysis. I learned how to fit in with people whom I
am not comfortable with, who are not in my discourse group. This will benefit me in the
6
Tamburello
future for when I join the Medical field. It will benefit me because being in a health field
means dealing with a lot of people who have different histories and backgrounds and I
will have to be able to work with them to make them comfortable as well as making
myself comfortable. Studying discourse communities is important because it allows you
to look at language differently. It allows you to see how language helps communities’
function. Studying it benefits me specifically because next time I join an unfamiliar
discourse, I will be better prepared to make myself, one of them.
APPENDIX ONE-OBSERVATIONS
7
Tamburello
Observations of Food Pantry--- DOING STUDY MARCH 26
How do they greet each other at the start? Very casual. “hey whats up” How are people talking? Casual…some say ma’am and sir (mostly older
people)o Hand gestures-simple, things tossed around, high fives, ‘knuckle punches’o Who is looking at who-everyone talks to each other very friendly o Hugs/handshakes? Some husbands and wives give kisses, women give
each other hugs, men handshakes How do the workers communicate and get ideas across? Text? Email?
Facebook? By text or phone call Are people shy? Some people don’t say anything just do it for the community
service Body language? Kind, casual, everyone seems close and friendly How do they talk about each other? No one is mean behind anyone’s back,
people do judge the homeless/low-income families (poorly or feel bad) What do the things say about what they care about or don’t care about? They
don’t care about the well-being of customers “beggars cant be choosers” What kind of people go? Low income families Are there a lot of children? Yes many people bring their children Do they need proof of ID? Yes, they show ID at the front desk and the worker
matches the ID to the address and name on their form. Volunteers? Do they get paid? No, no one gets paid. All volunteer work. For the people who go all the time, do they speak/walk right on through?
People talk to each other, most work together every week so they swap daily gossip.
Do workers chat with people coming and going? The people who come to receive their food usually dump all their problems on the volunteers.
What are the relationships between workers and customers? Casual& limited What kind of system is it to get food? Food is bagged in the back, Meat is
bagged separately, someone brings it up front, the customer gets to choose from different sweets and breads, they give their ticket, and take their food.
What do customers take food in? (bags, plastic bags, bring their own bags, Etc.) Some bring their own carts or baby carriages, but the food is bagged in large brown paper bags
APPENDIX TWO: INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS RICHARDS
Interview With Chris Richards-Food Pantry
8
Tamburello
Leanna: How did it all start?Chris: Hungry people. (Laughs) The East Coast Christian Center has been here since 1985. A few years ago the church decided they would hold a center for low-income families to get some service for their families, such as food, toiletries, meat. This was supposed to be a one-time thing until food companies decided to start sending us their non-approved foods instead of throwing it away. We figured, why not feed the hungry if we can! So here we are, five days a week we give out free food!
Leanna: Do people steal?Chris: People are unable to steal because all of the food is bagged in the back where only employees are allowed. The food that is out front always has employees around it and they would see if someone tried to take something. We are very giving so I do not see the need for anyone to steal, yet I am sure it happens!
Leanna: How often do the same people come? Chris: We see the same people very often. They are allowed to come once every two weeks and we usually always see familiar faces.
Leanna: How do you become a member?Chris: We are very lenient on our volunteers and always could use more help. Many people end up here by knowing someone, just as you knew someone and ended up here. But if a person hears about us and needs community service hours, they are welcome to walk up here and ask!
Leanna: How do people take advantage of the food pantry?Chris: I wouldn’t say any one takes advantage of it here. We are so lenient and laid back that there should be no reason for people to take advantage, however, there are people who come in late and think it is okay to just because they do not get paid. But it is mainly a respect thing and Sam can tell someone not to come back if they do not respect the rules.
Leanna: How does someone get power?Chris: You earn respect. There is no label of power. But there are people who act as authority figures such as Sam and myself. If someone regularly volunteers, they obviously will have more of a say in what times they would like to come over someone who comes once every two weeks.
Leanna: Why are you here volunteering? Chris: My wife makes me. (Chuckles) We have been doing it for years, it is almost like a job these days. We do it three days a week every week as a family, my wife and I, and occasionally my teenage grandson. We do it for the good faith. We love helping people who are not as fortunate as us!
APPENDIX THREE: CERTIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY FORM (FRONT)
9
Tamburello
10
Tamburello
APPENDIX FOUR: (BACK OF FORM-SIGN & DATE TO MAKE SURE PERSON
GOES NO MORE THAN EVERY TWO WEEKS)
11
Tamburello
Works Cited
Mirabelli, Tony. "Learning to Serve: The Language and Literacy of Food Service
Workers. “Writing About Writing: A College Reader. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and
Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s, 2011. 538-556. Print.
Richards, Christopher. Personal interview. 26 March. 2013.
Swales, John. "The Concept of Discourse Community. “Writing About Writing: A College
Reader. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s,
2011. 466-480. Print.
12