When reading the first few pages of this book, I immediately noticed that the author, Beverly Daniel Tatum, decides to introduce her job title and her previous research on page 73. In fact, the first sentence is a long run-on that establishes her credibility right away. She mentions her job title as a clinical psychologist, her experience with the topic of racism, her connections with a department of a university, and her ability to teach other people about the topic. Moreover, in part one on page 84, she uses her credibility quite tactically. Tatum states,
"When I was teaching at Mount Holyoke College, one of my students conducted a research project investigating preschoolers' conceptions of Native Americans." Tatum mentions her instance of teaching and the positive outcome of her student initiating a research project to prove that she not only teaches, but she does it effectively.
Tatum then uses her credibility as a foundation for establishing the 'true definitions' of racism. These definitions, found in pages 83-99, establish a sense of logic. For example, when she lists these definitions of racism, she links her claims and evidence in correspondence to these definitions, which makes them seem logical. When she links her credibility and her claims to create this logic, it has the effect of the reader believing what she says.
As I read further into the book, I enjoyed how Tatum not only introduced the perspective of racism from a small child's perspective but actually made it interesting by telling us real conversations she had with her 4-year-old son Jonathan. This story, found on pages 114 through 118, was very interesting and pretty funny. This appeal to ethos, the final rhetorical strategy she uses, has the effect of keeping the readers hooked. And since they were paying close attention to the story, they were paying close attention to her claims made shortly after.
Overall, Tatum establishes credibility, makes logic from her credibility, and makes the readers have a little laugh.
I think that you have a point about how she attempts to use her PhD and experience as a way to establish credibility. I also feel that you're right in stating that Tatum herself feels that this background should be adequate enough for her to gain the credibility of her readers. However, I respectfully disagree with the fact that you believe that she did a thorough job of establishing this credibility. I feel that the main way an author should establish ethos is through the specific piece that they are writing. The way they should go about doing this is by using specific evidence to support their claims. This is why I don't find myself in full agreement with you because I feel that she does not do a sufficient job in supporting more of the claims she has made. Therefore, I no longer find her experience and PhD of much relevance, especially after her lack of directly linked evidence in Part 1. On the other hand, in this response I wish that you had given a specific quote or at least page number (other than the broad range you gave that corresponds to the entire section where she discusses the definitions of race) as to when she effectively "links her claims and evidence in correspondence to these definitions." Later in your post however, I liked the part you wrote about the discussion she had with her 4-year old about race because I myself enjoyed that part of the book as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reply! You're totally right in that I didn't give enough examples when talking about how she used her credibility to create logic. However, I do think you're being a little harsh when you state that her PhD isn't of "much relevance." She might give more examples later in the book, just be patient! Also, we can agree to disagree how effective credibility is established; I think if the author has the suitable prior knowledge and experience and links her claims to her personal experience, there is some credibility being established.
DeleteThanks again for the reply! I look forward to hearing more of your great ideas!
The different perspectives you talk about are very interesting in the context of age, how she sees racism and how it's different for a four year old. It's good that you believe in the author's credibility, both her academic work and the personal experiences she shares. The way you discuss the appeal to ethos, keeping the readers engaged, is a good way to think about the purpose of the writing and the audience's engagement.
ReplyDeleteThis is an awesome start! I can't wait to continue to follow you on this journey. I think that It is very interesting that in your book the use of pathos is used to create credibility for the author. In some other books, like Logans, he mentioned that in his book, the use of ethos and logos were utilized to create credibility. I also find it very interesting that she chose to show the perspective of a young child as opposed to an adult. Do you think she was able to obtain more or less credibility by incorporating humor into her story?
ReplyDeleteThank you! I also found it interesting that she was able to introduce a rather new age group when talking about this subject.
DeleteI think the definitely developed more credibility. It's important to sound educated, but it's even more important to make sure the audience knows that the author also has a sense of humor, making him or her seem more "down-to-earth."