The Mismeasure of Man

Prompt One:

In the Mismeasure of Man, the author brings recognition to more than one discourse community during this time. In the simple sense, there are two major discourse communities, the communities of those that saw possible equality between races, then there are those that will always see isolation between races. For both discourse communities, they all seemed to match Swales’ benchmarks for a discourse community.

Some individuals believed that with proper education and standard of life, blacks were able to be “raised” to a white level. These individuals represent a discourse community in the sense especially that they had a broadly agreed set of common public goals, to find a sense of equality between the black and white races. During this time, individuals were ranked among race, sex, and class, resulting in the fact that most of those that were highly ranked did not search for equality as much. Some of the members of this discourse community could be referred to as “soft-liners” that also agreed blacks were inferior, but believed a person’s right to freedom did not depend upon their level of intelligence. Thomas Jefferson believed that no matter their degree of talents, it should be no measure of their rights.

Then, there was opposite community of individuals that believed that blacks would always remain at a lower level compared to whites. These members were also considered to be part of a discourse community because they also had a broadly agreed set of common public goals, had mechanisms of intercommunication among its members, had acquired some specific lexis, and had a threshold level of members with a suitable degree or relevant content and discoursal expertise. Many “important” people during this time saw whites as superior. There were those referred to as “hard-liners” that believed blacks were inferior and that their biological status justified enslavement and colonization. The author states that the three greatest naturalists of the nineteenth century did not hold blacks in high esteem.

Prompt Two:

Focusing on the second discourse community, may members of this community did not hesitate to express their beliefs on this idea that blacks were incredibly inferior to whites and that it should always remain that way. Although some of them had different beliefs as to why blacks were inferior and why it would remain that way, they all had a level of communication within the community.

How these individuals expressed their beliefs and opinions, a lot of them wrote about it, allowing for large audiences to be able to read an identical text. The author also says that all leading scientists followed social conventions and compared the anatomy between races, allowing for large audiences to complete this comparison as well. This also allows for members of other discourse communities in the world to relate to them on a discourse level. For instance, Benjamin Franklin had hoped that America would become a domain of whites. Charles Darwin wrote about the future where the gap between human and ape would increase by the anticipated extinction of such intermediate as chimpanzees and Hottentots. Although these two individuals expressed their beliefs differently, they were both relating to a common outcome, that blacks would always be inferior to whites and whites would always be at the highest ranking.

This allows for members of other discourse communities to find themselves as members of one big discourse community. Although they all may have different forms of communication between one another, they all share a common belief, opinion or goal. The author states that he does not cite the statements in order to release skeletons from ancient closets, but to bring recognition to the statements made by the men who have justly earned our highest respect in order to show that white leaders of Western nations did not question the propriety of racial ranking during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The author does not seem to find himself as a member of this discourse community, but instead bringing acknowledgement to those who spread the “knowledge” of what this discourse community was responsible for creating.

Prompt Three:

As mentioned above, the author brings acknowledgement to the statements made by men who have justly earned our highest respect in order to show that White leaders of Western nations did not question the propriety of racial ranking during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Having no internet access or form of communication in that sense, the opinions and beliefs of those few individuals that were highly respected at this time were valued. These scientists, naturalists, etc. believed in racial ranking and that whites were at the highest ranking, contributing the American Jim Crow laws.

The American Jim Crow laws represent all of the laws that enforced racial segregation in the South in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The leaders and those that were admired during this time all had beliefs that blacks were not held in high esteem, encouraging the American Jim Crow laws. Since all of these individuals were favored, it caused people of society to also value their morals and beliefs. Many people at this time had similar beliefs and opinions, and since society was ran by whites, it was uncomplicated to create these laws against blacks that most members of society would agree on. Also, since these people wrote and talked about these ideas, as mentioned before, large audiences were able to be aware of identical texts and ideas.