#27 "Memoria..."

Villanueva, Victor. "Memoria' is a Friend of Ours: On the Discourse of Color." College

     English 67.1 (2009). Print.

Summary

     In his article, "Memoria' is a Friend of Ours: On the Discourse of Color,” Victor Villanueva argues that many compositions of writing and academic discourses lack Aristotle’s idea of pathos. Right away, he introduces “Memoria,” which is known in Greek Mythology as the mother of muses. He promotes the idea of using her in writing by relating back to past experiences, culture, heritage, or memories. He even states, “We must invite [Memoria] into our classrooms and into our scholarship. He really emphasizes how she can help improve one’s writing, which will help writer to touch on every aspect of the rhetorical triangle (because they always seem to focus more on logos and ethos, but lack in pathos).

Dialectical Notebook

In this column you RESPOND to the quotes	In this column you TYPE OUT the quote
Even those this quote is small, and is within a story, I still think it is important. This story, and particularly this part, emphasizes the use of Memoria. Villanueva tries to get his children to learn about their grandfather’s past stories and about their heritage. He is giving readers an example of Memoria (without actually stating that it literally is an example).	(In one of the stories) “Push him for stories of Puerto Rico during his childhood” (171).
In this quote, Villanueva states what a large amount of authors have done in their writing. Some of these authors include, Adell, JanMohamed and Lloyd, San Juan, and several others. All of the authors back up his idea that a memory can create an identity, emotion, and a connection to audience members.	“… memory of an identity in formation, and constant reformation, the need to reclaim a memory of an identity as formed through the generations” (172).
Prior to this quote, Villanueva only discussed his idea of memoria, but in this quote he introduces a new idea. The idea that pathos is almost nonexistent in academic discourses. Readers are able to make the connection of the two ideas: using memoria in writing will help to make pathos stronger in the composition.	“Academic discourse is cognitively powerful! But the cognitive alone is insufficient” (172).
When I read the phrase “there is a common saying” I immediately underlined the sentences because that implies their lexis or language, which is one of Swales’ six characteristics of a discourse community. Language must be acquired in a DC in order to be consideres one. Those not in the DC (and without the translation) would have literally no idea what the phrase means, unless you are in the Puerto Rican and Cuban DC.	“There is a common saying among Puerto Ricans and Cubans: Te doy un cuento de mi historia, literally rendered as “I’ll give you a story about my history” : me, history, and memory, and a story” (175).
At first, one may think that Villanueva is talking about himself, personally, but he clarifies that this is not the case. He is talking about a discourse. (As I took it) he is saying that a specific discourse should reflect this statement, which describes a group of people that do not exactly know where they belong.	“I’m trying to figure this out, somehow: who I am, from where, playing out the mixes within” (176).
Villanueva is emphasizing that by using memoria to discover memories and heritages, it can eventually be used as a tool for the future. It can bring new emotion to discourses, which can help one discover themselves and how he/she relates and interacts with others. He then concludes with a call to action, stating that we can be instructors and encourage students to do the same.	“Looking back, we look ahead…” (176).