WRITING AND CONTEXT
Hello readers. Having discovered, from our writing trainees and
those who approach us at writers’ hub 256, that there is need for them and
other writers to understand what context in writing is, below is a simple break
down to help you understand why and how to incorporate context in our pieces of
writing.
According to Fellowes and Oakley 2014, “writing is the use of language to compose text for the purpose of
communication language.” The field of writing is diverse in style,
situation and purpose. In each of its specialties, writers are called to a
gradual process of appreciating the broad base of knowledge to be effective
writers.
Writing, like any other mode of communication, has the
important element called CONTEXT. Context is one of the four cardinal components
of writing that include context itself, text form, the process of writing and
conventions. But among these, context is everything to define the when, where,
who, why and what of the writing. It sheds a light on the purpose of the
writing that propels a given topic to a given audience. Context provides the
background and articulates the thesis or purpose of what is being written and
thus precedes the central parts of the writing unless context is being given on
an in-text citation.
Sometimes, context is defined by who we are communicating to.
The context in which we write email to our close relatives is different from the
context in which we write to our supervisors at work. Therefore, the general context
in which we write does not only take account of the composer personal context
but also the responder personal context or lens, the social context and
historical context.
Context is a fundamental factor that may infringe on the
meaning of any piece of writing. It takes consideration of everything outside
the story such as the understanding of the reader, the value system, beliefs
among others that may even influence the choice of words and inspire scrutiny
on use of synonyms to guide and influence an existing set of perceptions. In providing
context, the writer in understanding the perception of the reader well knowing
the setting and purpose of a writing, assumes that the reader knows nothing to
do with what is being written about but is likely to relate according to
context.
Let me put the explanation of what context is in context.
Have you ever been told to write about anything but you do not know how to
start, organise and format it? All you needed in such a situation was context.
Here is a simple narrative to help us put what context is into context itself:
There lived a king in ancient Africa, who with the advice of
the wise council, decided to appoint a blind man on the council for it was
believed that the blind had the power to foresee what the future held. The king
summoned the five blind men, one from each of the five chiefdoms, and subjected
them to an aptitude test from which the winner would seat on the stool that
guided the kingdom’s prophesy. The king owned a forty-year-old elephant as a
pet that always grazed in the thorny backyard just south of the stream that
crossed the kingdom.
Taken to the king’s palace backyard, each of the blind men
held a specific body part of an elephant. The first held its tusk, the second
held its trunk, the third held its leg, the fourth sat on its back and held its
ears and the fifth blind man held its tail. Asked by the king what they were
holding, not knowing that it was an elephant, the first blind man said he was
holding a spear, the second said he was holding a snake, the third said he was
holding a tree stump, the fourth said he was holding a fan and the fifth blind
man said he was holding a rope.
None of the blind men said that he was holding an elephant.
This is because of context and each story even if written without the writer’s
context stands a chance of being interpreted or misinterpreted in the reader’s
context that may be shaped by the latter’s history, values and beliefs. In the
case of the blind men, their context was guided by touch and what they felt
related to what they had touched before.
If each blind man was told to touch and feel the elephant
entirely, chances are that they would have said it is a cow, a hippopotamus or
an elephant especially for those that knew that the king tamed an elephant and
grazed it in his backyard.
Another situation is that if the blind men were told that
they were touching a part of an animal’s body, some of them would have been
able to study the part and tell what animal it was.
The other context of the story is that the king wanted the
majority of them to fail and at least one of them to pass the test. However, in
writing, the writer seeks the understanding of the reader who may even be in
position to critique the writing. Therefore, a writer seeking that the readers
understand, would have demystified the question to the blind men as follows, “This
is an elephant, what part of its body are you touching?” Chances would have
been that all the blind men would have guessed the animal right.
In designing context and understanding audience, the writer
must put into context the assumptions of what may prevent the understanding of
the reader and address them with formal clarity.
Context also helps the readers to understand the angle of
argument and arrays criticism that subscribes to a different contextualization.
The number of words in the writing is the same to every reader but what changed
is CONTEXT.
Below is another example of what context is:
Question: “Within the context of the post 1986 bush war era
in Uganda, with reference to the Amin regime, to what extent did successive
governments impact the lives of women in Uganda?”
Response context: “In 1986, President Museveni took over
power in Uganda and almost immediately started on affirmative action programs
to empower women due to his beliefs in inclusion. During the course of his
ongoing thirty-four years of presidency, the nation celebrates the
unprecedented empowerment of women unlike any other past regime in Uganda.”
The above introduction of the response holds the contexts
with the principles of what (affirmative action programs), where (Uganda), when
(1986, thirty-four years later), who (President Museveni, women) and why (Due
to his beliefs in inclusion).
To write a good context one must understand the big ideas and
environment of their context, relate their writing to these big ideas and gather
real world examples and situations some through imagination and hinting on
reality.
From the above, you do not
simply write a context, you create it.
For questions about writing, contact Writers’ Hub 256
Plot 92 Semawata Road Ntinda Kampala, Uganda
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