We are and do in contexts. We are always part of preexisting networks located in time and space. No one gets out, gets to be independent. Just doesn’t happen.

Some folks think of contexts as situations, and “situation” seems simple enough. A situation is “a set of circumstances in which one finds oneself” or “the location and surroundings of a place” (OED). Situation seems to name a fixed setting in which events might happen. The phrase “context” adds a bit of complexity: “the circumstances that form a setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood” (OED). A context is the circumstances in which we find ourselves, and those circumstances establish a “setting” that shapes and gives meaning to who we are and what we do. I’ll dig further into this Big Idea in my notes on rhetoric below. Here, it’s enough to know that making sense of a text, making sense of anything means putting it in a context.

Thinking about situations as a writer gets even more complicated. Here’s how I would like us to approach the “situations” for which we compose texts.

• We will assume that each situation is composed of interactions among people and things. Situations are not tidy prearranged stages on which readers and writers each play preassigned roles and the furniture stays where it was placed. Each situation is evolving over time as things happen and texts circulate and the physical conditions and social relations change. Situations are not fixed locations.
• We will acknowledge that situations are dynamic and often contradictory. People are shaped into who they are—head, heart, and body—by their context, and people shape their context into one that meets their needs through encounters with people and things in the context. People are shaped and also shape the situations in which they find themselves.
• We will approach situations critically. The settings—situations and contexts—in which we find ourselves are open networks of people and things that will pressure us to be and do in particular ways and that can be changed to make space for being and doing in different ways. We will always ask, How did this situation come to be? Whose interests are served? Who is excluded?

So what’s the take home? Here’s what I’ve got with props to Michael Cole (1996):

• Situations provide us with location and process. When we get ready to create texts, we think about the situation as the “whole situation” that “surrounds” what we will do, so we spend some time figuring out the demand for information, the audience, and the limitations we need to accept. And, at the same time, we look at the situation as activity that is already weaving parts together and giving texts coherence, so we look for openings to join in and take this weaving in directions that interest us. Situations are both a locale into which we send text and ongoing activity that join in an affect. Both, not one or the other.
• Situations come with constraints and opportunities. We avoid viewing context as container because that makes it easy to lose track of the complexity of context as occurring before, during, and after the composing we will do. We will let our contexts shape what we write and how we manage grammar and organization, and we will also push back against expectations and try to change the conversation that is always already changing. Both, not one or the other.

A quick word about the word “domain” here ’cause I use that word a bit. Within any situation or context, there are groups at work making meaning in specific ways. In college, disciplines like biology and art are good examples as are the Rock Climbing Club or the Moslem Student Union. Of course, domains are not limited to school. Video gamers and beer brewers are other examples of people operating in a domain. Don’t believe me. Go talk to a brewer about beer and listen for specific ways of making meaning.

References

Cole, M. (1996). Cultural psychology: A once and future discipline. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. (see especially pp. 131-137)

Resources

HtWA. Context is taken up in the discussion of genre (Chapter 2), and there are chapters on audience analysis (Chapter 4) and writing a rhetorical analysis (Chapter 14). Good start.

OWL. There’s a decent discussion of rhetorical situation that goes on for a bit.