For the past week or so, my ENG 111 students have been coping with some problems I’ve set for them as they construct research posters for next week’s NMC student conference on Hunger and Homelessness Awareness. I’ve asked them to include a pathos image (one that appeals to emotions and values) to dramatize a key component of the argument presented in the text of their posters. They also have to use credible research to analyze a current issue relating to poverty, food/housing insecurity, or homelessness in our region. In asking them to combine academic research with a direct emotional appeal, I am asking them to build a bridge across the scholarly chasm between objectivity and subjectivity.

Teachers know how difficult it is to get students to pay attention to careful, more in-depth analysis. In our classes we use case studies, applications, and even humor to keep our students engaged enough to synthesize the ideas in our courses. Rhetorically, we academics use pathos to obtain and maintain the attention of our student audiences. However, academics are also very squeamish (sometimes to the point of denial) about using emotions and values in research. For good reasons, we want to focus on details and facts and put those together to come up with valid interpretations, not just interpretations that confirm our own biases. The emotionally charged nature of my 111 class topics (poverty, homelessness, hunger) present an added complication because people experiencing such conditions are often stereotyped, and even images that are “real” can demean people by showing them in their most abject moments.

On our first poster workshop day, we spent some time considering images pulled up from various Google searches and asking: Does the image stereotype? Is it relevant to my specific point? Does it encourage voyeurism or respectful reflection? With just a little prompting, students began explaining to each other why various images they had chosen wouldn’t work. No, the unshaven and unwashed man sleeping on the street in a fetal position was too stereotypical and focused on the man’s pain in a voyeuristic way. No, that happy family in front of a house is only vaguely related to the topic. The practice of using pathos can and will often go awry. I ask students to enter this ethically ambiguous space because this type of communication is common and necessary. While I cannot ensure that they master it, I can give them some strategies to cope with it and get better at gauging how it will work in different contexts. If you happen by one of their research posters next week, take a look at some of the images, and you might see some of the dilemmas they were facing.