"Dare We Say 'I'?" by Ruth Behar

In the article “Dare We Say ‘I’?” by Ruth Behar, the author is interested in a new tendency in scholarly writing, personal stories. Thru this, the author is trying to show the reader that personal stories in academic writing are not selfish stories, but they are stories that unravel new cultural mysteries or create a deep connection between past historical events and recent movements.

This article’s study is based on previous writing experiences from different authors and how these additions of personal stories in these books have shown new aspects of cultural history. Some of the books used in the observation of the article are “A Room of One’s Own” by Virginia Woolf, “I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala” by Rigoberta Menchu, and “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men” by James Agee among others. The author used these well-known and respected books to show how their author’s personal testimonies have affected views of various social problems talked about in these books.

The author learns from this study that personal experiences are helpful in clarifying certain cultural misconstructions, but they do not entirely solve the problem that papers should be written only theoretically without any kind of personal writing. The author expects that the reader should respond to this article with a clearer understanding of how personal writing can be included in scholarly papers and how this writing can influence narrow-minded, cultural views. The author also explains that there is a limit between including personal experiences that create a connection to a social problem and creating these personal experiences into an autobiography.

I agree with the author’s position in this argument. Personal writing can help influence cultural views and expose different aspects of a past event thus helping the audience have a clearer understanding of these past events and influence their views on the matter. This kind of writing will help in the next assignment by creating a connection between a personal experience I’ve had and my topic and explain to the audience why I have an interest in the topic.