Charge gender: construction of meaning from an interdisciplinary perspective and dynamic

Abstract

This paper discusses and analyzes the interpretative process of the genre charge, taking into account its role in teaching and learning. Therefore, the discussion is based on the approach sociointeractionist of the language, to which the text should be seen as an interactional, creative and social activity. Starting from this point of view, interpreting a text becomes a complex task that requires cognitive and metacognitive strategies. For our debate, we select the Charge entitled "Election to Pope," written by Alberto Bennett (2013). Throughout the text, we show that in the case of cartoons, one of the key requirements is the establishment of intertextuality, especially with the involvement of other journalistic texts. We also observed that, in such circumstances, without proper activation of prior knowledge (knowledge of the world and language, for example), the interpretation made by the reader tends to fail. Because it is a genre composed by mixing verbal with nonverbal (pictorial), we defend that the charge must be regarded as a very rich material to be worked with students in classrooms. The interpretation of the cartoons requires, often involving knowledge not only politics and religion, but also the facts of history, geography, art and of the language. The character humorous, informative and opinionated of the cartoons, as well as the broad social movement to assume the charge make an important instrument for the formation of critical and reflective students, attributes increasingly requested by society.