Gee & Cuddy, to enter a Discourse
What is a Discourse?
A Discourse is made up of a group of people who use certain words, actions, beliefs, values, and distinct body gestures to interact with other members of the group. When an individual is born they become a part of their family Discourse, having their parents values forced upon them. As life moves forward, those individuals may become a part of multiple Discourses. There are many types of Discourses such as, sports, school, home life, work, and many more. Immediately after birth you become a part of your family Discourse. Throughout your childhood you learn different actions and morals from your parents that shape who you are as a person. This becomes one’s primary Discourse.
Primary Discourse Vs. Secondary Discourse
A primary Discourse sets the foundation for the many Discourses to come. Other Discourses do not come as naturally or as easily. Secondary Discourses stray away from the culture of your primary Discourse and become a second nature to you, allowing you to critique your primary Discourse. Secondary Discourses tend to be institutions you become a part of like sports teams, work environments, or school. Each one of these groups have their special lingo that outsiders would not understand along with actions that group members just automatically do without hesitation. Without the ability to perform these simple tasks of a Discourse you are immediately coined as an imposter, faker, and an outsider.
How can one become a member?
James Paul Gee, author of “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction” describes a potential entry into a secondary Discourse by faking membership.Gee explains mushfake as a,
“partial acquisition coupled with meta-knowledge and strategies to ‘make do’”(Gee 13).
Meta-knowledge is a higher level of thinking. One uses background knowledge from their other Discourses to put together a rough understanding of the Discourse in which they are trying to enter. I agree with Gee that one can fake being a part of a Discourse by using background knowledge. There is a point where everyone goes through a period of mushfake before becoming a true member. Sometimes however, mushfaking could potentially raise the risk of members unveiling your true identity as an outsider. Over all it is an effective way to be able to interact with people of the Discourse while learning as much as you can from the encounters with these members.
Amy Cuddy agrees with Gee in her TED Talk, “Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are” stating,
“we could get people to fake it and it would lead them to participate more”(Cuddy 6:57).
This proves that if you mushfake, you will be able to partially be in the Discourse enabling you to learn the ways of the Discourse.This in time could possibly allow you to ultimately be a part of the Discourse. Meta-knowledge must be used in a Discourse to be able to fully understand the standards at which a Discourse holds. Meta-knowledge consists of putting pieces together, observing what’s around you, and trying to put what you think you know about the Discourse to use.
Meta- Knowledge
Gee describes meta- language (a part of meta-knowledge) as,
“a set of meta-words, meta-values, and meta- beliefs” (Gee 9).
Meta-knowledge goes deeper than it appears. The word ‘meta’, means using a higher knowledge, putting a bunch of thoughts together, and weeding out what can not be used for the Discourse along with what can be used. The body language you portray will signify to the other members of the Discourse that you are not a true member. If you fully understand and are a part of the Discourse then you would present nonverbal actions without even thinking twice about if it is the “correct” way to act.
Looking at the other side of the spectrum if you were to use meta- knowledge, you may be able to convince members that you belong to the Discourse. Essentially if an individual pretends long enough and uses the knowledge they acquire every time they are around the Discourse, over time they will become a member whether they started off by faking or not.
The Gray Area
However, I do not believe that you are either in a Discourse or out of a Discourse.
Gee explains, “( ‘apprenticeship’) into social practices through scaffolded and supported interaction with people who have already mastered the Discourse,” as being a step into a membership(Gee 7).
At first Gee states that you are either in a Discourse or you are not, but he then contradicts himself by presenting the idea that one could be at the apprenticeship stage which is, the learning stages of a Discourse.
Becoming a part of a Discourse consists of multiple stages. Being a part of an apprenticeship brings us to that gray area where Gee describes as impossible. Being an apprentice would mean that you are not completely a part of a particular Discourse, but on your way there with the help of other members. Gee thinks if an individual misses the apprenticeship then they have no way of being in the Discourse, but Cuddy disagrees.
Cuddy brings to the table the idea that even though you miss the apprenticeship you still have a fair chance at entering the Discourse, which disagrees with Gee. The example that Cuddy provides is the idea of powerful people versus non powerful people.
She describes powerful people as, “more assertive and more confident, more optimistic” (Cuddy 7:57).
Viewing this scenario as the Discourse being powerful people and looking back at Gee’s ideas through the use of meta-knowledge one could possibly start to become a part of the powerful people Discourse.
Through the use meta-knowledge one could feel powerful by posing in a “power stance” which through faking it, you could skip the apprenticeship and jump right into the Discourse through this other mean. At first you would pretend to be powerful, but then after 2 minutes or so your body would release testosterone, making your mind believe you are more powerful. By believing you are powerful you would start to demonstrate the traits a powerful person would portray. So after time of doing little things like this exercise an individual would pick up on the ways of the Discourse and eventually become a powerful person inside and out.
Language
In order to fully become a member of a Discourse one must understand how to use the language correctly.
As Gee says, “someone cannot engage in a Discourse in a less than fully fluent manner”(Gee 9).
Someone could use grammar correctly, but it may not make sense in the Discourse. An example would be, if someone scored a run in softball and a teammate said, “Yay, we got a goal!”. This is grammatically correct, but completely out of the Discourse of softball.
In softball, players score a run, not a goal. So immediately the players would pick up that this was an outsider. However, this person does seem to be able to communicate with the members of the Discourse in less than a fluent manner. Members still understand what that person is trying to say, it is just obvious that they are not a member.
If a person is trying to become a member of a Discourse and do some actions that would mark them as an outsider, they are not considered a member yet. One must be fluent in the Discourse to be fully apart of it, but individuals can still interact with members if they are not fully fluent.
Cuddy uses the example of her college student who was on the verge of failing. Cuddy encouraged her to speak out in class and ask questions. At first the girl must have said some things that did not fit into the classroom Discourse, but after continuously participating she was able to finally fit in with the classroom discussions.
Disagreeing with Gee, Cuddy “realized that she had not just faked it till she made it, she had actually faked it till she became it” (Cuddy 19:14).
Sometimes by saying or doing the wrong things, one can fake it and then eventually become it. Using my example of softball from above, after saying a wrong phrase, someone would have most likely corrected her. From encounters like that, one would learn and learn until they used all of the correct terminology. I agree that one can fake it until they become it and I disagree that one can only participate in a Discourse if they are fluent. Joining a Discourse entails a lot of time, effort, determination, drive, and willing to learn.
