Skateboarding as a Discourse
an article by skateboarder Zane Getman
Skateboarding is a hobby that people of all ages enjoy engaging in. Some people like to casually roll around on their boards for fun, and will not attempt to do more impressive stunts out of understandable fear for potentially harming themselves or their conviction that they are incapable of landing difficult moves on a skateboard. It is the group of people willing to try these stunts and dedicate themselves to mastering the skateboard until skating gradually becomes an unconscious effort that compose the core of the skateboarding culture.
The skateboarders that make this commitment are members of what researcher James Gee labels as a Discourse. According to him as stated in his published work “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics”, Discourses are exclusive social groups that are distinguishable from one another and defined by certain “language, words, attitudes, [and] values” (Gee 10). Gee describes a Discourse as “a sort of ‘identity kit’” (Gee 7), which can be recognized as different from other Discourses by analyzing its specific “costume and instructions on how to act [and] talk” (Gee 7). Author Darcy Fiano of the University of Connecticut reinforces Gee’s approach to evaluating Discourses in her article “Primary Discourse and Expressive Oral Language in a Kindergarten Student”. She states that there are “seven building tasks of discourse situations” (Fiano 66) that “allow for analysis of the discourse” (Fiano 66); these building tasks include significance, practice (activities), identities, relationships, politics, connections, sign systems and knowledge. Based on Gee’s clarification of Discourses, skateboarding is a Discourse because it possesses its own private aspects such as terminology needed to communicate correctly with other skaters, essential skills on a skateboard needed to prove to others that one is a part of the Discourse, and the developed mindset and adopted attitudes of a true skateboarder. Fiano emphasized the seven building tasks that offer a clear analysis of a specific Discourse, and aspects such as relationships, identities, and significance can be explored in the Discourse of skateboarding.
Types of Discourses
As reported by Gee, Discourses are classified in two ways; primary and secondary. A primary Discourse is “an initial Discourse…one we first use to make sense of the world and interact with others” (Gee 6), which mostly include home-based learned social skills such as language and beliefs influenced by the family and home setting. Skateboarding for the most part is not developed in daily home-based environments, and as a result is not considered a primary Discourse. Secondary Discourses are depicted by Gee as follows;
After our initial socialization in our home community, each of us interacts with various non-home-based social institutions — institutions in the public sphere, beyond the family and immediate kin and peer group. These may be local stores, stores and churches, schools, community groups, state and national businesses, agencies and organizations, and so forth. Each of these institutions commands and demands one or more Discourses and we acquire these fluently to the extent that we are given access to these institutions and are allowed apprenticeships within them. Such Discourses I call secondary Discourses. (7)
What Gee is explaining through this quote is that secondary Discourses are introduced and learned in social environments, as is skateboarding. One may have friends at their school that expose them to skateboarding, or may go to a local park and see people skateboarding which may pique their interest to the point where they pursue the hobby and want to try it themselves. Since this is how people usually aspire to join the Discourse of skateboarding, it is expressed as a secondary Discourse.
Gaining the Perspective of a Skateboarder
To be able to state that one is undoubtedly in the skateboarding Discourse, one must adjust to the mentality of a skateboarder similar to others in the Discourse. To a person not in the Discourse of skateboarding, a staircase may simply appear to them as just that; a way of walking up or down. However, to a skater that is seasoned in the Discourse, they may see the staircase and begin contemplating if it is the right size to jump down, or to do a trick off of, or they may judge the handrail to see if they can jump onto it and skateboard down it.
This difference in perception between Discourse members and nonmembers highlights that there is a specific outlook in skateboarding that only skateboarders have. To adopt this point of view, one must develop the mindset of a skateboarder, which comes with experience gained from participating in the Discourse with other members. This process can occur by being involved with a member of the skateboarding Discourse, engaging in the hobby with them and subconsciously being influenced by their ways of being in the Discourse. This influential association with a member of the Discourse is an important relationship. When discussing building tasks in her article Fiano points out that studying “how [relationships] are being enacted…and used” (Fiano 67) is a crucial way of analyzing a Discourse, which relates to Gee’s concept of how in order to introduce someone to the Discourse one must “apprentice [them] in a master-apprentice relationship” (Gee 11). When a skateboarder decides to show an outsider the basics of skateboarding, they are taking them under their wing and offering them insight into their Discourse. By having such a connection, the outsider can experience different aspects of skateboarding and establish an understanding of the Discourse, and from there work on improving in those aspects to solidify a place in the Discourse.
Competitive and Motivational Relationships
One can delve deeper into skateboarding’s aspect of relationships by observing two skaters playing a game of “skate”. In this game the objective is to successfully do a trick that your opponent is unable to copy, and if they cannot do the same trick then they gain the letter “s”; the first skater to fail enough tricks to spell the word “skate” loses the game. The relationship between two skateboarders engaged in this game can be analyzed as competitive and constructive in how each skater strives to do better than the other one, pushing each other to outdo one another and further advance their own skills and determination in the process. The building task of relationships is essential in analyzing Discourses because it shows how those not in the Discourse can become exposed to it and then gradually join into it through experience.
Among relationships there are more aspects of skateboarding that can be analyzed, such as the importance that skaters in the Discourse place on certain things. Gee lists significance as a building task because it reveals what a Discourse’s standards for things are, and a meaningful part of understanding a Discourse is analyzing what its members “value, believe, and so forth” (Gee 11) since this is a reflection of who the members are as people. An artifact that can be explored in order to analyze the building task of significance and what is deemed acceptable in the skateboarding Discourse are the rules of judging a competition as stated by professional skateboarder Anthony Pappalardo in his article “How Do You Judge A Skateboard Contest”. Being a professional skateboarder and also a judge at the Tampa Pro Street Skating Competition, Pappalardo has helpful insight to offer about what is impressive in the skateboarding Discourse and what specific areas of skating skateboarders view as better than others. Pappalardo points out that factors involved in judging a contest and an individual skateboarder’s skill include “style, speed, difficulty, consistency, trick selection, and originality”. A hardcore member of the skateboarding Discourse relating what is valued in the Discourse sets the bar for those aspiring to join the Discourse. Somebody just getting into skateboarding may be inspired by a judge’s perspective on notable aspects of skateboarding to practice on these specifics in order to stand out.
In skateboarding, language and vocabulary can mark one as a seasoned skateboarder when used fluently in conversation or condemn one as an outsider that has no knowledge of the Discourse when used wrongly. In accordance with this fact, Gee states that to prove yourself to be a part of a Discourse, “it is not just what you say, but how you say” (Gee 7) certain things to other members in a Discourse. This focus on correctly speaking the jargon of the Discourse is embodied by Fiano’s building task sign systems and knowledge, which involve “languages and forms of knowledge” (Fiano 67) that must be adopted in order to pass as a member of the Discourse. A crucial and essential aspect of entering the Discourse of skateboarding is learning the terms that skaters use to communicate with one another. If an inexperienced amateur were to go to a public skate park and were challenged by one in the Discourse to play a game of “skate”, they would be clueless as to what the rules and objectives of the game are. Or if they were asked by one in the Discourse if they are able drop in on a vert ramp frontside and ollie into a boardslide on the opposite lip, they would again most likely be confused as to what these terms mean. Also, if one that has just taken interest in skateboarding goes to a skate shop to get a skateboard, they will most likely not know which size trucks offer the best movement, which skateboard brand has better durability, or which grip tape they will find most comfortable when skateboarding. The fact that one must know exclusive vocabulary in order to understand and communicate with others in the Discourse emphasizes that skateboarding is a Discourse.
By considering Fiano and Gee’s list of seven building tasks including significance, practices (activities), identities, relationships, politics, connections, sign systems and knowledge, one can achieve a thorough analysis of the skateboarding Discourse. When studying the lingual aspect of skateboarding and how one must learn and be able to communicate the proper terminology, the analysis can be clarified by looking into the building task of knowledge. Gee’s overview of how significance provides insight to what members of a Discourse place value on helps to inspect what is impressive to other skateboarders in the skateboarding Discourse, which is emphasized by a professional skateboarder’s personal opinion which has been influenced by his experience as a matured skateboarder. Through inquiry of the terminology, values, and perception of a skateboarder, skateboarding can be introduced as a Discourse and a beginning of understanding for the Discourse can be established. In order to discover the true essences of skateboarding, the analysis must include these key factors of the Discourse.
Works Cited
Pappalardo, Anthony. “How Do You Judge A Skateboarding Contest.” Jenkemmag.com. Jenkemmag.com. Jenkem Magazine. April 7, 2014. Web. October 25 2015.
Gee, James Paul. “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics.” Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics. 171.1 (1989): 5–17. Print. October 25 2015.
Fiano, Darcy. “Primary Discourse and Expressive Oral Language in a Kindergarten Student.” Reading Research Quarterly. International Literacy Association, January 2014. Web. October 25 2015.
