Not all human beings are same, there are many different cultures, behaviors, languages, and personalities which can combine to create different aspects of a person. But is there any word to describe how a person behaves? James Gee’s article about what he calls discourses, tackles this concept of describing human behavior by referring to aspects of human behavior as “Discourses” Gee describes Discourses as “a sort of ‘identity kit’ which comes complete with the appropriate costume and instructions on how to act, talk, and often write, so as top take on a particular role that others will recognize” (Gee. 7). These Discourses, as Gee describes them are reflective of who you are as a person and are obtained at a young age. You are born into your primary discourse, which is based upon your family and socioeconomic status, or you acquire secondary discourses as you grow up such as speaking a second language. James Gee claims that there is a discourse which allows you the most opportunity in life, called the dominant discourse, but if you are not currently within the discourse, you will never be able to fully enter it. I disagree with Gee on this aspect as I believe that just because you are not in a certain discourse does not necessarily mean that you are forever barred from ever entering it. Author June Jordan  expresses the the ideal of the benefits of meta-knowledge in her book titled “Nobody Mean More to Me Than You And the Future Life of Willie Jordan” in which she describes teaching “black english” to students. Along with June Jordan, Lisa Delpit also backs the ideals of being able to fully engulf into a discourse in her book “Literacy A Critical Sourcebook”. Though I disagree with Gee, I do agree with Gee’s claim that “mushfake” techniques and meta-knowledge can help you gain more knowledge of a particular discourse. What I believe though, unlike Gee, is that these two techniques can not only lead you to learn about a discourse, but can fully enter you into it.

Meta-knowledge is an important aspect to being fully immersed and accepted into a discourse. Meta-knowledge as defined by Gee can lead to “seeing how Discourses you have already got relate to those which you are attempting to acquire, and how the ones you are trying to acquire relate to self and society” (Gee. 13). In regards to Gee’s belief, though I do not share all his beliefs, I do stress the importance of meta-knowledge. Unlike Gee I believe that utilization of this ability can allow you to join a discourse. What the quote explains is how once you have gained the knowledge of your own discourse, you can apply this information on your own knowledge to more understand something else similar to what you already know. In this case Gee is suggesting that you can use your prior knowledge to further understand a new discourse and enter it. This is where Gee and I differ in opinion as Gee claims you can get close to being fully adapted to the dominant discourse but you can never fully enter, while I believe that mastery of meta-knowledge could allow one to become accepted into the dominant Discourse. Lisa Delpit speaks against Gee’s notion of not being able to enter a dominant discourse without being encultured into it. Delpit discusses a story about a woman who she calls Marge and how she, with the help of her friend Susan, was able to enter the the dominant discourse of a doctoral program at a university. Marge was not currently in the correct discourse which the university was looking for in the doctoral program, but was able to enter the discourse with meta-knowledge. As Delpit claims “Marge talked through her ideas while Susan took notes. Together they translated the ideas into the ‘discourse of teacher education’. Marge then rewrote the papers referring to their conversations and Susan’s extensive written comments” (Delpit. 549). Marge was able to use Meta-knowledge that she had to be able to fully immerse herself into the new discourse. The meta-knowledge Marge used came from her prior intelligence. She took information from someone who was already accepted into the discourse and used it to make sense of the information in her own way. Later in the text, it is discussed how Marge “became one of the most sought-after research assistants in the college” (Delpit 549). Delpit provides proof against Gee’s claim of being unable to fully join a discourse, and also provides evidence of the advantages which meta-knowledge can bring in regards to joining a discourse.

Mushfake is a prison term which mean to make do with that you have. Using a mushfake discourse would be a term used to describe a person who may use some of the information or knowledge which they have from their own discourse, to try and “make do” and function in another discourse. The tension that comes out of this comes from Gee’s claim that a person can not just enter a discourse and be accepted. Gee states “Discourses are not mastered by overt instruction, but by enculturation into social practices through scaffolded and supported interaction with people who have already mastered the Discourse” (Gee 7). This quote from Gee speaks against the ability for a person to be accepted into a discourse solely from overt instruction and observation. To Gee, to be able to be accepted into a discourse, one must step out of the “classroom” and enculture themselves within the discourse they desire to come close to mastering. Though I see what Gee means about not learning everything solely from instruction but also learning from experience, I disagree that mushfake tendencies can not fully bring you into a discourse. “Mushfake” is the beginning to learning and adapting, mimicking those around you is the start to understanding how a certain society or behavior works and it paves a road to being accepted. In June Jordan’s book, she taught a class called “Black English” where she taught students how to talk in the black dialect of English. In this they wrote a letter to the local police department in black English after a member of their classes brother was shot and killed by police. When discussing the letter, Jordan says “Should the opening, group paragraph be written in Black English or Standard English” (Jordan 371). This quote expressed by Jordan provides evidence of the ability to be fully immersed within a discourse. Before this class, none of the students were in the written black english dialect, but after overt instruction in a classroom and mushfakes techniques of writing in Black English based off of prior knowledge and a set of rules, the students were able to fully enter the discourse and consider themselves fluent. The students, through the mushfake methods of using what they already knew about spoken black english and written standard english were able to make their way into the written black english discourse to the point where they could choose which “english” they wished to type in.

 

I rewrote these paragraphs because they were my two body paragraphs and they needed more input from my claim to fit the prompt. The difference between these two body paragraphs and my old ones are that these support my claim more and they also better explain the topics of mushfake and meta-knowledge. Another difference is that the quotes also better support my overall claim.