Gee and Discourses #1

In the article Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction, James Paul Gee introduces you to the idea of Discourses. Gee defines a Discourse as “forms of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions, and clothes”. In other words, a Discourse is what makes up a persons identity. According to Gee, we can tell when a person is a part of a certain Discourse or not depending on the way they act, talk, or write. Gee states that their are two separate Discourses that allow us to conclude whether or not someone is part of a certain Discourse or not.  These are primary and secondary Discourses. According to Gee, our primary Discourse is basically how we act and interact in our home life  and the way we are brought up through our family and close peers. Our secondary Discourse is how we act in public and social situations. We change our Discourse in different situations in order to fit in a certain group, place or clique. However, Gee believes that we can differentiate people who do not belong in certain Discourses. For example, growing up I was more advanced in school then my friends.  When we were separated into learning groups I would be put with the more advanced students while my friends were with the lower advanced students. I wanted to be with my friends so I would try and make the teacher believe that I couldn’t understand the work in the advanced learning group in hopes that I would be moved with my friends. Luckily for me, my teacher didn’t buy it. It was very obvious to her that I was far more advanced then my friends, and therefore she did not move me.  No matter how hard I tried, my teacher could tell that I was trying to fake my discourse.