“Mushfaking” & Discourses

A discourse is typically defined as the use of language to share ideas, insights, and information. It is used to help individuals interact with one another regardless if it is the use of words or the exchange of an expression. However, when reading James Paul Gee’s “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction”, he defines discourse as more of a persona that you play when considering the context, relationships, and setting you are surrounded by. An example of this would be, social norms and the same unwritten rules everyone abides by and understands. Furthermore, there are different types of discourses but the ones that stood out to me more were primary non-dominant as well as secondary dominant and non-dominant discourses. A primary non-dominant discourse is your family, it is what you learn in your early stages of life in your home before you go out and interact with others as a part of society. A secondary dominant discourse is when you receive money or status as a result of a discourse, organizations like college or anything you choose to join that gives you some sort of reward. A secondary non-dominant discourse is the mastery of certain discourses that do not necessarily yield social goods such as friend groups, you will not yield rewards but you choose to be around people. Finally, in addition to discourse James Paul Gee also introduces the idea of “mushfaking” which is when you are not fully fluent or literate in a discourse but you try to make it appear as if you are.  For example, when individuals pretend to have the same hobbies and characteristics as others in order to try and fit in.