Are Discourses an effective way of describing who we are?

As I read through what I wrote on Literacy and Discourses in this unit, I noticed that I was not agreeing with everything that I had written; entirely when I read about Discourses. I agree that Discourses can describe our interests, the way we dress, technology, the way we talk and communicate. But I do not think that these things are set in stone, there are always exceptions to the rule. I also do not think that our Discourses become our identities, because as individuals we are all unique. This thinking was spurned by the “high school Discourses” presentation last Tuesday. Terms such as “Nerd, Jock, Prep, Emo..” do not accurately describe an individual, people are way more complex than that. I am not saying that Discourses are not useful, they in fact are quite useful. While reading the writing by George Carlin, identifying the Discourses of George and Mary really helped me understand them better for who they were. However, in a presentation that I was a part of, I noticed a fact about Discourses: They do not apply to everything. Discourses have their time and place when they are useful and effective, but this should not be all the time. The movie about Thierry was an interesting way of seeing how ones Discourses can change and how one can become involved with various other Discourses. I feel that I now have a much better understanding of discourses than I did earlier in the unit.

I found the subject of literacy to be much more understandable and transparent, I enjoyed the vignettes that allowed me to really flesh out my own experiences and gain more of an understanding of literacy, besides what is generally accepted by society. I now understand that literacy is much more about communication than being able to merely read and write. Reading and writing are only as effective as the messages each carry.

 AreDiscoursesaneffectivewayofdescribingwhoweare ?