Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Readers Response #19


In the article, Memoria Is a Friend of Ours: On the Discourse of Color, Victor Villanueva introduces a new look at discourse. His main concern is that he is an “uneasy mix of races that make for no race at all yet find themselves victim to racism” (176). He believes that his discourse should reflect that he is an American, from Brooklyn, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll, with an ancestry dating back before the Europeans, a person of color and an academic.

Victor Villanueva’s article can be related to Gee’s concept of primary and secondary discourse. Villanueva suggests that he was born into a primary discourse by prejudice. He believes that there should be a discourse for all of his interests having nothing to do with the color of his skin.

QD: 7. I believe that Villanueva was born into the Discourse of being Puerto Rican. I believe that his secondary Discourse included the things that he liked or hobbies, although they weren’t the same as other people his race. I think it is more complex than Gee’s article accounted for. There is always more to a person than the race they are born into.

I think that Villanueva is making a very good point about discourse communities. Almost every discourse communities come along with a certain social view or stereotype. I liked the examples provided to back up what Villanueva was trying to accomplish.

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