- Gees idea that you cannot fake being in a discourse, you are either in it or you aren’t (Mushfake and faking it till you make it)
- Gees idea of Discourse and Cuddys idea of non verbals
- Gee says you cant fake a discourse but Cuddys ideas conflict when she talks about her big point, fake it till you make it
In Gee’s writing he expresses his idea of a Discourse. Gee refers to Discourses as an “identity kit” for people. Gee describes a Discourse as “… ways of being in the world; they are forms of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities as well as gestures, body positions, and clothes” (Gee 6-7). A Discourse is one of the major identities that describes you. For example if you are protesting against something, say feminism, you are defending that Discourse. You are actively using your words to defend your values and beliefs. Cuddy touches on something similar to what Gee considers a Discourse. She talks a lot about non-verbals, or your body language. A nonverbal is your body reacting to whatever the situation at hand is and by paying attention you can learn a lot from it. “She shows that people who are born with sight and people who are congenitally blind do this [throw their hands up in the air] when they win at a physical competition… they’ve never seen anyone do it… arms up in the V, the chin is slightly lifted.” So not only is your body language speaking for you it is also reacting to situations. Like when you see an angry mother put her hands on her hips, it tells you how they might be feeling. Body language is the part of the “acts” in a what Gee would call a person’s Discourse. Cuddy is on the surface of Gee’s idea, connecting body language to who somebody is. Even though they are talking about two different topics the similarities here are clear. However the views of Gee and Cuddy do not always agree with each other.
Cuddy makes a big point in her speech about faking it until you make it. She firmly believes that if you fake something so much, eventually you can become that. She connects this to a personal story when she was a child. After a crash Cuddy’s IQ dropped and she was told college was not in reach to her. But, her advisor Susan Fisk gave told her she was going to fake it; whether she knew the information, felt scared, wasn’t ready, that didn’t matter (Cuddy 5). She was going to continue faking it not just until she made it but until she became that (Cuddy 5). Over time Cuddy realized that her advisor was right and that she had became what she was once faking. This idea corresponds with Gee’s knowledge of “mushfake.” “‘mushfake’ , a term from prison culture, as ‘making do with something less when the real thing is not available’” (Gee 13)” Gee talks about how you can use mushfake to get into a Discourse. This is another way of saying “fake it, till you make it” as Cuddy argues. Both sides argue that you can fake your way in, however, in my opinion this is incorrect. In a Discourse you are not faking you use “words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities” in that Discourse. If you try to fake it then you don’t actually believe it. Sure you can act a certain way but deep down you know you are faking it, and that is not a Discourse. On the contrary since Cuddys idea of nonverbals and body language only focuses on those two factors, you could fake it until you become it. But when you add in all the variables of a Discourse, it just doesn’t make sense.
