Adapting to discourses

   A former alcoholic leaving rehab for the first time, after spending one year being away from his family and friends. He is terrified of what others will think of him. What will people think when they see him? How will people react if he's talking to them and he mentions his experience? He doesn't know how to adjust and return to the person he used to be.

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   I was reading an article for my Composition Studies class back in spring this year when I came across this sentence that was salient to me.

Acquiring the ability to function in a dominant discourse need not mean that one must reject one's home identity and values, for discourses are not static, but are shaped, however reluctantly, by those who participate within them and by the form of their participation (1318).

   This sentence was very relevant to me because I can relate to it based on my experience. If I apply it to my life, the dominant discourse that I am functioning in now is this foreign land and culture that is becoming a comfortable zone. Just because I live in this place and culture doesn't mean that I should forget my identity and values. The discourses I learned while growing up in the Philippines and the new discourses I am learning here in Canada are both not static. These discourses are shaped on how I participate in them.

    For example, if I compare the 19-year-old me when I first arrived here to the present me, I would say that I've grown. I've grown a lot. I became a better person. I became more open-minded, and I have gained more confidence compared to the shy, quiet, and soft-spoken 19-year-old me. Four years ago, my routine was school, work, and home. Now, it's school, work, home, friends, and more friends. I have met different people over the years and I'm glad that I still see some of them now. Despite getting used to my "new" life here, I still want to maintain the values I learned and acquired when I was growing up in my former country because they keep me grounded.

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    A student transferring from university to college. A military person coming home to his or her homeland after living in a war-stricken country. A toddler adjusting in a day care after living at home with parents. Losing a loved one you have lived with for so long, that it's difficult for you to adjust without this person. 


Source:

         Delpit, Lisa. "The Politics of Teaching Literate Discourse." The Norton Book of Composition Studies, Ed. Susan Miller. 2009.