A discourse community is defined as “a group of people who share
similar thoughts, ideas and behaviors, as well as common ways of
writing and speaking about theses ideas and practices with each other
and with others.” On multiple occasions throughout the day, the
majority of us as humans move in and out of our own various discourse
communities. When we think about it, you wake up and you're in the
discourse community of your neighborhood. Then you might commute
somewhere, where you would be in the discourse community of
commuters. After that, you might go to school and/or work, where you
are in another discourse community with other students and/or
workers. I did not even mention half of the many other
things a person would do on a daily basis which would result
in the person being among even more discourse communities. But just
from that, that person has been a part of over three different
discourse communities.
Out of all of the videos for discourse
communities, I chose to write about the discourse community of
vegans. I chose this because it is something that I personally relate
to and I feel that I can speak the most effectively about. Vegans
compose their own discourse community because they possess all the
fulfillments of being it's own community. To start, vegans share
their own language or vocabulary. Most people outside of veganism
wouldn't understand words such as
tempeh, Teese, or seitan, which are all common elements in a vegan
diet. Another element that makes vegans a discourse community is the
sharing of common behaviors, practices, and/or procedures for doing
things. This also ties in with the element that a discourse community
shares common goals, beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions. And of
course those practices and behaviors would be to eliminate the
consumption of animal products in all forms. Some may advocate to
non-vegans that this is what they should do, too, but overall, the
groups' goal is to just eliminate animal product consumption and live
a healthier way of life. This one is a little tricky, but if you
think about it, vegans are also a discourse community because they
share common ways of communication with one another. Much like any
other community, they communicate through mutual vegans. Because
vegans don't make up a large percentage of the population, it's not
so easy to find other vegans. So those that do communicate are often
through online forums or other means of vegan meeting groups, such as
a cooking class. One last reason that vegans are their own discourse
community is because there is a common threshold for membership, or a
means of recognizing who does and does not belong to the community.
This one is kind of obvious to tell who does and does not not
participate in this way of life, as a person who does not belong
would consume animal products. While this discourse community may not
seem as typical as other discourse communities, it still fulfills the
requirements of being it's own individual community.
