Blog #6

Over the course of the semester, we have had a constant theme of building or preparing our future or current identity. We have read articles and chapters that talk about the characteristics involved and required for people to adapt and create multiple identities. What one does not realize when creating these identities, is that one is becoming apart of a community. This is the concept that Ann Johns is describing in her chapter. As with any community, there are certain aspects that make it intriguing for people to join, one being their identity. For example, when joining certain clubs, you are joining them because they interest you and you share common characteristics with its other members. People would not be joining clubs or communities if they did not see themselves fit in the environment. But in some cases, one must adjust their identity in order to fit in to the new community. A good example is a college student starting a new position upon graduating. All the student has known for the past four or five years is passing classes and being surrounded with other college students. Once they enter the new position, there can be multiple communities within the workplace, each requiring a certain identity. Sure the person can mushfake it, but to what point can they keep it up without fully committing to the community? At one point, they will have been mushfaking it for so long, that they will have become apart of the community.

One part of the chapter that caught my attention was the figure showing the levels of community. One does not realize how many communities can be apart of an overall identity. One of the examples demonstrated on the figure was that of musicians. That identity is then broken down to possible communities, like jazz and symphonic. Then those are broken down even further. For every community, there are shared values and concepts that members identify with, as mentioned by Johns. Moving away from the overall community are the sub-communities that will involve their own sets of concepts and values that the member must abide too. The point when the member no longer agrees with the ideas that surround that community, is the point they no longer belong to it. With this non-agreeing mentality, it will cause a change in their identity, requiring changes to possibly enter a new community. The situation described could be someone getting fired, moving to a higher ranking position, or simply someone who is looking for something new.

Looking into the future, people will be involved in many types of discourse communities, all needing the participant to acquire a different identity. In a way, this will be inevitable because things are always changing and they will require the people to change with it. The only difference is that people will be able to choose what they want to belong to, keeping their identity unique for themselves and looking forward to future growth in their community.