Running head: DISCOURSE COMMUNITY ETHNOGRAPHY

Discourse Community Ethnography

Ianellie Munguia

The University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1301

Professor Hernandez
Discourse Community Ethnography 2

Introduction

Many researchers have explored the concept of a discourse community by trying to decipher how

exactly these communities gain new members, or how they establish a set of beliefs or their

values. Although these questions hold a degree of importance, it will not directly help in

identifying a discourse community. The best explanation for this concept is that discourse

operates within conventions defined by communities (Swales, 1990, p. 217), which is where

Swales six characteristic come to great use when identifying a discourse community. In order to

identify a discourse community, these six characteristics must be met: a common goal, a form of

intercommunication, a method to provide information, genres, lexis, and a form of membership;

these six characteristics will be further explained in this paper. By viewing certain fictional

worlds and applying these characteristic, researchers can gain a better understanding as to how

these different communities operate.

Characteristic One

The first characteristic states that there must be an agreed set of rules among the

community. Swales mentioned in his article that these goals are meant for improvement in a

specific area, which varies within different communities (Swales, 1990, p. 220). During the first

season of the series, one of two common goals seen is to lessen youth crimes at neighboring high

schools. Once that is set to mind, the next one comes into play, which is going to one of the high

schools and remain undercover for whatever the amount of time that it may be. The

understanding as to why they must remain undercover for x amount of time can be explained

by characteristic two.
Discourse Community Ethnography 3

Characteristic Two

Swales states that there must be a form of communication within the members of the

community (Swales, 1990, p. 221). The main form of communication in 21 Jump Street is

verbal. Since these undercover officers tend to get caught up in their missions, a meeting time

and place is established. This is seen throughout the season but in one particular episode, where

Officer Judy Hoffs is sent undercover to a Catholic school for girls to investigate a selective

number of students who may be guilty of arson. Throughout this episode, Officer Hoffs is

constantly meeting with other undercover officers to discuss the matters of the situation and how

they can best solve the problem (Hasburgh, Cannell & Bowman, 1987a). Communication is

critical, especially for this group of officers because they then need to provide some sort of

information back to their Captain.

Characteristic Three

In relation to the second characteristic, the third characteristic involves the exchange of

information between the members of the discourse community. As said in the previous

paragraph, these officers meet at certain times of the day for the sake to discuss tactics and

procedures that will enable them to expose or catch their suspect. In his article, Swales states that

if there is no sharing of information within a certain group of people, then it cannot be labeled as

a discourse community (Swales, 1990, p. 221). Lack of information communicated among the

group can lead to many undesired situations; someones cover could be exposed, necessary

precautions may not be put into place, above all, lack of information will result in the shutdown

of this undercover division, causing this discourse community to no longer exist.

Discourse Community Ethnography 4

Characteristic Four

A discourse community may contain one or more genres, which simply means that there

must be some sort of text involved. One important part in this section of the article is that Swales

says that genres are how things get done (Swales, 1990, p. 221), which is true in the case of the

show 21 Jump Street. Police reports are the main type of genre in the season, and this becomes

visible in episode seven, when the Jump Street headquarters is being operated by a new head,

Captain Alex Fuller. By incorporating a structuralized form of documentation, Captain Fuller

makes this special division feel more like a police unit (Hasburgh, Cannell, Nuss & Manners,

1987b). It must be noted, that Captain Fullers way of managing Jump Street headquarters was

not initially accepted, it was a big change for these officers and took some time for them to get

adjusted to it. Swales says that a group must first settle down and work out their communicative

proceedings and practices before they can be recognized as a discourse community (Swales,

1990, p. 222). Towards the end of the episode, the officers come to terms with how their new

Captain operates, and sees how it can benefit them in their field of work.

Characteristic Five

Specific lexis must be acquired by the discourse community; in so that it will help the

community achieve their goal (Swales, 1990, p. 222). Lexis are special words that are used and

understood by the discourse community, in the case of the Jump Street division, they use these

lexis within their community and then learn other lexis to go undercover in other communities.

The importance of doing this is to be able to communicate with high schoolers of every

background or status. In every episode of the first season, these officers are learning different

types of slang in order to communicate with a certain types of people. In one particular episode

in the season, two officers go undercover as troubled youth, they act and express themselves in a
Discourse Community Ethnography 5

thuggish manner; this helps them gain the trust of a suspected drug dealer and as an outcome

they arrest the drug dealer (Hasburgh, Cannell, Lemkin & Jackson, 1987c). There is another

episode with a similar story line, only in this one the officers dont use the same lexis of those in

gangs; they actually use the exact opposite. They are among rich, clean-cut looking teens, and

the officers way of speaking take much into account with connecting with these teens. There are

moments when the officers say the wrong words which make the teens question them; it is

quickly fixed by reverting back to the teens slangs (Hasburgh, Cannell, Nuss & Winter, 1987d).

True to what the article says, lexis are vital for the community to accomplish their goal(s).

Characteristic Six

Lastly, a discourse community has changing memberships; new comers will be

apprentices, or trainees, and older members will leave the community by death or by voluntary

or involuntary reasons. As this happens, there must always be a good ratio of new members and

experts, in order for the community to survive (Swales, 1990, p 222). During the first season,

two ways are seen as to how one becomes part of the Jump Streets division, the first is by

recommendation. Towards the end of the first episode, a character by the name of Tom Hanson

is recommend to take part in the undercover division; he is then accepted and trained. The

second is by individual choice, it is briefly heard in episode seven. During this episode, the Jump

Street division was temporarily shut down, due to the fact that there werent enough officers.

Once Captain Fuller is placed as the new head of the division, he tells the four remaining experts

of the division that there is a need for recruitment, and to expect applications from many young

looking officers (Hasburgh, Cannell, Lemkin & Bowman, 1987b). This is an important scene, for

the reason that it shows truth in what Swales was saying about the survival of the community.

The Jump Street division would not exist with only four undercover officers, it is obvious that
Discourse Community Ethnography 6

the team wouldnt last, and for that reason new members must be taken in, and with time there

will be that balanced ratio of trainees to experts.

To continue with the sixth characteristic, the officer usually has the option to leave the

undercover division whenever theyd like, but they choice may not always be up to them. Since

the division is mainly revolved around youth crimes, being around high schoolers, young looking

officers will tend to stay longer than those who start to show age. The last way that someone

involuntarily leaves the division is by death, which in the first season only happens once in

episode seven.

Conclusion

One limitation for this project, on my part, was that I only had access to the first season

of the 21 Jump Street series. Though it was fairly easy to identify the six characteristics

throughout the first season, I recognize that there would have been an abundant set of examples

for each characteristic, examples that perhaps could have illustrated Swales concept on a greater

scale. As for Swales article, some of the characteristics were understandable and straightforward,

which was great, but for others the idea was vague and lacked a specific definition to it.
Discourse Community Ethnography 7

References

Hasburgh, P., Cannell, S. (Writers), & Bowman, R. (Director). (1987a). The Worst Night

of Your Life [Television series episode] In B. Nuss (Producer), 21 Jump Street.

Hasburgh, P., Cannell, S., Lemkin, J. (Writers), & Jackson, D. (Director). (1987c).

Blindsided [Television series episode] In B. Nuss (Producer), 21 Jump Street.

Hasburgh, P., Cannell, S., Nuss, B. (Writers), & Manners, K. (Director). (1987b). Gotta

Finish the Riff [Television series episode] In B. Nuss (Producer), 21 Jump Street.

Hasburgh, P., Cannell, S., Nuss, B. (Writers), & Winter, G. (Director). (1987d). My

Futures so Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades [Television series episode] In B. Nuss (Producer), 21

Jump Street.

Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community Genre Analysis: English in

Academic and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, pp. 220-222