Peter Chew

ERH-101-02

Mrs. Smith

July 6, 2022

Word count: 337

HR: Reflection on my Essay 1 The Literacy Narrative Essay: An Inquiry about a Bilingual Sponsorship. Peter N. Chew

Critical Reflection: An inquiry About a Bilingual Sponsorship

My reflection process for this essay was very helpful, one thing that I discovered in my writing process for this essay. Which changed my perspective on what I need to do for the betterment and improvement of my writing process, and to further improve my ability to criticize the essays of other students.

After reading my essay over, during the Student Conference meeting with Mrs. Smith along with her input on my draft which was extremely helpful, during this process I in noticed many spelling and grammatical mistakes, which made me quite surprised. However, I realized that these errors were because of my decision to write the rough draft very early in the morning at around 3 am when I started. As a result of me being already tried while writing and being more focused on achieving the required word count. I did not pay the careful attention that I should have to the grammar and structure of the essay.

While re-reading my essay I was able to expose my spelling mistakes and repetitive run-off sentences. All of which after the revision I attempted to fix. As I continued writing while doing corrections to finalize my essay. What I learned is that I should have not attempted to write such an essay early in the morning while being fatigued. The proper time to do it is in the evening or afternoon, which is the time that I am aiming for in the next writing process. When it came to peer-review feedback on essays, I found them to be helpful since they hinted at my mistakes and my incomplete MLA format for the essay. While I provided similar critical feedback on my peer’s essays, I enjoyed reading through their essays.

A key takeaway from this reflection is to be fore focused and concentrated in the writing process and to be careful with run-off sentences, repetitive words, and grammatical errors. All of which could be avoided by simply taking breaks and re-reading my essay while in the writing process.

ERH-101-02

Peter Chew

Mrs. Smith

July 21, 2022

Word count: 359

Critical reflection: The Discourse Community of the Border War

When writing this essay, the main thing that caused complications for me was figuring out what specific discourse community (Swales 466) I was going to write about. I eventually choose my involvement in an internet group that focuses on the history of the South African Defense Force. A challenging topic since it required many references and citations, a process in which I am not very skilled. After reading on the subject along with my accumulative knowledge, I started writing the paper. my writing was to capture the historical context for my topic, and how South African society was during that time, such as racial issues, and political instability. However, the main topic was the Discourse Community (Swales 466) of the South African Defense Force during the Border War, and how this specific community had its own unique words and rich exchange of language and differing cultures.

I was introduced to this community when I joined an online communication forum called “Discord”. This specific forum comprised its own community (Swales 466) of people who were also interested in the South African Defense Force subject. In my essay, I tried to explain how different ethnicities that served in the SADF during a wartime environment were able to see past cultural, ethical, and racial differences. They were able to unite against a common cause, this made a peaceful co-existence between ethnicities and a unique clash of language, as both sides exchanged words and lexis for belongingness in that community. This language eventually transformed the culture of this organization (military).

            While writing one of my challenges was finding sources that could provide evidence to back up the claims that I made in the paper, and how to cite them properly. At some point, I even made footnotes for the essay. However, I was told that footnotes are not needed in MLA format but are predominantly used in Chicago format. After consultation, I learned how to properly cite in MLA format after consultation. I enjoyed writing about this subject, I believe this influenced my improvement in writing this paper. Further backed by my interest in and prior knowledge in this subject surrounding the South African Defense Force.

References:

‘Down:. Wo.f’dle, the Concept of I Discourse Community. https://mjreiff.com/uploads/3/4/2/1/34215272/swales.pdf. 

Peter Chew

ERH-101-02

Mrs. Smith

July 26, 2022

HR: Works cited page; The grading rubric provided by the course instructor for The Discourse Community of The Border War by Peter Chew. Peter N. Chew

Essay 4: Reflection on My Previous Writings

My writing over the course of summer session II ERH-101 has been a journey of improvement and learning. I sense that my writing has gradually improved in terms of grammar and punctuation, an aspect of composition which I have had difficulty with in the past. However, there is one aspect that still needs more attention to improve. Writing has always been a liked activity for me, and now having the opportunity to write on topics that I would have never considered has been an interesting experience. I usually tend to read and write papers focused on history or politics. There was a time in high school when I was quite fond of writing about great English authors such as Ernest Hemingway. Nonetheless, during this course, it was quite challenging to get started with the writing.

I spent a lot of time thinking of how I was going to write, and how that would meet the specifications of the prompt. But once I got past the hard part, I would start the transfer of ideas directly to my essay. Paragraph after paragraph of writing continuously until I stopped to take a much-needed break, typically twenty minutes. After which I continued where I previously left off. With the nature of the summer, session time is cut short, and assignments are due in a very narrow window of time. Unlike the traditional academic semester where assignments are due 5 to 8 days in-between, providing ample time to complete them. Summer Session provided a new challenge in which I had to improve my time management skills to complete my assignments and essays on time. For instance, trying to balance my study time between my two classes was at times not very consistent. I would find myself spending too much time doing homework along with studies for my economics class instead of my writing class. It was more of an attempt to find the perfect balance between the two.

Another issue that I noticed a pattern of in my writing was run-off sentences, which remain a problem that reflects in my writing. I understand why I have the habit of making these mistakes, which originated from my upbringing in the Brazilian Schooling system, where I wrote essays mostly in the Portuguese language, which has different grammatical rules and structures along with syntax and so on. Portuguese has a tendency of having long sentences with few periods and more commas. It is quite common to write more than it is needed to explain a concept in Portuguese, something that ends up being a long paragraph could instead be condensed into a few words or a short paragraph in the English language to convey the same message. Learning to write in both languages has always been a unique trait of mine. It can be quite confusing at first to switch between the grammatical rules and spelling since English stems from the Germanic tree of languages and Portuguese is the opposite having its roots in Latin. Both languages have their own unique and complex case of grammatical structures. However, the more challenging one to master is Portuguese, simply because of the vast number of grammatical rules and because unlike English, it has a constant change of grammatical rules that is set by the Association of Scholars of the Portuguese Language.

When I came to the United States for High School, one of several major changes was the instantaneous switch to the English language, all things were virtually in this language. And so I begin to write, speak and think in English. I believe that my grammatical problems are partly due to my bilingual formal education, it is simply that I need to spend more time refining my writing skills and grammatical rules in both languages but specifically English since it serves as my second language. The Portuguese language likes very long sentences that are verbose, while the English language tends to be more concise in conveying an idea which means that sentences are shorter than what one finds in Portuguese. However, one of my biggest keys to successful writing which is receiving a mark higher than a letter grade B on a paper is revision, I cannot emphasize how crucial it was for me to proofread my essay. Because the writing process itself can be very tedious and chaotic, lots of writing in such a short time, virtually spewing words at the screen, all to make something concise out of it, trying to insert a claim, or proof a point takes effort and making sure that your writing makes sense to the reader is very important. The most effective way to do this at least for me thus far was to revise each paragraph, particularly reading out loud. It allowed me to catch spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, run-off sentences, missing periods, or commas…etc. If it wasn’t for my revisions my finished papers would not be as refined.

Another improvement to my writing during the length of this summer course was the extremely helpful faculty meetings with my instructor for ERH-101 Mrs. Smith. The meetings would usually last about half an hour. However, in that short amount of time, I was able to dissect so much helpful information, the instructor’s feedback, and further explanation of the term or topic idea for my paper which I did not understand until the instructor clarified its meaning. Mrs. Smith would also make me read out loud each paragraph of my paper while we both listen for any grammatical mistakes or unconcise information that was written that doesn’t need to be in the paper. For my second essay, “The Discourse Community of The Border War” (Chew 1). I noticed a few mistakes after I had received my paper graded. Despite receiving a grade of ninety-five out of one hundred. The input that I had received from the inductor, made it evident that I should had done more revision. The paper had a few flaws such as grammar, and mechanics, and fragmented sentences, that need a comma or further clarification for it to make sense to the reader. For example, take the following passage from my second essay: “As well much of it was taken and brought by the younger generation of that time such as (that were) teenagers who were called upon for their mandatory conscription at the age of eighteen.” (Chew 3). Apart from the fragmented sentence and a few grammatical errors, the sentence is not wrong in the presentation of fact and how it ties to the central thesis of the paper. However, it needed more care and detail to properly fit to the mentioned paragraph, since it is evident that it caused the reader some confusion. An aspect of the paper that could have been caught if I had done more revision and corrections, but because of the lack of time and my time management it was not achievable. Something which has time after time come to my attention the need for me to improve my time management by having a fixed work schedule of when to rest and when to do schoolwork. My method of chaotic time management has done more harm than good for my college career, since it is making up a “deadweight loss” a term used by economics that describes (the loss of something which could have been achieved) in ample time that could have been expropriated for the benefit of my schoolwork.

Another example which caught my attention is a except from a run-off sentence which comprised of a fragmented phrase: “Baring no attention to the native African languages”. This phrase was attempting to connected to the previous paragraph of “Afrikaans and English recognized as official languages of the apartheid government… Baring no attention…”  (Chew 8). The fragmented phrase could have connected to the previous clause mentioned if I had placed a comma or made it go before the clause to further add detail and further clarification. This could have fixed the error made. One of the last noticeable mistakes made in my second essay was the citation page, I did not properly arrange the citations in alphabetical order by having one citation being in the improper order. Again, these are all mistakes that could have been prevented if further revision and allotted time was utilized by the writer. These and a few other mistakes demonstrate what my strengths and weakness are when it comes to essay writing, all of which needs improvement. A fact which I have contempt to successfully gain with the investment of time and efforts to improve. A plan to continue improving the more I write, that is I believe that there is no such thing at being prefect at something thing at a single time, it is simply improvement and people especially writers never stop improvising. Every time I write there is something new that I learn which I further add to my arsenal of writing, because that is what is gained from continuous writing – improvement in literacy.

In my essay writing for this summer course, and according to the grading rubric for the essays that I wrote, I have thus far been able to successfully address the prompt fully and thoughtfully, advance a thesis logically by showing substantial depth and fullness, and complexity of thought. Furthermore, by choosing obscure themes such as with my Discourse Community of The Border War, essay I have been able to at least attempt to capture and compel the audience into reading my writing. All these points are further reflected in my grade for that essay. This course has taught me a lot when it comes to writing, I see it as a continuation from where I left off in high school with the completion of AP-level English courses of literary and composition. ERH-101 has opened new methods and techniques of writing, because of this course and the nature of college itself I am now able to write much faster as opposed to before my enrollment to this writing intensive course. I seem to demonstrate again as provided by the grade received for my essays, adequate college-level control of sentence-level expression, grammar, along with superior control over the use of sources and mastery of methods of documentation. My intended goal is to continue improving, by reading and writing more, to expand my literacy because there are still flaws being made by my writing such as grammatical errors and syntax. Such flaws which I know now and thankfully because of peer-reviews and instructor’s input. It is unequitable that I have gained further knowledge and writing skills that will serve me for the rest of my career as a student in higher education.

Works cited

Chew, Peter. “The Discourse Community of the Border War.” Virginia

 “Military Institute. 15 June 2022. – date retrieved 26 July 2022 9:25:18

Peter Chew

ERH-101-02

Mrs. Smith

July 5, 2022

Word count: 1755

Help Received: Works cited: Brandt, Deborah. “Sponsors of Literacy.” Peter N. Chew

An inquiry About a Bilingual Sponsorship

I started my literacy journey in and out of two countries over the years of my childhood to early teenage years. My bilingual childhood influenced the development of my literacy simultaneously in both English and Portuguese languages. From an early age, I was influenced by constant exposure to both the American and Brazilian cultures, enabling me to obtain a native literacy from the places where I lived and went to school. The educational approach that I received and the friends along with family with whom I grew up in both countries are some of the countless sponsors which influenced my path in literacy.

Brandt defines sponsors as “any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy and gain an advantage.” (Brandt 167), in some capacity. There are positive and negative aspects to forming a bilingual upbringing, there are trade-offs however limited if done properly, but the advantages outweigh any drawbacks. My household comprised of two languages English and Portuguese with a minimal amount of French and German from my grandparents, However, my exposure to French and German was not enough to make a substantial impact on my literacy. The main influences are the first two languages mentioned. Within my family, my parents were crucial agents of sponsorship to my literacy development by teaching me the ability to speak, write, and read. My parents determined where I received my formal education. In the first years of my life, my mother enrolled me in a Swiss-German School (Escola Suiça) In São Paulo, Brazil. To my surprise, I do not remember much from my early school years except for some friendships and learning the Portuguese language, things that despite not remembering, make up a part of me and my literacy journey. The mid-to-preteen years of my childhood were spent in a Brazilian-American School called Escola Pan-Americana de Bahia. The school program was a mixture of Brazilian and American teachers who taught local Brazilians and American kids in Salvador, Brazil. The reason for this international school was because, in the city where I lived and went to school, there was quite a large group of American families who moved to Salvador to work for Ford and for Dow Chemicals which have manufacturing plants in that region. The school was the closest experience to going to school in the U.S. for someone living in Brazil.

My time at the Pan-American School, was a crucial phase where my formal literacy skills were developed, influenced by American and Brazilian elements of culture, a hybrid of languages and their respective culture comprised my personality and understanding. Simultaneously learning about American and Brazilian literature, and being taught mathematics, history, geography, philosophy, and other school subjects in both languages, I went back and forth between English and Portuguese which at times could be quite confusing for some school subjects such as math and English grammar. The Portuguese language and diction are more complex in structure and grammatical rules than the English language making it difficult to transition between. After I moved to the U.S. to attend High School during my Junior and Senior years, I focused more on the English Language and strictly used Portuguese only when communicating with friends and family from Brazil. In the United States, as I spoke more English, I noticed improvements in my vocabulary and grammar. Besides my parents, a major impact on my literacy was brought by an English Teacher at Miller School (High School) in Charlottesville, VA, he functioned as a sponsor who contributed to my English literacy development. He would assign readings from great authors such as T.S. Elliot, Ernest Hemingway, and many other prominent 20th-century authors and poets. The style of writing from this era of the “Lost Generation, “of writers made me more intrigued with reading and writing than ever before. It’s as if I had discovered a key to a door that opened a new world of possibilities brought by my consumption of the texts from such books. As I missed the continuation of my Portuguese language development. Since I had put a pause on my education in Portuguese while in the U.S. For a bilingual student, it is important to maintain engagement in both languages simultaneously, my mistake was that I temporarily stopped for two years.

There is a negative but minimal, consequence to learning at an early age, academic subjects in both languages during the crucial early development phase of any person. The problem is the fear of falling behind in contemporary trends in a particular language, one challenge for me is the usage of novel words or the appropriate usage of slang and formal speech, which constantly changes as the months and years go by. For instance, if one lives outside their native country for a decade, they are no longer being exposed to the trends and cultural aspects of their country. Instead, the language and cultural influences are replaced by the country that one now lives in. In my case, I am starting to lose balance between the American and Portuguese cultures using more English, making it my primary language. One becomes more fluent in said language due to more exposure to that language. Making one more confident and knowledgeable of that specific language over the other, one gains more literacy in another language but loses some advantage that they might have had or could have gained in the other language. This is the trade-off since it can be extremely hard to learn both and keep up with trends in two distinct. Cultures and countries. One must intentionally choose to focus on two languages. After my first year in college, during the Summer, I returned to the routine of reading and writing along with exposure to English and Portuguese to further my development in both languages. Since my parents taught me that it is important to be able to have an intellectual and engaging conversation with someone in multiple languages such as Portuguese or English, it is good to have access and knowledge to vocabularies relative to the subject of that conversation. Essentially if one wants to talk to someone from another country who only speaks in their language, it is better to know the formal words specifically attributed to that particularly subject. For instance, if engaged in a conversation about politics with a person who speaks Portuguese, and one is trying to say the word “gerrymandering” but one does not know the specific word for it in the Portuguese language, one will probably find themselves either struggling to figure out a similar word in Portuguese or frantically attempting to explain the meaning of that word so that person can try to understand what one is trying to communicate. All this seems quite unnecessary. And frustration can arise at times. Such a situation could be avoided if one continues to maintain and care for their bilingual literacy development. Therefore, I am motivated to maintain my literacy development in both languages and enhance my skills.

Family, school, and friends were the most important influential aspect of forming my literacy. Parents are the most important because children mimic some characteristics of their parents, either figure of speech, behavior, or their interest in a particular subject. Parents usually are role models which also applies to literacy sponsors. Furthermore, at an early age, your social group is crucial to forming your basis of knowledge about social cues and proper usage of slang and social humor. Having grown up with exposure to the cultures and people of two different countries, I was fortunate enough to learn and to develop social skills in accordance to the societal norms of the two countries. For instance, I have realized that there are certain types of humor, writing, and interests that are common and adaptable in both American and Brazilian culture, while there are also certain things that are not approved nor accepted in one culture over the other. For example, the relative interest in Nascar Racing can be quite common in the rural parts of the U.S. However, this is quite the opposite in Brazil, who find more leisure in watching a soccer match. Hence, there is no point in trying to have a conversation about that sport with a Brazilian because they either have limited knowledge of it or zero interest. All these are important social cues for bilingual development, to be aware of societal norms to further be successful when writing about a particular subject, knowing what to include, and when making conversation.

Of course, aspects of culture are taught by exposure to either the local culture or through other means such as books, I read literature in English and Portuguese, which teaches the defining social parts of those cultures. Sources of mass entertainment and information such as television, movies, news, and other sources also provide literacy influences on someone. Movies act as visual storytelling and are a good way to get cultural exposure. As I grew up and started to access the internet, along with social media, I became connected, despite being in distant locations from either being in Brazil or the United States, exposing me to those cultures with more instant accessibility. Due to the internet, there is now instant access and exchange of knowledge and communication between countries, cultures, and people. Cultural exposure is no longer limited to school, a specific location, or one’s household. Cultural exposure is now broad from many different sources and sponsors. Social media sources that allow for instant exposure to distinct cultures, further develop literacy sponsors. This makes keeping up with trends and social change in diverse cultures much easier and more accessible, something which I pay attention to since it allows me to keep up with contemporary changes. The innovation of the internet has allowed people from all corners of the globe to connect with one another. This connectively along with access to educational products and services, has contributed to the rate of more people learning a second, third, or even fourth language. To be considered an educated person and maintain their education in two or more languages, one needs to access literacy sponsors to be willing to use the sponsors. To be competent in Portuguese and in English, it is more important to maintain a constant exposure to these languages and their cultures, and not lose track of their significant societal events or changes which has effects to the change of the way of language and speech.

Works Cited

Brandt, Deborah. “Sponsors of Literacy.” College Composition and Communication, vol. 49, no. 2, 1998, pp. 165–185. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/358929. Accessed 4 Jul. 2022.

 

Peter Chew

ERH-101-02

Mrs. Smith

July 15, 2022

Word Count: 2,650

HR: Works Cited Page, The concept of Discourse Community by John Swales. Peter N. Chew

The Discourse Community of The Border War

A community that once existed in great numbers, unbeknown to many, was in the middle of a forgotten conflict. Unprecedented events caused despair in this community, dissolved by politics. Its sole existence remained with the various peoples who served in such a community. Its memory is made vivid only in occasional events of remembrance of that unique time. With the passage of time, the community members have slowly gone away with time, some of the old age, while others simply disconnected themselves from it. Some couldn’t escape the way of life that the war imposed on them and so they sought their own adventure outside the country in the action-packed life of a Mercenary. Some became top executives of multinational firms or lived humble lives as dairy farmers. There are many stories about the outcome of the members of the Bush War. Despite all this, the past is preserved, not only in museums but as a living culture by the survivors of the conflict or by their children who maintain their unique style of language, specifically words, that are solely exclusive to the men who lived and fought on the Southern Angolan Border.

After years of learning about history, I found myself searching articles and documentaries regarding the Cold War, an intriguing time, a moment in human history when tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States threatened world peace. The Cuban missile crisis brought the threat of nuclear annihilation to the suburbs of Florida. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was a period of small regional wars, tales of espionage, geopolitical chess, and a world divided between East and West. The Cold War environment fostered cultural changes in the West such as the civil rights movements. As I sought knowledge on the Cold War, I become intrigued with what can be considered obscure history such as the Angolan Bush War where South African Defense Forces (SADF), found themselves in a proxy war with the Eastern Bloc nations in the testing grounds of the Angolan Civil War.

However, my journey started when I was invited to join a server on an online social media communication app called “Discord”. Being a part of this server was my introduction to this specific discourse community (Swales 466), that was entirely centered on the South African Bush War, it comprised of several resources that further increased my knowledge on the subject due to my interaction with forums, archival documents, pictures, and a long list of recommended books on this subject. It was made up of mostly people who had a shared interest in the subject either by historical curiosity or by a member whose family participated in that part of history. It also had a few historians who greatly contributed to the content of this discourse community (Swales 466). In this community, I became aware of the usage of slang and lexis that were specific to the Bush Wars. After being exposed to this language while on this Discord Server, I ended up doing my own research out of curiosity. I came across a wide range of slang unique to the SADF and the South African culture of the 1970s-1990s, making it a qualifier to a Discourse Community (Swales 471). Some language may be judged as offensive or objectionable. However, they reflect the culture of that time.

The local language has a wide range of linguistical origins such as English, brought by the British colonists, Zulu from African tribes who lived in the region of South Africa, along with the Khoisan peoples, or Bushman who were unique lighter skin peoples of Namibia-Southern Angola. In addition, the Afrikaners speak the language of the Dutch settlers who originally settled the Cape of Good Hope, and who made up Although, Afrikaans, the language of the Dutch settlers who originally settled the Cape of Good Hope, and who made up the majority of the 71,000 personnel at the height of the Border War in 1988 (Tsokodayi 1-305). The Afrikaners informally known as Boers (Dutch farmers), during the latter half of the 20^th century served as a medium of exchange of language that comprised the lingua franca (McCormick 91-109), of the society and institutions of the South African Government, including its Armed Forces. Despite being a white minority in the country, it made up for this fact by its sheer cultural influence and control of control. Hence, why the language is solely unique and linguistic to that part of the world. Much of its cultural and linguistic influence is found in slang and lexis. As well much of it was taken and brought by the younger generation of that time such as teenagers who were called upon for their mandatory conscription at the age of eighteen. A substantial influx of teenagers brought with them these words from popular culture of that decade into the strict environment of the formidable South African Military, an environment of formal and informal tone and language for code-switching. A wide vocabulary of new distinctive terms made up that discourse community (Swales 470), terms that were used by the rookie to the officer class within the governing bodies of the SA military. The men found comfort in words that were often humorist, times offensive, or used to describe a stressful, chaotic situation, as they felt a sense of further belonging, simply by its usage.

Nothing beats a good barbecue on a hot summer’s day out in the blazing sun south of the equator on the arid, dune sands of the Northern border of Southwest Africa (today known as Namibia). However, the Afrikaners had their own term for BBQ, as they called it a “Braai” one of the most appreciated cultural words and aspects of South Africa, a delightful activity, especially for the men stationed on an Oshivello – A base inside the operational area in Southwest Africa. Unique meats were a delight among the soldiers for a feast, such as the Owambo piele – Vienna sausages, or the delicious Boerewors – literally meaning for farmer’s sausage.  Owambo Rico – extremely potent home-brewed liquor, distilled from the sap of the makalani palm tree (SWA / Angola ops. area). After a nice evening at the makeshift bar, a young rookie at the border may occasionally drink too much makalani for his own good, to the point where they suffer from the dreadful “Babbelas” – Derived from the Zulu word “ibhabhalazi” to describe a bad hangover, (Kinnear 1). Apart from the various foods and their terms, the situation of the war and what was a stake was no matter of relief. Unlike the United States which perused the geopolitical strategy of the “Domino Theory” to contain the spread of communism around the world. Such a scenario of being utilized is the famous example of the Vietnam War, which at no instant was the threat of communism as close to being on the borderlands of the U.S.A. The opposite was true for the case of S.A. The “Winds of Change” as it was called was spreading across the continent of Africa, the void left by the retreat of colonial European powers and the politburo of the Soviet Union noticed an opportunity to fill in this void and lunch a series of Red revolutions armed and backed by the Eastern Bloc. Black Nationalists under the notion of self-determinism and liberation of the dispossessed workers of the world.

A liberation movement that consumed much of the continent from Nairobi to Mombasa. Much of Sub-Sharan Africa was completely changed, the old world of Africa had died, and a new Africa was born. However, this child (Africa) was left to their own devices, abandoned by the Europeans. As a result, the lack of supervision by a higher power, the centuries-old territorial separation of different ethnicities, territorial lines being completely altered, and ethnic groups assumed control of newly independent nations. The dormant rivalries between African peoples were reignited, and as a result, a dark time engulfed much of Africa, with civil wars, genocides, and abuses inflicted by such rivalries between different ethnicities of Sub-Sharan, Africa. The Portuguese took notice of such changes, and they were one of a few European powers reluctant to completely abandon their prized overseas colonial possessions. Hence, they fought a bloody and long colonial war, against black nationalists and communists with their independence movements in an effort of maintaining their cherished colonial holdings. Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau fell to the red movement, and Angola became another victim. This is where South Africa becomes involved. Namibia was under the control of the Republic of South Africa. However, the Revolutionary movements fighting for the cause of the revolution sought to “liberate” the peoples of Namibia who found themselves under Western Capitalist white minority rule. All of which the Black nationalist detested. Revolutionaries and Nationalist trespassing into the terrorist of Namibia in the efforts to convert the territory to their cause. This was a national security threat to the South African Government and their interests who devised a policy of counterinsurgency and sent the Military to contain any further raids and movements along the Southern Angolan Border. Many of these Black nationalists were given the nickname of “Terr’s” (SADF slang for terrorists), while also seen as freedom fighters by some western institutions. Nevertheless, they were engaged in countless acts of terrorism, and their sole nature of fighting was motivated by political violence, defined as terrorism.

The South African military had units such as the 32 Battalion that comprised a mixed racial unit, becoming a great source of diversity. The men in their unit were unsegregated and not judged based on their skin. The 32 Battalion served as a sanctuary of good honorable men, who saw passed the color of the skin of others and trusted the men beside them in the trench and during the time of battle. With this uniqueness of a mix of men of all different backgrounds, there was a distinctive speech style and usage of slang. With Afrikaners, Xhosa, Khoisan, and countless other ethnicities all bunch together in one working environment, there was no question of a rich exchange of cultural and language elements. For instance, the Khoi-San expression for being surprised is “Eish!”, soon took over the lingual of most members of the unit. The Afrikaans word that could go along with anything, really, that serves as a good connotation that means “nice” or “good” is the word “Lekker” (Kinnear 1). This is used very commonly today among South Africans and was common back then during the Bush War. While in the United States, a popular word from popular culture that has taken up the vocabulary of many teenagers is the word “Bro”. A similar word is used in S.A. – “Bru” used to call a friend, pal, or buddy, a common word in popular culture.

The language barrier was fused between different cultures. The rich co-existence of different ethnicities and cultures in a military environment created bonds, friendships, and mutual respect along with the adoption of words that made up that unique discourse community (Swales 470). The gradual development from this interaction indirectly served as a counter to the racial laws of apartheid. The mere fact that peoples of all different colors, creeds, backgrounds, ethnicity, and cultures could merely co-exist in a teamwork environment and rely on one another to survive a war, is a clear case that the political cause of apartheid was a fallacy. The men of the 32 Battalion broke the barrier set by apartheid. They ate the same detested rations, slept in the blazing heat, and lived together out in the bush. If it wasn’t for their war environment, the white and the black men would have never interacted in such a way, instead continuing their old way of life, following the rules of apartheid.

            The mutual respect formed by these men in the military translated to regular life in South Africa, as some of these men would later hire their companions from the war, black or white, it no longer mattered as they were judged based on their reputation and skill and not color. The co-existence between different peoples later influenced the language and popular culture of the next generation of South Africa. The changed perspective on apartheid from the men in service during the Bush War, had an influence on the fall of apartheid since their cooperation was a contradiction to the justifications made by racial segregation. With the fall of apartheid, the schools became unsegregated, and the youth interacted with schoolmates of different backgrounds comparable to the men during the Bush War. Another barrier broken, this co-existence of schools allowed for the continual exchange of language and words, as some of these kids had already been influenced by their family since their fathers had served in the Bush War and brought an upbringing with the unique language taken from the interaction between the Afrikaner and other ethnicities.

            South African society existed in such a polarized state during the time of Apartheid and the Bush War. When Nelson Mandela was elected as the first black President of the Republic. South Africa as a nation had to gradually attempt to improve the relations between whites and blacks. Entertainment such as the sport of Rugby became a central focus point for this task since the sport was historically cantered to the white Afrikaners minority population, with their famous national team called the “Springboks”. The problem was that a portion of the black population was originally in opposition to the sport since the national team still served as a remembrance of the Apartheid era. What fluctuated the civilian perspective from the military perspective of men that served in the Bush War was that become of their co-existence and exchange of different cultural values, rugby was a common likable topic between the white and black servicemen, which facilitated the promotion of unification of culture. A process that took longer to instill in the civilian aspect of the country.

            The discourse community (Swales 472) created during the Bush War was unquestionably distinctive, despite its existence being relatively obscure to the rest of the world. However, it had an influential impact on the formation of public opinion regarding the co-existence between white and black people, a behavior that later shaped the rest of the nation. The unique exchange of language and culture defined this community into what it is. It proved that there could be a healthy co-existence between both groups without the fear of blatant discrimination. The multi-language utilized in the bush environment among the service members was contrarian in nature to the strict rules of language sent by the South African Government as to how apartheid laws made a preference for “proper” language, being Afrikaans and English recognized as official languages of the apartheid government. Baring no attention to the native African languages. An example of this is after Nelson Mandela took power, with the end of apartheid. The South African government recognized eleven official languages, 9 of those being native African languages that comprise the people of the nation. Slang and lexis were unique to the languages of Khoisan and other Zulu-based languages that received common usage among the soldiers that fought in the Bush War. Previously unrecognized languages, however after the end of apartheid gained the deserved recognition. The discourse community of the Bush War had its unique time where such peaceful co-existence along with the exchange of cultural words which were so common to the way of life of white and black men, simultaneously interacting in a world of prejudice outside the war environment. The interaction formed proved that such relations could be made in the direst moments of political situations, a testament to apartheid, nonetheless. The exchange of language made in the Bush War influenced the discourse community of a nation, it influenced the next generations, and it created a new value system among the youth, that stemmed from a cultural clash between popular culture and military culture.

Works Cited

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Swales, John. “The Concept of Discourse Community.” Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 21-32.

Tsokodayi, Cleophas. Namibia’s Independence Struggle: The Role of the United Nations. Xlibris Corporation, 2011. pp. 1-305.

McCormick, Kay. “Afrikaans as a lingua franca in South Africa: the politics of change”, vol. 2006, no. 177, 2006, pp. 91-109. https://doi.org/10.1515/IJSL.2006.006

History.com Editors. “Domino Theory.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Nov. 2009, https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/domino-theory. 

“South Africa Ends Conscription of Whites.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 25 Aug. 1993, https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/25/world/south-africa-ends-conscription-of-whites.html?smid=url-share.

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