Article Analysis Essay on Vanlife, The Bohemian Social-Media Movement

Introduction

Discourse community are individuals who often share common values, practices. Individuals in such a group have purposes or goals. There are specific ways of communication that are used by such a group in achieving their goals or purposes. These are some of the aspects analyzed in discourse communities. A discourse community referred to as vanlifers is depicted in the article "Vanlife, the Bohemian Social-Media Movement" by Monroe. From the story, the significant characters; Emily King and Corey Smith, began being van lifers as a way to search for a simpler life which later and quickly branded to a new lifestyle. Spending their life in a van was an idea suggested by Huntington who listened to Emily King and Corey Smith's small argument which made him think the two would suit spending more time together in a confined space (Monroe, 2017). From the story, various strategies for analyzing a discourse community are portrayed. This article addresses various strategies that can be used in analyzing discourse community as per the article.

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Through cultures such as attire and practices, a discourse community can be analyzed. Culture involves aspects such as beliefs, values and even practices. Vanlifers are identified through their mindset of being surfers and engaging in travelling activities. Approximately ten percent of them are involved in such an activity. They believe in an easy life which they can only find through travelling, exploitation of nature and earning through a social life in social media platforms. They spend a better time of their life in a van hence vanlifers. Culture is the best way to identify and analyze a discourse community, in this case, vanlifers.

Vanlife has been identified as a social media phenomenon. Most of the activities and lifestyle vanlifers engage in come to limelight through social media platforms. Huntington life of spending time surfing, taking pictures of the places he explored using his van in the coast was known by many through Instagram, a social media site which had just been introduced (Monroe, 2017). Attaching a name/ hashtag to the mentioned phenomena as well helped in enabling more individuals to live the life and even become professional valifers. King and Smith as well became vanlifers through the social media where they posted images of their travels. Through social media, their life as part of the discourse community of vanlifers was discovered by various sponsors, who supported them through funding. Smith and King's Instagram feed was chronologically arranged. This made it easier for their followers to follow through their events as vanlifers. More than 1300 photos were posted by the couple for the followers to see in their account.

Standard practices depicted by individuals in the discourse community can be used to analyze the community. There was specified kind of vehicles that were identified with vanlifers. They were associated with Mercedes Splinter vans or Practical Ford Econolines. The valifers also loved Volkswagen Vanagon due to its unaerodynamic shape.

In one of the conversations in consultation sessions with Smith, he advises couples not to confine their lives to a van only. According to him, finding small ways and time to spend apart individually enables the couple to develop different habits. In their case, sometimes when Smith engages in cooking activity, King finds time to have a short walk with the dog, or go for a bike-riding while the wife is involved in journal writing or even yoga (Monroe, 2017). This is evident that through one to one conversations, either physical or through the social media platforms, one can analyze a discourse community and their practices

Reference

Monroe, R. (2017). Vanlife, The Bohemian Social-Media Movement. The New Yorker. Retrieved from: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/24/vanlife-the-bohemian-social-media-movement