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2021 Fall

Session 1: 10/7/21

Reading: Forewords and Chapter 1 (pg. x-9)

Topics: Language Ideology – Naming Varieties of English (tricky!) – Language and Race

Report: To get the semester started, we had a general discussion of Standard Language Ideology, Language Myths and The Language Subordination process (based on Lippi-Green (2012) English with an Accent. After the short presentation we shared a few stories of instances when we heard about, witnessed or had experience with language discrimination. We also discussed terminology used to refer to Black Language and to so-called “Standard English,” realizing that it is not an easy or uncontroversial task to choose a name. In Linguistic Justice, Baker-Bell deliberately chooses the terms “Black Language” and “White Mainstream English” in order to “foreground the relationship between language, race, anti-Black racism, and white linguistic supremacy (pg. 2). In chapter 2 Baker-Bell will introduce her framework of “Anti-Black Linguistic Racism” and counter it with “Antiracist Black Language Pedagogy.”

Session 2: 10/28/21

Reading: Chapter 2 (pg.11-36)

Topics: Anti-Black Linguistic Racism – Black Linguistic Appropriation – Moving Towards an Antiracist Black Language Pedagogy

Report: In this session we discussed Baker-Bell’s framework of Anti-Black Linguistic Racism, which she proposes to counter white supremacy. This framework directly infuses race into the discussion of language (making us look at language through the prism of race. We also reviewed her discussion of Black Linguistic Appropriation, noting that while Black Language is often denigrated in the educational system, it is simultaneously used extensively in advertising in corporate America.

We also discussed the impact of Anti-Black Linguistic Racism on students, who are “marginalized,” “disdained” and “disregarded” in schools and educational spaces. Black students often internalize these feelings and learn to despise their own language. Baker-Bell references Geneva Smitherman’s notion of “Push-Pull,” Embracing Black talk bur simultaneously hating on it. Students learn to equate white language with respectability and Black Language with “Thugs.”

Finally, we discussed that it is important that we not view the Black community as a monolith. There are many different backgrounds and experiences for different groups that need to be recognized, including African Americans and immigrant groups from the West Indies and Africa for example, whose experiences with issues language discrimination can differ.

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Session 3: 11/18/21

Reading: Chapter 3 (pg.39-61)

Topics: Baker-Bell’s work with students at Leadership Academy – Raising Black Linguistic Consciousness

Report: In this session we discussed Baker-Bell’s work at Leadership Academy (LA) in Detroit. One of our group was familiar with Detroit culture, which added nice detail to our discussions. We started by noting a couple of Baker-Bell’s first impressions of the school, first that she critiques the gender-based classrooms, noting that the policy was not inclusive of transgender and gender non-binary students, and that it reinforces gender binaries and cisheteronormativity. In addition, the strict dress codes excluded Black cultural styles and fashion, perpetuating Anti-Blackness. This pattern of non-inclusivity was also seen in the policing of student language by some of the teachers at LA referenced numerous times in the chapter. We noted the language used by students to describe Black Language (trouble, bad kids, sloppy, loud, don’t care, sagging pants, from the inner-city, etc.) as opposed to “White Mainstream English” (proper, white, college, job interview, loves school, ready & prepared respectful, etc.). We also recognized the “push-pull” in the composite comments from the students showing this. We ended with a quote from Richardson (2004) from the chapter, “when Black students are taught to hate Black Speech, it indirectly teaches them to hate themselves.”

Next time we will discuss Chapter 4, where Baker-Bell provides concrete examples of how to implement Antiracist Black Language Pedagogy.

 

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Session 4: 12/9/21

Reading: Chapter 4 (pg.63-90)

Topics: Historical Background of Black Language, Language Planning, The Praxis of Antiracist Black Language Pedagogy

Report: In our final meeting of the semester we discussed some of the history of the development of Black Language, including language planning (related to power and policies) and how Black Language developed as a counter-language. We also discussed how relationships of language and power can affect students in the classroom, making it necessary for us as teachers to be aware of and sensitive to these dynamics. The quote from Geneva Smitherman on Critical Language Awareness and Critical Language Pedagogy at the beginning of chapter 4 set the scene nicely for Baker-Bell to lay out numerous examples of classroom activities. We were impressed by these activities and how they showed real-world ways to bring up and discuss issues of language and power, including linguistic discrimination. These activities lay out a blueprint for how to raise critical language awareness for our students.

Chapter 4 was rich with materials and discussion which we only scratched the surface of in this meeting. We plan to revisit the chapter at the beginning of next semester to dive more deeply into the activities presented, and also to dive into some of the grammatical and rhetorical features of Black English.