16 LANGUAGE TEACHING NEW WorLDs/ NEw WorbDs bell hooks Ue ces, language dup rss 10 be conned within bint aves: aks el against out wl fn words ad tugs at ines {ls the mst rate space of mind a body Main yet Otsige ht ea Ae eye, The Dsning of Paper Inne oF Chien.” Tat poem speaking apis oman ala sees ga ‘ass oppresion tempts to set rapa th sping te pa perccton and intro ig bins is more valance burning bas: One ie of his poem iat moved sd sri ome ‘wg thine Ths he oppress ngge yet T need alt fo Jeu veneer forte Petts Iai nt he orgie toe id ee! fom memo, Wor imp thence et ‘em pint oui he word meme en my me ‘When fod mye king aboot langage now tee wed ae tee, ‘ity were vas wating fo chalga at eT nd sn iy speahing tem oer en one again with mt of eke They Stree saline me in an saree lk etre ng 298 erin, Hay, res the sen ofthe “oper nga eva Spin 19: ech Hanser Eta aerate, TIS oat Reese perma of Raat Tw Dyers Hee sae mm ‘at this construct has the potential a disempower those of ws who are jut Jesavng 1 spe, we ae st leaning fo claim language 3 «pce were sve make ourselves subject. "Thisis the oppresor language et nd to you” Adrienne Rich's word. Then, whe fist real these words, and ‘ow, they make me think of standard English, of learning 1 speak aga black vernacular, agains the ruptured and broken speech ofa dspossesed ‘and placed pele, Standard English not the spose of eile Its the language of conquest and domination; ja the United States, its the ms ‘whic hides the los of so many tongues all hose sounds of dere, native ‘communities we will never hear, the speech of the Gullah, Yiddish, and so ‘many ether untemembered tongues. eleting on Adrienne Richs woes, I know that i i not the English language tit hurts me, bt what the oppzesors do wa, how they shape te become a tervtory thas limits andl defines, hw they make fea weapen that fan shame, humiliate, coloTaize. Gioia Anal reminds ws ofthis pain in ‘BordrlandlLa Frontera when se asserts, "So, iyo want 0 telly hurt me, talk badly about my language.” We have s0 litle knowledge of how die placed, efslaved, or free Acans who came or were Wrought gst eit Wil to the United States felt about the los of language, about leasing Bish. Oniyasa woman di begin to think about thes Black peopl in ela tion to language, to thik about tele trauma as they were compelled to witness thei language rendered meaningles wilt a colonizing Puropean tulle, where voices deemed foreign eid ncn 8 speken, were aulawed Tongues tenegade spoech, When [realize how longi has taken for white Americins to acknowledge diverse languages of Native Americar, to accept thatthe speech their ancestral eolonzets declared Was merely grunts Or i> berth was indced language, it is dificult not to hea in sandal English weays the sound of slaughter and cones 4 think wo of the grief of Aisplaced “bomeless™ African, forced to inabit a world where dey sv folts lke themsches, inhabiting dhe same si, the same condition, bul who had no shared language 1 talk with one another, who needed “the oppes ‘ses language.” “This the oppressors language et I ned i a 10 3” ‘When Timogine the teror of Aieans on baatd save shies on tution ‘locks, inhabiting the unfamila architecute of plantation, consider hat this eror extended beyond feat Of punishment, ha t resided also inthe anguish of hearing language they could not comprehend. The very sound ‘of English had to teri. 1 think of black people meeting ote another in Space away fom he verse eles aot anges that dtinguished thet ftom one another compelled by circumstance o find wiystspeak with one another ina “new work wheteblacknes or the darkness of One's kin and ‘ot language would become the space of bondins. How to remember, fnvoke tis ero How to describe what i must have heen like for Africans those deepest Bond were bistociely forged in the place of shaed speech {© be transported abruptly toa world where the very sound of one's mother tongue had no meaning.{imagine tem hearing spoken Eaglsh as the oppressors language, yet 1 imagine them so resizing tat tis anguaye woul nes to be pase, taken, claimed a space of resistance imagine thatthe momen theyre tae the oppressors language, seized and ken by the tongues of the colo nized could be a space of bonding was joyous Forin that recognition was the ‘understanding that intimacy could be restored, tht culture of reine ‘ould he formed that would make fecovey from the trauma of enslavement possible. Imagine, then, Africans ist hearing English a “he oppress angus” and fen rehearing it a potent site of texisanse: Leraine Engh learning to speak the alen tongue, was one way enslaved Aians began fo reclaim their personal per within a context af domination. Pos Sessng a shared Tange, back fs could ft! again way to make con ‘unit, and a means to create the pial solidarity nocesary 0 resist. ‘Needing the oppressors language to speak with ove anther they never {eles ako reinvented, remade that language o that would speak beyond the Boundaries of conquest and doetination nthe mouths of Hack Arians Inthe socalled "New Worl," English was altered rasformed ad became 4 different speech. Enslaved Hack people took broken bits of English and ‘ef thems counter language, Chey put gether tie war such @ way thatthe colonizer had to rethink the meaning of English language ‘Though it has become common in contemporary culture (tlk bout the messages of resistance thal emerged inthe nisi crested by slave, partic lay spirituas, fess ssid abot the grammatical construction of sentences inthese song. Often, the English used in the Song reflected the broken, rop "ured world ofthe slave. When the slaves sang "nobody knows e true | ‘see thei use ofthe word “achod” add 8 sches mean than i be had used the phrase “no one,” for H was the slave's body tht was the con érete site ofsufering. And even as emancipated black people sane sprtsls they did not change the language, the sentence structure, of our ancestors, Tor inthe incoreet usage of word, athe incorrect placement of words was 4 spr of rebellion that claimed language as ste of resistance. Using En lish ina way that ruptured standard wage and meaning, 0 tha white folks ould se not understand Wack speech, mate English imo more than the ‘oppresorsanguage ‘An unbroken connection exists beeen the broken Engl ofthe dis laced enaved Atian andthe diverse black vernacular speech black ftks Sse today, Ino cases, te uptae of standard English ented and enables Febelion and resistance, By transforming the oppresor’s language, making ‘ultur of sistance, black people ereated an intimate speech that could say far move than was permis witinYhe boandaries sand Engh ‘The power of this speech isnot simpy tha it enables resistance to wie remacy, bt that i also forges a space for alternative cultural production 8nd allematie eptemoogies~diferent ways ol thinking end kang that were cial to ceatng a countr-hegemonic worldviews Ie is aolutely es ‘catia that the revolutionary power of back emacular speech not Bek in ‘contemporary clue, That power fevidesin the capaci of lack vemacul {intertene on dhe Doundaies and limitations of sandal English Tn contemporary hack popula culture, rap muse hs become one of the spaces where black veescular speech i wed in 9 manner tha ines ‘dominant mainstream cglture to Tsten—to hear—and, to some exten, Be transformed. However, one ofthe ks of thi ttenyp = chur Sarto {s that I wil vialize Back vernacular speech. When Young white Kis. tate this spect in ways that suggest the speech of those who are upd ‘two ate only acetate i entertaining o Being fanny, then the subse Sve power ofthis speech i wndefmined. In academic circle, both inthe Sphere OF teaching ad that of writing there has bee tle effort mad to ills black vernclar—or, fr that matter, any langage or than sth ‘ard English, When tasked an ethnically diverse group of suber in 3 ‘course Iwas teaching on black women wiles wiy we only heard standaed English spoken inthe cassoom, they were momenta rendeted spec Jesu Thoogh many of them vere indus for wham standard English wis ‘seca orthid language t had spy never occurred to them that it wa posible to say something in another language, in another way, No wondet, ‘hen, tha we coatinve fa think, "This is the oppressors language yet Une itioualkto you." have realized that £ was in danger of losing my relationship to black ‘ernaculat speech hecause I oo rarely use it inthe predominanl white Tings that am soften nea professionally an cal, Aa Uae Ibn to work a intgratinginto a Variety of settings he particular Souther bck vernacular speech I grew up Hearing nd speaking Wt hasbeen hardest lo integrate hack vernaclar in writing, particularly foe academic journals ‘When I it began to incorporate black veraculae neritic ests editors would Send the work back to me in standard English, Using de veracult ‘means that translation int standard English may be needed if one wishes 0 reach a more ise avdience, Inve ussroony sing, encoarage denis to se thet ist angus ad translate so they do ot fe that sek ing higher education wil necessarily estrange them rom that language and ‘ute they oat ook atimatly. Noe sugesingly, when students im Black Women Writers cass began t0 speak using diverse language aed speech white students offen complained Tis seemed © be particu the ise with black vernacult- I was particulary diturbing to the whites ‘dente Because they could ear the Words thst were sid at eh ea Lm Prehend their meaning, Pedagogicaly, 1 encouraged them to think of the ‘moment of noc understanding what someone says as space to learn. Such ‘Space prides sot only the appartoaity to tsten without "mastery without ‘ning or posessing speach rough interpretation, hut lo the experience ‘of heating non-English words. These lessons Seem partcuaely crucial in a rulicultral society that eomaine white supremacist, sat uses tabard Et ils gs weapon tsilene and cers. June 2ordan retin we hin On Cal when she declares:1a aking stout jor problems of language ia a democrafc sae, ‘robles of scarey tht sce hs en 2d den vay an hen bonged int an fal “Engl” Tagusge tha co pres nonevens ing nobody response, oes we Ted ‘mora sate or lnguige mod ave ohare, y, cane odin, inl te common American names al the undeniable and representa tne patting voles of exeyhody bere. We soul nt tlete the inpuge the perf and, there, oe al respect for words per. ‘We would make our guage confor tothe th of oor many Sees ‘rsa acura theo pm a “That he students the course on Hack women writers were repressing ll longing to speak in tongues oe Ys wanda Balok without secing, this repression as political was an nication of the way We at unconscious, ‘compli with culture of donation, Recent discussions a diversity and muliewtyalism tnd downplay or ‘apace the question of language, Ciel feminist Writings focused on isuee of illerence and vice have made important heoreia interven, eal Ing for recognition of the primacy of voices that ate often sleneed,cen- sored, or marginalized, This cl fo the acknowledgment and celebration of tiers vice, and consequently of diverse language an speech, necesaily ‘ibrops the primacy of stadazal English. When advocates of feminism fst. ‘spoke abo he desire for diverse patcpation in Women’s movement, there ‘Was no discussion of language. I was simpy assumed that staadard English \would remain the primary vehicle for the tansmision of feminist though [Now thatthe audience for feminist weiting and speaking hae Decome moe verse, is evident is we must change consent ays of hinklng about language, creating spaces where diverse voices can speak in words other than Engh or in broken, vernacular speech. This means that a lesture o ever ‘na writen work there wil e fragment of sesch that may oF may abt be accessible to every individual. Shing how we tink about language ad how te use it necessiy altets howe we know what we know. Ata se where & right use Southern black vernaenla, the particular patois of a region, of ‘were T might ws very abstract thought in conjunction wth plain spectre sponding to diverse suidence, | suggest that we Jo not necessarily need 10 ‘bea and You what elated int ett, that we do nok need to “maser” ‘or eonque the narrative asa whole, that we may know in fragments. Tug ft tat we may learn Som spaces lence as well s spaces of speech, that In the patent act of isfening to another tongue we may suet that eure ‘ot capitalist frenzy and consumption that demands al desire must be sats Tied immediately, or we may deropt that clara nperalim that suggests ‘one s worthy of being hesed only if ove speaks in standard Engl ‘Adrienne Rich coaclides hee poem with thi statoment 1am compoting ofthe pewritr Inte at nih, inking of today How sellweatagoke, A langue asmap of our fats Feder Doulas oe an English per than Mins, People afer gin pve There are met we p00 ue them, fan wh od teal spots come petal orn af ren Sone fhe steig i: ad ‘Brat de we is Aner Teapot uch you ow Amen we veo th present ene amin danger, Yow sen dango Ings Yok russ go sation nko thre bur. Thre Ine fumes of tpi n Canon, Maryn Kao i buts td the oper langage ‘To recognize that We touch one another in language seems pater ital in a society that woul bave us heieve that here nod th ‘experience of passion, that to fee! deepy sto be infrir, for within the da fsm of Western Metaphysical thought, eas are always more impostan ‘than language. To eal the splitng of wind an body, we Wagan anc ‘oppressed people Memptto recover oureees and oor experiences in fn fg. We Sek to make a place For intimacy. Unable wo find sue a place it Sandard English we create the rptored, broken, unruly speech of the ver ‘rac. When Teed to siy words that do more than simply itor ora tress the dominant eal, epeak black vernocatar. Therein Yat eto swe make English Jowhat we want itt do. We ake the oppressor’ Inguge land wor it agains igell, We make out words 2 countershepemenic speech Tinrating oureves in language