SEC Spanish at SECOL 89 (2022)
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Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
4-1-2022
Start Date
1-4-2022 8:45 AM
End Date
1-4-2022 10:15 AM
Abstract
Responding to the calls for an "interdisciplinarily informed theoretical engagement with race and racism" in linguistics (Charity et al. 2020), the current paper delineates the ways in which the field of linguistics could be impacted by requiring students interested in the study of language to undertake critical studies of raciolinguistics early on in their academic careers. Specifically, the paper outlines the experience of one of three teachers who worked alongside each other to update existing introductory linguistics courses across the fields of Hispanic Linguistics, Linguistic Anthropology, and General Linguistics.
In each course, teachers were tasked with introducing the foundations of the emergent field of raciolinguistics, which theorizes language through the lens of race and race through the lens of language (Alim et al. 2016). Much like Calhoun et al. (2021)'s call to restructure introduction to linguistic courses with a focus on socio-political contextualization of language production and racial categorization, we proposed that students learn to use linguistic analyses to articulate the intersections between race, gender, class, ability and power in varying contexts. The course that will be discussed in this paper drew on local southern Spanish speaking linguistic communities providing a model for localizing linguistic inquiry to the lived experiences of specific populations of students, providing socio-historical foundations that are often obscured in U.S public education curricula (Ladson-Billings 2003; Brown & Brown 2010; Ortiz 2018). Drawing on a largely Anglo-American student population, students in the current course are tasked with locating themselves along continuums of language ideologies surrounding Spanish speaking from varying racialized populations. Class readings are drawn from fields including linguistics, sociology, psychology, ethnic studies, anthropology, education, music, criminal justice, and history. As such, the course offers an expanded view of linguistics that attracts students of tangential fields into the study of linguistics, while also expanding the reach of current linguistic research.
Citations:
Alim, S.H., Ball, A., and Rickford, J. R. (eds.) (2016). Raciolinguistics: How language shapes our ideas about race. Oxford University Press.
Brown, K. D., & Brown, A. L. (2010). Silenced memories: An examination of the sociocultural knowledge on race and racial violence in official school curriculum. Equity & Excellence in Education, 43(2), 139-154.
Calhoun, K., Hudley, A. H. C., Bucholtz, M., Exford, J., & Johnson, B. (2021). Attracting Black students to linguistics through a Black-centered Introduction to Linguistics course. Language, 97(1), e12-e38.
Charity Hudley, A.H., Mallinson, C., & Bucholtz, M. (2020). Toward racial justice in linguistics: Interdisciplinary insights into theorizing race in the discipline and diversifying the profession. Language 96(4), e200-e235. doi:10.1353/lan.2020.0074.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2003). Lies my teacher still tells. Critical race theories perspectives on social studies: The profession, policies, and curriculum, 1-11.
Ortiz, P. (2018). An African American and Latinx History of the United States (Vol. 4). Beacon Press.
Relational Format
Conference Proceeding
Recommended Citation
Moreno Clemons, Aris, "3. “You’re my first Black Spanish teacher ever”: Reimagining introductory linguistics as raciolinguistics in the Southern context" (2022). SEC Spanish Consortium Conference. 3.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/secspanish_conference/2022/schedule/3
Captions, SRT file
Accessibility Status
Audio or Video Captioning
3. “You’re my first Black Spanish teacher ever”: Reimagining introductory linguistics as raciolinguistics in the Southern context
Responding to the calls for an "interdisciplinarily informed theoretical engagement with race and racism" in linguistics (Charity et al. 2020), the current paper delineates the ways in which the field of linguistics could be impacted by requiring students interested in the study of language to undertake critical studies of raciolinguistics early on in their academic careers. Specifically, the paper outlines the experience of one of three teachers who worked alongside each other to update existing introductory linguistics courses across the fields of Hispanic Linguistics, Linguistic Anthropology, and General Linguistics.
In each course, teachers were tasked with introducing the foundations of the emergent field of raciolinguistics, which theorizes language through the lens of race and race through the lens of language (Alim et al. 2016). Much like Calhoun et al. (2021)'s call to restructure introduction to linguistic courses with a focus on socio-political contextualization of language production and racial categorization, we proposed that students learn to use linguistic analyses to articulate the intersections between race, gender, class, ability and power in varying contexts. The course that will be discussed in this paper drew on local southern Spanish speaking linguistic communities providing a model for localizing linguistic inquiry to the lived experiences of specific populations of students, providing socio-historical foundations that are often obscured in U.S public education curricula (Ladson-Billings 2003; Brown & Brown 2010; Ortiz 2018). Drawing on a largely Anglo-American student population, students in the current course are tasked with locating themselves along continuums of language ideologies surrounding Spanish speaking from varying racialized populations. Class readings are drawn from fields including linguistics, sociology, psychology, ethnic studies, anthropology, education, music, criminal justice, and history. As such, the course offers an expanded view of linguistics that attracts students of tangential fields into the study of linguistics, while also expanding the reach of current linguistic research.
Citations:
Alim, S.H., Ball, A., and Rickford, J. R. (eds.) (2016). Raciolinguistics: How language shapes our ideas about race. Oxford University Press.
Brown, K. D., & Brown, A. L. (2010). Silenced memories: An examination of the sociocultural knowledge on race and racial violence in official school curriculum. Equity & Excellence in Education, 43(2), 139-154.
Calhoun, K., Hudley, A. H. C., Bucholtz, M., Exford, J., & Johnson, B. (2021). Attracting Black students to linguistics through a Black-centered Introduction to Linguistics course. Language, 97(1), e12-e38.
Charity Hudley, A.H., Mallinson, C., & Bucholtz, M. (2020). Toward racial justice in linguistics: Interdisciplinary insights into theorizing race in the discipline and diversifying the profession. Language 96(4), e200-e235. doi:10.1353/lan.2020.0074.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2003). Lies my teacher still tells. Critical race theories perspectives on social studies: The profession, policies, and curriculum, 1-11.
Ortiz, P. (2018). An African American and Latinx History of the United States (Vol. 4). Beacon Press.
Comments
Additional files include captions (SRT file).