• Lisa Kanae's Sista Tongue (focused on the 2nd half).
• Rosina Lippi-Green's "The Educational
System: Fixing the Message in Stone"
Preparation
• Finish reading Sista Tongue. Pay particular attention to the second half (after the Madorah Smith scan). Did any / all of your questions get answered? What questions remain? Were you surprised by anything? Did all threads resolve in a satisfying way? What do you think Kanae's ultimate point / purpose is? Can you find a thesis / main argument articulated somewhere in this second half?
• Read Rosina Lippi-Green's "The
Educational System: Fixing the Message in Stone." This is a chapter from her larger text, English with an Accent:
Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the United States This is an academic text written for an academic audience.
Please give yourself time to really engage with Lippi-Green's ideas, evidence, and arguments. They are complex and may need more than one reading to grasp well.
As you read, make note of important moments, quotes, concepts, examples, and questions that arise. Think about your own education experiences, and your own understanding of language and the language of school/schooling. Keep in mind that this text was published in
- Does anything feel antiquated--a thing of the past--in your education experience, do you think attitudes and practices have changed? Where do you see overlap, extension, corroboration, challenge, contradiction between Kanae and Lippi-Green? How does Lippi-Green help you understand Kanae? How does Kanae help you understand Lippi-Green?
• Some acronym help:
MUSE = Mainstream US
English
• AAVE = African American
Vernacular English
For your written prep
Part A: Respond to Sista Tongue (full text)
Take a moment to reflect on your experience of Sista Tongue. What stands out to you as particularly impactful? Is there a particular point, passage, page, image, layout etc, that sticks with you? What did you like / enjoy about Sista Tongue? Is there anything you question or want to challenge about the text--its arguments / content and / or form? Are you (still) frustrated with the text in some ways)--how and why? In a 4-6 sentence paragraph, reflect on and share your thoughts about the text and your experience of it.
Part B: Sista Tongue and Course Questions
Consider Sista Tongue through ONE of the following Course Questions:
• How do our cultures of origin and/or mainstream culture inform the stories we tell ourselves about both ourselves and others?
• How do our societal education system and/or other knowledge systems play a role in setting and telling these stories?
• How does language, dialect, discourse take part in making meaning of our world and ourselves? And how/when does language promote and maintain social hierarchies of power and privilege?
In a 4-6 sentence paragraph, explain how you see Sista Tongue getting at the question you've selected. Where do you "see" Sista Tongue emerge in the question? Where / how do you see Kanae addressing the question?
Specificity is important here. Instead of broad generalities, bring your focus down to specific details, examples, voices, threads, history, etc that help you understand and connect with the course question. Draw out and explain 2 or 3 specific ways Sista Tongue helps you think about and address the question you've selected.
Part C: Drawing Connections
Finally, find one meaningful connection between Sista Tongue and Lippi-Green. Yes, they both refer to Hawaii Creole English (HCE). That observation alone is not a meaningful connection. Go beyond simple, surface-level examples. Really dig in and uncover interesting, meaty, inspired moments of connection that we can all chew on and think about.
In 4-6 sentences, explain the connection and identify a passage / direct quotation from each text that helps illuminate the connection.
For this connection, try to focus on the second half of Sista Tongue.