Study Notes on Teaching New Worlds and New Words by bell hooks
The Disruptive and Invasive Nature of Language
Language resembles desire in its ability to disrupt and refuse containment within established boundaries. It functions against the conscious will, utilizing words and thoughts that intrude upon or even violate the most private regions of the mind and body.
Words impose themselves and take root in memory regardless of individual volition; once established, certain linguistic constructs cannot be erased, aborted, or altered.
A foundational example of this linguistic intrusion is the line from Adrienne Rich's poem, "The Burning of Paper Instead of Children": "This is the oppressor's language yet I need it to talk to you."
Rich's poem argues against various forms of domination, specifically racism and class oppression. It graphically illustrates that preventing the political persecution and torture of living human beings is more vital than preventing censorship or the burning of books.
Colonialism, Language, and the Sound of Slaughter
Standard English is often heard as the sound of slaughter and conquest when contextualized against the history of white Americans' refusal to acknowledge the diverse languages of Native Americans.
For centuries, the speech that ancestral colonizers labeled as mere "grunts or gibberish" was, in fact, fully realized language.
The condition of displaced and "homeless" Africans forced to inhabit a world where they shared skin color and common conditions but lacked a shared language created a unique form of grief.
This forced inhabitants to rely on the "oppressor's language" to communicate with one another: "This is the oppressor's language yet I need it to talk to you."
The terror experienced by Africans on slave ships, at auction blocks, and within the unfamiliar architecture of plantations extended beyond the fear of physical punishment. It included the deep anguish of hearing a language they could not comprehend.
The initial sound of English was inherently terrifying to the enslaved, representing the voice of the oppressor.
Language as a Site of Resistance and Reconciliation
Black people in the "New World" were meet in spaces away from their diverse original cultures and languages. They were compelled to use the darkness of their skin/blackness as the primary space of bonding rather than shared speech.
The realization that the oppressor's language could be seized, spoken by the tongues of the colonized, and used as a space of bonding was a moment of joy. This recognition offered a path to restore intimacy and form a culture of resistance, making recovery from the trauma of enslavement possible.
Enslaved Africans reclaimed personal power within a context of domination by learning to speak the alien tongue of English and then transforming it.
A shared language allowed for the creation of community and the political solidarity required for resistance.
Rather than simply adopting English, enslaved people reinvented and remade the language to speak beyond the boundaries of conquest and domination.
The Construction of a Counter-Language and Black Vernacular
Enslaved Black people took broken fragments of English and constructed a "counter-language." This required colonizers to rethink the meaning of the English language.
Resistance is often noted in the content of spirituals, but the grammatical construction of sentences in these songs is equally significant. The grammar reflected the broken, ruptured world of the enslaved person.
In the spiritual lyric "nobody knows de trouble I see," the use of "nobody" carries more depth than the phrase "no one." This is because the slave's physical body was the concrete site of their suffering.
Emancipated Black people intentionally maintained the sentence structures and "incorrect" word usage of their ancestors. This linguistic rebellion claimed language as a site of resistance.
By rupturing standard usage and meaning—often to the point where white listeners could not understand Black speech—English became more than just the language of the oppressor.
There is an unbroken connection between the broken English of enslaved Africans and the diverse Black vernacular used today. In both cases, the rupture of standard English enables rebellion and resistance.
Alternative Epistemologies and the Risks of Trivialization
Beyond resisting white supremacy, Black vernacular forges a space for alternative cultural production and "alternative epistemologies." These are different ways of thinking and knowing that are essential for a counter-hegemonic worldview.
The revolutionary power of Black vernacular resides in its capacity to intervene on the limitations and boundaries of standard English.
Contemporary rap music is a primary site where Black vernacular invites dominant mainstream culture to hear and be transformed.
A significant risk of cultural translation is the trivialization of Black vernacular. When it is imitated by young white people in ways that suggest the speakers are stupid or merely entertainers/funny, the subversive power of the speech is undermined.
Language and Power in Academic Settings
In academic teaching and writing, there is historically very little effort to utilize language other than standard English.
In a classroom setting for a course on Black women writers, ethnically diverse students—many of whom spoke standard English as a second or third language—were often rendered speechless when asked why only standard English was used. It had never occurred to them that other languages could be utilized in that space.
The preservation of a relationship to Black vernacular is difficult for professionals in predominantly white settings; it requires a conscious effort to integrate Southern Black vernacular into these social and professional spheres.
Integrating vernacular into writing is particularly difficult due to academic journals. Editors frequently return work with the vernacular translated back into standard English.
Pedagogically, students should be encouraged to use their first languages and then translate them. This prevents higher education from estranging them from the languages and cultures they know most intimately.
The Pedagogy of Not Understanding and Multiculturalism
White students often express discomfort or complain when Black vernacular or diverse languages are used in the classroom. This discomfort stems from hearing words they cannot comprehend.
This moment of "not understanding" should be used as a pedagogical space to learn. It provides an opportunity to listen without "mastery" or the need to own speech through interpretation.
In a white supremacist society, standard English is frequently used as a weapon to silence and censor.
June Jordan, in On Call, argues that in a true democracy, language would not be a "stolen and hidden" currency homogenized into an official "English" that expresses non-events or lies.
In a democratic state, language would "hurtle, fly, curse, and sing" in the common American names and the voices of everyone present. Language would conform to the truth of "many selves" and lead to an equality of power.
Shifting Theoretical Paradigms and Fragmented Knowledge
Discussions of diversity and multiculturalism often ignore the question of language. While feminist writings have focused on "voice," they initially assumed standard English would be the primary vehicle for transmission.
As audiences for feminist work become more diverse, there is a need to create spaces for broken vernacular and non-English speech. This shift alters "how we know what we know."
Listening to Southern Black vernacular or regional patois alongside abstract thought requires the audience to accept that they do not need to "master" or conquer a narrative in its entirety. Knowledge can be gained in fragments.
Patiently listening to another tongue subverts the "capitalist frenzy and consumption" that demands immediate satisfaction of all desires. It also disrupts the cultural imperialism that suggests only standard English speakers are worthy of being heard.
Healing the Mind-Body Split Through Vernacular
Adrienne Rich's poem concludes with reflections on the typewriter, the overheating of the mouth, the inability to touch, and the realization that "this is the oppressor's language."
The poem notes that "a language is a map of our failures" and references Frederick Douglass writing a purer English than Milton, yet people still suffer in poverty.
In America, there is only the "present tense," which creates a sense of constant danger.
Recognizing that people touch each other in language is difficult in a society that lacks dignity for passion and views deep feeling as inferior.
Within the dualism of Western metaphysical thought, ideas are traditionally prioritized over language.
Marginalized and oppressed people use language to heal the splitting of mind and body. By creating the "ruptured, broken, unruly speech of the vernacular," they create a place for intimacy and recover their experiences.
Using Black vernacular allows speakers to make English do what they want it to do, turning the oppressor's language against itself and creating counter-hegemonic, liberating speech.