Dr. Fenobia I. Dallas ::: Teaching as rhetoric

Three rhetorical devices--metis, nommo, and code-switching--position the user in a self-actualized context within the communicative event, in that their use allows the individual to enact an empowering role. Users of the African American communication style negotiate the dominant discourse while at the same time affirming cultural unity in the speech community. African Americans often have been spoken for in higher education. Because education almost necessarily reflects the reproduction of the dominant societal norms and values (Green, 2000, p. 8), the tactics undertaken by African Americans--who were historically excluded from educational attainment--can offer insights in how these rhetorical devices can be understood as a tool for empowerment and inclusion in higher education.

As Comfort (1995) suggests, African Americans are “also strongly conditioned by cultural forces whose roots are African in character, ”for:

[w]e have of course been educated in academic institutions whose rhetorical traditions are traceable to ancient Greece and Rome. We are also strongly conditioned by cultural forces whose roots are African in character, adding a sense of integration and synthesis to the typically Western approaches of compartmentalization and analysis that we draw on as rhetorical resources (147-8).

A few resources on rhetoric, higher education, and the impact on the African American community:

Asante, Molefi Kete. The Afrocentric Idea: Revised and Expanded Edition. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1998.
Benjamin, Lois, ed. Black Women in the Academy: Promises and Perils. Gainesville: U of Florida P, 1997.
Comfort, Juanita Rodgers. “A Rhetoric of ‘Cultural Negotiation’: Toward an Ethos of Empowerment for African-American Women Graduate Students.” Rhetoric, Cultural Studies, and Literacy: Selected Papers from the 1994 Conference of the Rhetoric Society of America. Ed. John Frederick Reynolds. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1995. 145-50.
Comfort, Juanita Rodgers. “African-American Women’s Rhetorics and the Culture of Eurocentric Scholarly Discourse.” Contrastive Rhetoric Revisited and Redefined. Ed. Clayann Gilliam Panetta. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001. 91-104.
Gilyard, Keith, ed. Race, Rhetoric, and Composition. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1999.
Issac, Alicia. The African American Student’s Guide to Surviving Graduate School. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1998.
Jackson II, Ronald L., and Elaine B. Richardson, eds. Understanding African American Rhetoric: Classical Origins to Contemporary Innovations. New York: Routledge, 2003.
James, Joy. Transcending the Talented Tenth: Black Leaders and American Intellectuals. Routledge: New York, 1997.
James, Joy, and Ruth Farmer, eds. Spirit, Space & Survival: African American Women in (White) Academe. New York: Routledge, 1993.
Jones, Lee, ed. Brothers of the Academy: Up and Coming Black Scholars Earning Our Way in Higher Education.Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2001.
Logan, Shirley Wilson. “We Are Coming”: The Persuasive Discourse of Nineteenth-Century Black Women. Carbondale: Southern Illinois U P, 1999.
Mabokela, Reitumetse Obakeng, and Anna L. Green, eds. Sisters of the Academy: Emergent Black Women Scholars in Higher Education. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2001.
Mbiti, John S. African Religions and Philosophy. [1969]. 2nd ed. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1990.
National Advisory Committee on Black Higher Education and Black Colleges and Universities. A Losing Battle: The Decline in Black Participation in Graduate and Professional Education. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Advisory Committee on Black Higher Education and Black Colleges and Universities, 1980.
National Center for Education Statistics. Enrollment in Higher Education: Fall 1995. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1997.
Royster, Jacqueline Jones. “When the First Voice You Hear Is Not Your Own.” College Composition and Communication 47.1 (1996): 29-40.
Smitherman, Geneva. Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner. [1994]. Revised Ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.
Smitherman, Geneva. Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1977.
Smitherman, Geneva. Talkin that Talk: Language, Culture, and Education in African America. New York: Routledge, 2000.
Southern Regional Education Board. Diversity in College Faculty: SREB States Address a Need. Atlanta: SREB, 1999.
Turner, Caroline Sotello Viernes, and Samuel L. Myers, Jr. Faculty of Color in Academe: Bittersweet Success. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 2000.

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Teaching afrafeminism computers cyberspacing rhetoric technology Research Service [Diva's AgenDa] [Home page]	::: rhetoric ::: Three rhetorical devices--metis, nommo, and code-switching--position the user in a self-actualized context within the communicative event, in that their use allows the individual to enact an empowering role. Users of the African American communication style negotiate the dominant discourse while at the same time affirming cultural unity in the speech community. African Americans often have been spoken for in higher education. Because education almost necessarily reflects the reproduction of the dominant societal norms and values (Green, 2000, p. 8), the tactics undertaken by African Americans--who were historically excluded from educational attainment--can offer insights in how these rhetorical devices can be understood as a tool for empowerment and inclusion in higher education. As Comfort (1995) suggests, African Americans are “also strongly conditioned by cultural forces whose roots are African in character, ”for: [w]e have of course been educated in academic institutions whose rhetorical traditions are traceable to ancient Greece and Rome. We are also strongly conditioned by cultural forces whose roots are African in character, adding a sense of integration and synthesis to the typically Western approaches of compartmentalization and analysis that we draw on as rhetorical resources (147-8). A few resources on rhetoric, higher education, and the impact on the African American community: Asante, Molefi Kete. The Afrocentric Idea: Revised and Expanded Edition. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1998. Benjamin, Lois, ed. Black Women in the Academy: Promises and Perils. Gainesville: U of Florida P, 1997. Comfort, Juanita Rodgers. “A Rhetoric of ‘Cultural Negotiation’: Toward an Ethos of Empowerment for African-American Women Graduate Students.” Rhetoric, Cultural Studies, and Literacy: Selected Papers from the 1994 Conference of the Rhetoric Society of America. Ed. John Frederick Reynolds. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1995. 145-50. Comfort, Juanita Rodgers. “African-American Women’s Rhetorics and the Culture of Eurocentric Scholarly Discourse.” Contrastive Rhetoric Revisited and Redefined. Ed. Clayann Gilliam Panetta. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001. 91-104. Gilyard, Keith, ed. Race, Rhetoric, and Composition. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1999. Issac, Alicia. The African American Student’s Guide to Surviving Graduate School. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1998. Jackson II, Ronald L., and Elaine B. Richardson, eds. Understanding African American Rhetoric: Classical Origins to Contemporary Innovations. New York: Routledge, 2003. James, Joy. Transcending the Talented Tenth: Black Leaders and American Intellectuals. Routledge: New York, 1997. James, Joy, and Ruth Farmer, eds. Spirit, Space & Survival: African American Women in (White) Academe. New York: Routledge, 1993. Jones, Lee, ed. Brothers of the Academy: Up and Coming Black Scholars Earning Our Way in Higher Education.Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2001. Logan, Shirley Wilson. “We Are Coming”: The Persuasive Discourse of Nineteenth-Century Black Women. Carbondale: Southern Illinois U P, 1999. Mabokela, Reitumetse Obakeng, and Anna L. Green, eds. Sisters of the Academy: Emergent Black Women Scholars in Higher Education. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2001. Mbiti, John S. African Religions and Philosophy. [1969]. 2nd ed. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1990. National Advisory Committee on Black Higher Education and Black Colleges and Universities. A Losing Battle: The Decline in Black Participation in Graduate and Professional Education. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Advisory Committee on Black Higher Education and Black Colleges and Universities, 1980. National Center for Education Statistics. Enrollment in Higher Education: Fall 1995. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1997. Royster, Jacqueline Jones. “When the First Voice You Hear Is Not Your Own.” College Composition and Communication 47.1 (1996): 29-40. Smitherman, Geneva. Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner. [1994]. Revised Ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Smitherman, Geneva. Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1977. Smitherman, Geneva. Talkin that Talk: Language, Culture, and Education in African America. New York: Routledge, 2000. Southern Regional Education Board. Diversity in College Faculty: SREB States Address a Need. Atlanta: SREB, 1999. Turner, Caroline Sotello Viernes, and Samuel L. Myers, Jr. Faculty of Color in Academe: Bittersweet Success. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 2000. [top]
This page last updated August 2009 by Charlene La Chatte for Blak Kat Productions. copyright © 1999-2009 \| Fenobia I. Dallas