Literacy in Composition Studies Jan 2022 RSS Open Access

Book Review - Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy by April Baker-Bell

Thir Budhathoki University of Arizona

Abstract

020 was an unprecedented year for the entire world but more so for the US, where COVID-19 killed far more people than in any other country and caused widespread unemployment, food insecurity, and homelessness. What is more striking is the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on minority, immigrant, and low-income populations. These disparities question the notion of post-racial America and call for a long and difficult journey toward social justice. Moreover, 2020 will also be remembered as a year of inflammatory political rhetorics, extreme polarization, and racial tensions. Recurrent deaths of Black people at the hands of law enforcement resulted in protests and riots across the country. Published during such tumultuous times, April Baker-Bell's 2020 monograph, Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy, shows how language and racism are intertwined, makes a strong case against the anti-Black linguistic racism affecting millions of lives both inside and outside the classroom, and offers an Antiracist Black Language Pedagogy as a way to deal with linguistic injustice. Throughout the book Baker-Bell introduces Black Language Artifacts as a part of the antiracist pedagogy where Black experience and Black culture are used as a resource for learning. Bringing together theory, history, culture, pedagogy and activism, Baker-Bell aligns with the mission of social justice movements like Black Lives Matter and calls for action to create classrooms where Black students' linguistic and cultural resources are valued and imagines a world without anti-blackness, where another George Floyd doesn't get killed despite his repeated plea-"I cannot breathe"-in "Standardized American English. "

Journal
Literacy in Composition Studies
Published
2022-01-11
DOI
10.21623/1.9.1.6
CompPile
Open Access
OA PDF Gold
Topics
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

References (15)

  1. Baker-Bell, April. Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge, 2020. Lor…
     ↗
  2. Baker-Bell, April.Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge, 2020.Lor…
     ↗
  3. Baker-Bell, April.Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge, 2020.Lor…
     ↗
  4. Baker-Bell, April.Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge, 2020.Lor…
     ↗
  5. Baker-Bell, April.Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge, 2020.Lor…
     ↗
Show all 15 →
  1. Baker-Bell, April.Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge, 2020.Lor…
     ↗
  2. Baker-Bell, April.Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge, 2020.Lor…
     ↗
  3. Baker-Bell, April.Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge, 2020.Lor…
     ↗
  4. Baker-Bell, April.Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge, 2020.Lor…
     ↗
  5. Baker-Bell, April.Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge, 2020.Lor…
     ↗
  6. Baker-Bell, April.Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge, 2020.Lor…
     ↗
  7. Baker-Bell, April.Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge, 2020.Lor…
     ↗
  8. Baker-Bell, April.Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge, 2020.Lor…
     ↗
  9. Baker-Bell, April.Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge, 2020.Lor…
     ↗
  10. Baker-Bell, April.Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy. Routledge, 2020.Lor…
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 1 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related articles

  1. Rhetorica Mar 2021
    The Routledge Reader of African American Rhetoric: The Long Durée of Black Voices ed. by Vershawn Ashanti Young and Michelle Bachelor Robinson ↗
    Mudiwa Pettus
    rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis african american rhetorics writing pedagogy social media literacy studies race and writing gender and writing public rhetoric book reviews editorial matter
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly Oct 2024
    Editors’ Use of Comprehensive Style Guides: The Case of Singular They ↗
    Jo Mackiewicz; Shaya Kraut; Allison Durazzi
    rhetorical criticism discourse analysis first-year composition writing pedagogy graduate education teacher development writing centers technical communication professional writing digital rhetoric multilingual writers grammar and mechanics literacy studies race and writing public rhetoric editorial matter
  3. Pedagogy Oct 2023
    Contributors ↗
    rhetorical criticism first-year composition writing pedagogy writing across the curriculum two-year college teacher development collaborative writing assessment writing centers qualitative research multimodality literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies affect and writing literary studies book reviews editorial matter
  4. Pedagogy Jan 2023
    Contributors ↗
    rhetorical criticism first-year composition writing pedagogy writing across the curriculum graduate education teacher development writing program administration writing centers digital rhetoric literacy studies gender and writing disability studies public rhetoric literary studies book reviews editorial matter
  5. Pedagogy Jan 2022
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis african american rhetorics decolonial rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy basic writing writing across the curriculum graduate education teacher development argument collaborative writing transfer assessment portfolios writing program administration writing centers peer tutoring technical communication professional writing archival research digital rhetoric social media grammar and mechanics literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies public rhetoric community literacy literary studies editorial matter