Bee Tee Dubs

“I privilege and prioritize the stories of people of color and from underrepresented communities. And the thing that I’m trying to show my students all of the time is that these people are theoretical and intellectual. Their stories are viable and valuable in the institution… to be an academic or write in academia doesn’t mean you have to write in one standard type of writing practice or in a certain kind of voice.” – Andrea Riley-Mukavetz (p. 7)

“I do define my work as cultural rhetoric pedagogy. I have thought about describing it as decolonial pedagogy because practice, experience, and relationships are so central…it requires us to redefine our relationships to knowledge and meaning. This redefining is ultimately decolonial.” – Andrea Riley-Mukavetz (p. 3)

• Cedillo’s language in “Diversity, Technology, and Composition” seems too esoteric to be considered decolonial. In what ways must we conform to the language of mainstream academia in order to spread the message that the language of mainstream academic must be broadened to include more diverse voices? Would our voices be heard otherwise? What is the cost of that conformity?
• My students are part of a Demystifying Language Project at Fordham University. They are working with an anthropology and linguistics professor, revising academic papers to make the language more accessible to young people. It seems that if rhetoricians are committed to decolonizing language and storytelling, it might help to start with the language in their own academic papers.