Negotiating speech and language in the African Diaspora: politics of linguistic diversity.

Negotiating speech and language in the African Diaspora: politics of linguistic diversity. NEGOTIATING SPEECH AND LANGUAGE IN THE AFRICAN DIASPORA The African diaspora is the diaspora created by the movements and cultures of Africans and their descendants throughout the world, to places such as the Americas, (including the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America) Europe and Asia. : THEPOLITICS OF LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY/ (BLACK ENGLISHES) "The men of Gilead said to him, Are you an Ephraiminite? If hesaid, No, They said to him, Then say Shibboleth Shibboleth(shĭb`ōlĕth), in the Bible, test word that the Gileadites made the Ephraimites pronounce. As Ephraimites could not say sh but only s ; and he said Sibboleth:for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slewhim...." Judges 12:6. SPEECH REFLECTS THE SOCIAL RELATIONS IN A SOCIETY The quote above describing the Biblical account of the battlebetween the Ephraimites and the Gileadites illustrates how pronunciationof one word, changed by the omission of the "h," sound servedto identify escaping Ephraimites who claimed to be Gileadites in orderto escape death. The Ephraimites' speech revealed their identity,and forty-two thousand of them were killed in this battle. Despite thedate and context of this example, speech and language are still used astools to identify, demarcate de��mar��cate?tr.v. de��mar��cat��ed, de��mar��cat��ing, de��mar��cates1. To set the boundaries of; delimit.2. To separate clearly as if by boundaries; distinguish: demarcate categories. , and at times to dominate and oppress op��press?tr.v. op��pressed, op��press��ing, op��press��es1. To keep down by severe and unjust use of force or authority: a people who were oppressed by tyranny.2. thosewithout power in various societies. How we speak and the languages we use serve to distinguish amongnationalities, social classes and groups, educational levels, and tosome degree, age and gender. History, culture, geography and otherenvironmental factors, as well as personal experiences, all influencewhat we say and how we say it. Speech reflects social relations in asociety, and social relations, in turn, shape/affect/determine howpeople speak as well as how they respond to various forms and patternsof speech. The languages or dialects spoken by the dominant groups in agiven society will be that of those accorded power and prestige. Burling Burling may refer to: Carroll Burling Daniel Burling Robbins Burling This page or section lists people with the surname Burling. If an internal link for a specific person referred you to this page, you may wish to add the given name(s) to that (1973, p. 27) reviews the source of a language'sstatus and prestige in the following: In a society like ours it may be inevitable that the language of those with money, education, and high social status comes to be regarded as the best. These are the people who often set the standards.... But if by some magic our class system were suddenly overturned, new forms of speech would surely acquire prestige. If, for instance, those who held positions of power and respect regularly used double negatives, while the humble members of the lower classes never did so, we can be confident that double negatives would soon begin to sound elegant, simply because elegant people used them. Lukia Koliussi (2004, p.107) observes: "Language is the mostimportant means of human interaction and social survival. Byunderstanding, inferring, and relaying meaning, we creatively negotiate,construct, reconstruct, and define the norms and rules by which we liveand the identities we either are 'assigned' by society orchoose to take in certain situations." How does the exercise ofpower to construct and define these societal norms affect students ofAfrican Africanpertaining to or originating in Africa.African buffaloincludes black Cape buffalo, red Congo buffalo and red-brown varieties from Abyssinia to Niger. See also buffalo. descent and what roles do educators and schooling play inmaintaining the linguistic status quo [Latin, The existing state of things at any given date.] Status quo ante bellum means the state of things before the war. The status quo to be preserved by a preliminary injunction is the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy. ? My goal in this article is toencourage educators and others to examine the links between attitudestowards speech and language of students of African descent and socialjustice. In addition to my graduate training in communication and myexperience as a communications consultant, I have researched Blacklinguistics extensively in order to write the course: "Black Speechand Language Communication Behaviors," which has been approved andis now being offered at this university. However, in this article, myexperiences as student, elementary school elementary school:see school. teacher, student teachersupervisor and professor in three cultural contexts are scaffoldedaround and used to illuminate research perspectives on the politics ofblack speech and language communication. SPEECH AND LANGUAGE SOCIALIZATION socialization/so��cial��iza��tion/ (so?shal-i-za��shun) the process by which society integrates the individual and the individual learns to behave in socially acceptable ways. so��cial��i��za��tionn. : MAINTAINING THE LINGUISTICSTATUS QUO Often during their formative formal and informal learningexperiences students become socialized to society's norms ordesignations/classifications of 'good" and 'bad'English. While most would agree that speech and language communicationin the classroom go beyond drumming the mechanics of grammar andlanguage use into students, scant attention is given to making visible"the power of language to construct subjectivity and social reality[which] makes it a site of both ideological and political struggle"(Macedo et. al. 2003, p. 48). Part of the ideological and politicalstruggle mentioned above is the reality that many students whose firstand whose home languages differ from their society's standard areviewed by schools as users of illicit speech. The latter is particularlytrue in postcolonial post��co��lo��ni��al?adj.Of, relating to, or being the time following the establishment of independence in a colony: postcolonial economics.societies where formerly enslaved or dominatedpopulations' speech and languages reflect their histories ofoppression. The Roles of Education and Schooling in Maintaining the LinguisticStatus Quo: Schools as Sites of Struggle and Contestation Terry Meier states: "It is difficult to talk about BlackLanguage/Ebonics in a meaningful way without simultaneously talkingabout racism" (1998, p. 120). It is therefore important thatteachers are aware of the role of schools as more than sites ofknowledge transmission. Macedo et. al. (2000, p. 40) identify: Schools as sites of struggle and contestation that reproduce the dominant culture and ideology, as well as what is perceived as legitimate language/knowledge, make use of their institutional power to either affirm or deny a learner's language, and thus his or her lived experiences and culture. Additionally, schools are not simply static institutions that mirror the social order or reproduce the dominant ideology. They are active agents in the very construction of the social order and the dominant ideology. Failure to acknowledge support for Ebonics from organizations suchas the American Linguistics Association, the American Association forApplied Linguistics Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of study that identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, linguistics, psychology, anthropology, and sociology. and Teachers of English to Speakers of OtherLanguages is a casualty in the ideological war over speech and languagein American society (Rickford and Rickford, 2000, p. 175; Perry andDelpit, 1998, p. 160). Rickford and Rickford note that Congress approveda $1 million grant to research techniques "for tapping thelinguistic and cultural resources of black students in order to enhancetheir school performance" (2000, p. 175). Despite information tothe contrary, Myths and misconceptions about language and negative attitudestowards language diversity are fostered in the school and perpetuated inthe general populace by the public school experience (Pooley, 1974).Schools and teachers are seen as guardians of the national tongue.Condemned as immoral, ignorant, and inferior are all those who departfrom the idealized norm of standard English which, as Pooley'sresearch (1969) so powerfully demonstrates, teachers themselves preachbut do not practice.... Research on sociolinguistics sociolinguistics,the study of language as it affects and is affected by social relations. Sociolinguistics encompasses a broad range of concerns, including bilingualism, pidgin and creole languages, and other ways that language use is influenced by contact among in the educationprocess has been most fruitful and convincing in uncovering underlyingattitudes about language.... In the educational context, negativelinguistic attitudes are reflected in the institutional policies andpractices that become educationally dysfunctional for BlackEnglish-speaking children. Research on language attitudes consistentlyindicates that teachers believe Black English-speaking youngsters arenonverbal non��ver��bal?adj.1. Being other than verbal; not involving words: nonverbal communication.2. Involving little use of language: a nonverbal intelligence test. and possess limited vocabularies. They are perceived to beslow learners or uneducable; their speech is unsystematic and needsconstant correction and improvement (Smitherman, 140-141). Farley (2005, pp. 376-377) attributes labeling black children as"slow" or "illiterate" because of their use of BlackEnglish Black Englishn.1. See African American Vernacular English.2. Any of the nonstandard varieties of English spoken by Black people throughout the world. to "Educators' misconceptions." He states:"Other researchers have found that teachers expected lowerachievement, intelligence, and reading success from students who usedBlack English. This misperception mis��per��ceive?tr.v. mis��per��ceived, mis��per��ceiv��ing, mis��per��ceivesTo perceive incorrectly; misunderstand.mis is often compounded in white or middleclass environments where the norm is Standard English because Blackchildren feel inhibited and become withdrawn." Dandy (1991, pp.8-9) corroborates the findings above and provides results from bothShuy's survey of teachers' attitudes about the language of"disadvantaged" children and findings from Cunningham'sstudy of 189 teachers from four geographic regions. Shuy recommends "content courses to help teachers solvelanguage differences/problems in their classrooms." Dandy relatesboth Shuy and Cunningham's similar findings: "Teachers need tobe adequately trained to understand the dialects of the children theyteach, to recognize meaning equivalence, to learn how systematic variousdialects can be, so that they can develop sensitivity towardcommunicating with the language/dialect different child. teachers mustlearn the acceptance of Black dialect as a complex grammatical system... it is the responsibility of teacher training institutions to see toit that they [teachers] are taught" (1991, p. 6). My personal and professional experiences make issues of speech andlanguage especially urgent and compelling. Our efforts to develop a justsociety must include critical examination of our attitudes towardsspeech and language, as well as commitment to addressing linguisticbarriers to academic achievement. Certainly this issue is also importantfor speakers of other languages and dialects, but in my current work asa professor of African American Studies African American studies (also known as Black studies and/or Africana studies) is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of the history, culture, and politics of African Americans. , my focus is on the speech ofthose of us who comprise the African Diaspora. Some of my earliest memories of speech and language issues are ofmy schooling in Jamaica. I remember a classroom with no walls, just thezinc roof to shelter us from the elements. We seven year olds intensely,loudly, and emphatically repeated in typical singsong sing��song?n.1. Verse characterized by mechanical regularity of rhythm and rhyme.2. A monotonously rising and falling inflection of the voice.adj.Monotonous in vocal inflection or rhythm. fashionrecitations such as: "Hannibal crossed the Alps! Hannibal crossedthe Alps! Thousands of elephants Hannibal had, when Hannibal crossed theAlps! Thousands of elephants stumbled and died, when Hannibal crossedthe Alps ...!" I've forgotten the other verses over the yearsnow, but I remember that subsequent verses discuss the demise of theelephants as they fell off the mountain to their deaths. We were taughtto stress the appropriate sounds as precisely as clients in speechconsults would be coached to do. After earning a master's degree in communications, I workedwith experienced and highly skilled speech pathologists and othercommunication specialists developing exercises and other trainingmaterials to help corporate employees "professionalize pro��fes��sion��al��ize?tr.v. pro��fes��sion��al��ized, pro��fes��sion��al��iz��ing, pro��fes��sion��al��iz��esTo make professional.pro��fes " theirspeech and code switch between various languages, dialects, and StandardEnglish. It was in the middle of this work that I remembered mychildhood recitations and noticed how the focus was on soundsparticularly suited for Jamaican speech. Typical speakers of theJamaican language would remove the "H" from" Hannibal butplace it before the "A" in Alps. Thus, "Anibal"crossed the "Halps." The "th" in thousands would bereduced to "t," resulting in, "tousands." Although we recited this and other now forgotten exercises withgreat exuberance, no one bothered to tell us that the purpose of thisexercise was to help standardize our speech. Clearly, rote learning rote learningn.Learning or memorization by repetition, often without an understanding of the reasoning or relationships involved in the material that is learned. wasde rigueur de ri��gueur?adj.Required by the current fashion or custom; socially obligatory.[French : de, of + rigueur, rigor, strictness. in the Jamaica of the 1950s. Although I have benefited fromthis training, I still have serious misgivings about the null curriculumand the colonial education I experienced. Speech became more complicated as I grew into the pre-teen years. Inow lived in Kingston with my very prim and proper godmother, Mrs.Lawson, who only used the Jamaican language in rare moments whenjesting jest?n.1. A playful or amusing act; a prank. See Synonyms at joke.2. A frolicsome or frivolous mood: spoken in jest.3. An object of ridicule; a laughingstock.4. . She, like some other Jamaicans, affected a British soundingaccent, although she had never visited Great Britain Great Britain,officially United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, constitutional monarchy (2005 est. pop. 60,441,000), 94,226 sq mi (244,044 sq km), on the British Isles, off W Europe. The country is often referred to simply as Britain. . Mrs. Lawson wouldhit the "t" in "viT-a-min" with profound force, and,by today's speech standards, made quite a spectacle of herself,when pronouncing the simplest word. When the professor of theprofessional speech-writing course which I took as part of mymaster's degree in communication at the University of Illinois University of Illinois may refer to: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (flagship campus) University of Illinois at Chicago University of Illinois at Springfield University of Illinois system It can also refer to: hinted at "affected speech," I knew its origin. SPEECH PATHOLOGY speech pathologyn.The science concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of functional and organic speech defects and disorders. Also called speech-language pathology. ?: PRIVILEGING THE SPEECH OF THE POWERFUL IN THEAFRICAN DIASPORA Linguistic Hegemony in the African Diaspora I moved to Bermuda just in time to begin high school anddiscovered--through interacting with my classmates--that many Bermudiansesteemed Americans highly, but had little regard for Jamaicans. Therewere two foreigners in our school, one was an American boy; I, ofcourse, was the Jamaican. One can imagine beginning the challenging highschool years in an environment where Jamaicans were sometimes derisively de��ri��sive?adj.Mocking; jeering.de��risive��ly adv.de��ri addressed as "West Indians" or referred to as "Chigger chigger,minute, six-legged, reddish larva of the harvest mite, one of various red bugs widely distributed throughout the world and common in the S United States. foots." Most of my Bermudian classmates fervently believed they hadno accent. To them their speech was the norm, while mine was thenonstandard non��stan��dard?adj.1. Varying from or not adhering to the standard: nonstandard lengths of board.2. deviation. My mother who lived in Bermuda for over 30 years shared thefollowing example of a speech event with Bermudian friends whichillustrates our linguistic differences. "I said spell rat,"said mama to five year old Judy. Judy looked puzzled and quizzically quiz��zi��cal?adj.1. Suggesting puzzlement; questioning.2. Teasing; mocking: "His face wore a somewhat quizzical almost impertinent air"Lawrence Durrell. repeated, "rat?" "Rat?' while looking inquiringly ather grandmother, Aunt Inez, for help. Aunt Inez responded, "Judy,she said spell "Raaaat," "oh raaaaaaaaaaat" saidJudy as she now quickly spelled the word. In Bermudian speech,"eggs" become "eeeeeeeeeegs." This was definitely aspeech pattern I did not want to emulate. At fifteen years old, upon the urging of my closest Bermudianclassmates the Santucci twins, Norma and Naomi, we left Bermuda for aboarding school in Mandeville, Jamaica Mandeville is the capital of Jamaica's Manchester parish. In 2005 the town had an estimated population of 50,000 and including the immediate suburbs within a radius of 16 km (10 miles) the total population is about 72,000. . The twins left to attend schoolin England soon after we arrived, while I remained for four years tocomplete two years of high school and two years of college. In additionto the many Jamaicans, there were students from the Bahamas, Bermuda,Haiti, Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, pueblo, United StatesSanto Domingo(sän'tə dəmĭng`gō), pueblo (1990 pop. 2,866), Sandoval co., N central N.Mex., on the Rio Grande; founded c.1700 after earlier pueblos were destroyed by floods. , Argentina and other nationalities some of whomattended our school only to learn English. Before long I achieved thedistinction of being contemptuously referred to as: "Jamaicanforeigner" by some contentious Jamaican classmates. They wereannoyed because to them, I did not sound like a Jamaican. Mypronunciation was definitely not Bermudian, though. I do not rememberwhen, but some time after I began high school in Bermuda, I had changedmy speech--not to sound like the Bermudians, but not exactly with aJamaican lilt either. As an undergraduate at DePaul University Coordinates: DePaul University[1] is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois, USA. majoring inCommunication/English, I was puzzled as to why some professors circledor highlighted words on my otherwise excellent papers. The work wasdemanding, and I am certain that I would not have graduated magna cumlaude cum lau��de?adv. & adj.With honor. Used to express academic distinction: graduated cum laude; 25 cum laude graduates. had I not discovered the reason, because none of my professorsoffered any explanations. Furthermore, like some students, early in myacademic journey I was too intimidated to question instructors'markings. When I discovered the reason for their notations, I beganwriting "color" instead of "colour,""tire" instead of "tyre" and so on. I was alsopenalized for separating words British style, but I had no idea thesedifferences even existed. Was I supposed to know this information beforecoming to college, I wondered? Later, I puzzled over whether instructorshad attributed my language differences to cultural difference or todeficits, and I also wondered if they themselves were aware of theselinguistic differences. At home, I was suspect to my son and my husband when I spokeJamaican language with my mother. My explanations of how Spanishspeaking or other bilinguals or bidialectals speak their natal languagesor dialects at home and Standard English at work, failed to stop thelooks that seemed to say, "hypocrite!" There was tremendousconflict because choosing to speak Standard English is often taken bysome inside our speech communities as rejection of our common languageand culture and simultaneously preference of the macroculture. Throughout most of my life, I have both accepted and rejected theprevailing view that our Jamaican language or any African Diasporan modeof speech was substandard or "bad English," and that StandardEnglish was the measure of intellect and achievement. I knew StandardEnglish, but I felt uncomfortable and unnatural conversing with my100-year-old Jamaican grandfather and other older Jamaican relatives inany other dialect than the Jamaican Language. This ambivalence becameshame when I had to select one dialect when the audience consisted ofboth Americans and Jamaicans, for example. The latter underlines the role of language in relationships.Relationships are created and sustained by language which is part of aparticular culture. When Papa, my grandfather, and I spoke the samelanguage we enjoyed fellowship encased en��case?tr.v. en��cased, en��cas��ing, en��cas��esTo enclose in or as if in a case.en��casement n. in and marked by a familiarityunmediated Adj. 1. unmediated - having no intervening persons, agents, conditions; "in direct sunlight"; "in direct contact with the voters"; "direct exposure to the disease"; "a direct link"; "the direct cause of the accident"; "direct vote"direct by different grammatical structure and pronunciation dictatedby others outside of our society. We were also able to preserve the tiesthat link us. Yet, there is always the concern that others are stillthinking "hypocrite!" I did not encounter empowering information on language hegemony andequality for some time. It was ultimately links between the experiencesfrom my speech communication consulting practice--particularly withAfrican American African AmericanMulticulture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.See Race. clients--my doctoral research, and my own journey onthe road to speech and language wholeness that has led me to opposelinguistic domination. The answer to my desperate prayer for employment to help finance mydoctoral studies resulted in work as a part-time speech communicationsconsultant. The communications-consulting firm held a training contractwith a large Midwestern corporation with a diverse workforce, and Ilearned as much as I taught this clientele. I enjoyed working one-on-onewith African Americans, Ukrainian, Mexican American, Guatemalan,Egyptian, Anglo-Americans, Chinese, as well as clients from other ethnicgroups. My dissertation study examined features of the formal andinformal education of African American clients who were learning toattain fluency in Standard English in this workplace-training program. Ilearned that our experiences with language were similar in many ways. As the trainer in this, program I had to face my own issues withspeech and language and those of the clients as well. Delivering thetraining was rewarding and fulfilling, and the personal interactionswere stimulating. Part of the dynamics of my work was continuous tensionbetween being accepting of speech diversity, yet acknowledging thatpower relations in society constrain our communication choices anddemand knowledge of and facility with the language of power. Underunequal power relations, our speech identifies us as the'other,' and allows us to be distinguished for unequaltreatment/discrimination, or ridicule. It would be helpful to examinehow individuals respond to pressures to conform to Verb 1. conform to - satisfy a condition or restriction; "Does this paper meet the requirements for the degree?"fit, meetcoordinate - be co-ordinated; "These activities coordinate well" dominant societalspeech patterns, ranges of responses to new speech communities, why somedecide to change their speech while others do not, and the extent ofchange. It is rarely in the interest of those who exercise political andeconomic power and control access to society's resources to fightfor linguistic equity. Addressing these issues in the curriculum couldbe both illuminating and transformational. MYTHS, MISCONCEPTIONS, DIS AND MIS-INFORMATION ABOUT AFRICANDIASPORAN SPEECH Just as hazardous as using one's speech as a basis fordiscrimination, are misinformation mis��in��form?tr.v. mis��in��formed, mis��in��form��ing, mis��in��formsTo provide with incorrect information.mis and the disinformation dis��in��for��ma��tion?n.1. Deliberately misleading information announced publicly or leaked by a government or especially by an intelligence agency in order to influence public opinion or the government in another nation: about thespeech and language use of people in the African Diaspora. When I taughta multicultural education course for preservice teachers, a student ofIrish descent-who was a speech pathology major-- remarked that AfricanAmericans speak the way they do simply because they want to be contrary.I responded by questioning how African Americans in disparate locations,unknown to one another, emerged speaking a similar dialect. The studenthad no explanation for her claim. I ended my discussion thinking, howpowerful blacks must be to achieve a feat such as speaking a similarlanguage in different parts of the nation without having met oneanother. A number of these students became indignant at my suggestionthat they learn Spanish. The most vociferous student in this classinformed me that no one "catered" to her parents when theyemigrated from Europe, and therefore, she would not cater to Hispanics. These and the other experiences that I will relate convinced methat students' attitudes and exposure to language difference shouldconcern us as responsible educators in a multiethnic society. It iscritical that students learn that people do not speak particulardialects and languages simply because of their skin color, and thatpower and privilege are imbricated imbricated/im��bri��cat��ed/ (im��bri-kat?id) overlapping like shingles. imbricatedoverlapping like shingles or roof slates or tiles. in how we value the language ofvarious social groups. The link between language hegemony andstudents' behaviors is apparent, in that students' actionsseem to infer that learning the language of a subordinated groupascribes power to that group which simultaneously diminishes thedominant group's stature. The language use I observed while supervising student teachersduring their periods of instruction in an all African Americanelementary school on Chicago's south side is another example whichgave me the impetus to address black speech and language early in myacademic career. Some of these preservice teachers did not use StandardEnglish while they were instructing the students. A student teacher ofPolish descent addressed the children using language such as,"gimme gim��me?InformalContraction of give me.adj. SlangDemanding material things or especially money; acquisitive: today's gimme society; tired of gimme letters.n. them books." The student teachers of African descentwere unaware that they were using Black English. These student teachers were unconscious of their language choices,and both the elementary school and the university had made no specialprovisions to help students achieve proficiency in Standard English.This elementary school's speech pathologist believed it was futilefor the children in that south side African American community to learnStandard English because using Standard English would make littledifference to their futures. Tchudi and Mitchell (1989, p. 255) agree: It is important to realize, as James Sledd has suggested, that teaching standard English by whatever method will not automatically open new doors to children. Often the lack of standard English is merely used as an excuse for rejecting people on racial, ethnic, or other grounds. Further, language is learned in response to needs felt by the language user. Unless students recognize a real opportunity to participate in a standard English community, they will not willingly learn its dialect. While the above is valid, I agree with those who believe knowledgeof Standard English removes its absence from being one more potentialobstacle to the survival and advancement of those who can least affordthese hindrances (Stokes In Alvarez & Kilker, 1986; Delpit, 1988).Rickford and Rickford (2000, p. 9) concur that African Americans mustmaster Standard English. But they also believe that "Ebonics,African American Vernacular English African American Vernacular Englishn. Abbr. AAVEAny of the nonstandard varieties of English spoken by African Americans. Also called Black English, Black English Vernacular, Black Vernacular English, , Black English, Spoken Soul orwhatever you want to call the informal variety spoken by many blackpeople plays an essential, valuable role in our lives and in the life ofthe larger society to which we all belong." In his article in which he considers whether a human rightsapproach to language planning This article is about the field of language planning & policy. See Constructed language for details on the creation of planned or artificial languages.Language planning and policy promotes educational equity fordiverse student populations Tove Skutnabb-Kangas contends: Children should learn new languages, including the dominantlanguages that most minority children obviously want and need to learn,in addition to their own languages. Formal education that issubtractive sub��trac��tive?adj.1. Producing or involving subtraction.2. Of or being a color produced by light passing through or reflecting off a colorant, such as a filter or pigment, that absorbs certain wavelengths and transmits or , that is, that teaches children (something of) a dominantlanguage at the cost of their first language, is genocidal and turnsdominant languages, for instance, English, Chinese, Russian, Hindi, orHausa, into killer languages. Educational LHRs, [language human rights]which guarantee additive language learning, are needed to preventlinguistic genocide and for linguistic diversity to be maintained onearth. (In Ricento, 2002, p. 181). UNDERSTANDING THE DOMINATION AND CONTROL OF SUBJUGATED sub��ju��gate?tr.v. sub��ju��gat��ed, sub��ju��gat��ing, sub��ju��gates1. To bring under control; conquer. See Synonyms at defeat.2. To make subservient; enslave. LANGUAGES Linguistic Prejudice: Disguised Race, Class or Ethnic Prejudice Why is there so much contestation and intrigue over Black English?In discussing the ideology of language Winford (2003, p. 35) makes thepoint that "Linguistic prejudice, as we all know, is simply race orclass or ethnic prejudice in a subtle guise. A socially realisticlinguistics simply acknowledges that fact. Until we persuade the generalpublic, the teachers, the politicians, and the policy makers of thatfact, languages like AAVE will continue to be languages that dare notspeak their names." The latter has already been stated by otherssuch as educator Nona Stokes. Stokes (In Alvarez & Kilker, 1986)believes: "the majority of white America does not accept BlackEnglish, but not because of the language itself ... because of thepeople who speak it, which is racism." Dandy (1991, p. 41) explains that: "Being black is a socialstigma Social stigma is severe social disapproval of personal characteristics or beliefs that are against cultural norms. Social stigma often leads to marginalization.Examples of existing or historic social stigmas can be physical or mental disabilities and disorders, as well as in this country, so the sounds and structures of the people whouse the language are also considered by some as inferior. Some forms aremore highly stigmatized than others." As a way to justify keepingAfrican Americans subservient sub��ser��vi��ent?adj.1. Subordinate in capacity or function.2. Obsequious; servile.3. Useful as a means or an instrument; serving to promote an end. , their language, as well as other featuresof their culture, have been socially constructed as inferior, when as ameans of communication it works just as well as any other languagesystem. According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. Winford (2003, p. 35, 56), " Linguisticdomination simultaneously entails cultural supremacy. Those who are ableto gain control over meanings and conventions of discourse are also ableto promote their views of the world, their norms, their values andultimately their interests. Those who are denied the right to use theirlanguage in all forms of social life are hindered in expressingthemselves, in shaping reality, in drawing attention to their needs, andin commanding support from others." Issues of power are clearlyimbricated in whose language is deemed valuable in a society. Recognition of the Validity of Black Speech and LanguageCommunication Black speech and language have been recognized as valid systems ofcommunication for some time (Stewart, 1969; Hecht, 1993; Perry andDelpit, 1998; Van Keulen, et. al.; 1998; Berger, 1991). Speechpathologist and vocal coach Mary Berger (1991, p. xi) lists linguistssuch as Lorenzo D. Turner, William A. Stewart and J. L. Dillard"whose exhaustive scholarly research on Black English ...demonstrates that Black English is as systematic and rule-governed inits pronunciation and grammar as Standard English." Berger describes Standard English as "the most widely acceptedand socially prestigious English dialect; it is used professionally andacademically; [but] "is no better or worse linguistically than anyother rule-governed English dialect (p. xiii)." According toWinford, "It is evident to all linguists that AAVE and othervarieties of New World Black English are legitimate, rule-governedsystems of communication--true manifestations of the human faculty oflanguage. But it is equally clear that they are subject to extreme formsof linguistic prejudice, rooted in ideologies and belief systems, whichhave no basis in linguistic fact, or arise from one-sided interpretationof the facts" (2003, p. 22). There are similarities between the use of the Jamaican languageused mainly by the largely poor black majority in Jamaica and the use ofBlack English by African Americans. Knowledge and research on blackspeech and language that could enlighten and move us beyond deficit andeven difference perspectives are being investigated. Unfortunately, theinformation is rarely discussed or disseminated. Brunious (1998, p. 177)reports that: Recent work in descriptive linguistics has found links that associate the development of various Black English dialects to West African languages. Black English dialects, with historical resemblances to Caribbean and West African varieties of English (Dillard, 1972) have a form and structure of their own. Linguist Carmen Tolhurst (1996) contends that Black English includes unique vocabulary elements, various phonological features that systematically replace certain English consonants, and a different, more fully developed verbal system with tense and aspect features that are not found in Standard English dialects. If we subscribe to the "deficit" theory of language, which dialect would be deemed deficient on these terms? First, it must be noted that these differences are part of a systematic pattern in Black English, and secondly, that they have correspondences in other languages commonly considered "full" languages--e.g., Japanese, Spanish, etc. William Stewart's (1969) discussion of the relationshipbetween language use and educational achievements of many AfricanAmerican students should cause concern and also could inform studentssuch as those who enrolled in the multicultural education course Imentioned earlier. Stewart observes: That the Negro speech of a given region and social class may differ from the white speech of even the same region and a comparable social class is now understood to be the result, not of physiological or mental differences between Negroes and whites, but rather of the interrelationship between language history and American social structure.... once this is understood it should become apparent that language differences, as opposed to language deficits, may well account for most of the chronic difficulty which so many lower class Negro children have with standard English in the classroom and, later, on the job (1969, p. 167). In Stewart's "once this is understood," mentionedabove lies the rub, because without information, understanding cannotoccur. Linguistic domination of African Diasporic speech is rarelyaddressed with any rigor rigor/rig��or/ (rig��er) [L.] chill; rigidity.rigor mor��tis? the stiffening of a dead body accompanying depletion of adenosine triphosphate in the muscle fibers. ; however; there is vigor in reportingsensational stories such as the Oakland School Board debate, but norigorous efforts to share the facts underlying these linguistic issues. THE SILENCE OF THE SCHOOLS: IGNORING THE CHALLENGES WHILEPENALIZING OUR SPEECH Many African American students, like the preservice teachersmentioned earlier, for example, are not receiving the help with StandardEnglish they need in school, and consequently their academic achievementand careers are affected. Few instructors have the time or thepreparation to address these matters, and others do not care to performwhat is considered remedial instruction. I do know firsthand howdifficult this job is for instructors. However, we must address theissue as a societal obligation by viewing the appropriate assistance forthese students as part of the debt America owes the descendants of itsformer slaves. Rather than an exclusive focus on recruiting studentsuniversities refer to as "quality students," money and otherresources must be allocated to train those students that want and needhigher education. It would be helpful if the students themselves were made aware ofhow their speech is perceived and evaluated by others in society. Irecall a student in a mixture of exasperation, doubt, and defiancequestioning the existence and definition of Black English in a mannerthat revealed his disbelief that there was any such thing. Hisconversation ended abruptly, however, when a number of his classmatesindicated to him that he was indeed speaking Black English. A client Iinterviewed for my dissertation study discussed her perceptions of howthe Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools, commonly abbreviated as CPS by local residents and politicians, is a school district that controls over 600 public elementary and high schools in Chicago, Illinois. handled her language training: I didn't know it was a black thing and a standard thing. I thought I was speaking Standard English. I didn't know I was lacking in my speech until someone pointed it out. I don't know how other people feel, but if you point it out to me I want to correct it. I won't know unless someone points something out. I didn't know I was speaking black dialect. I thought I was speaking pretty good finding out that I can't even say the word ' ask' right. I'm sayin' ' axe' and nobody ever told me. Nobody pointed out the difference between the two until look, I'm almost 40 years old.... If you see someone tryin' to better themselves wouldn't you try to help, and especially if that person's putting forth an effort improving wouldn't you try to help that person kinda motivate that person? Another of my study's participants added, "They have noteducated the children correctly. The only way that a blackprofessional--and they're up talking professionally is because theyfound out. Someone told them or they heard themselves and they were ableto improve themselves, and you can tell, or they went to a school wherethis is taught correctly where it was not a segregated school. If it wasan all-black school, no." LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY: INTERNALIZING NEGATIVE PERCEPTIONS OF BLACKENGLISH Self image is a casualty of society's negative perceptions ofBlack English. I remember the ambivalence of clients who tried to mastercode switching from Black English to Standard English, whilesimultaneously trying to deal with the baggage that theircommunity's speech had been judged deficient. No matter how often Iaddressed the myth that my client Janet did not speak Black Englishbecause of her "lazy tongue," from time to time, she continuedslapping her mouth as a reprimand REPRIMAND, punishment. The censure which in some cases a public office pronounces against an offender. 2. This species of punishment is used by legislative bodies to punish their members or others who have been guilty of some impropriety of conduct towards them. to her "lazy tongue" whenshe "slipped" into Black English. Similar beliefs, whichdenigrate den��i��grate?tr.v. den��i��grat��ed, den��i��grat��ing, den��i��grates1. To attack the character or reputation of; speak ill of; defame.2. the value of our languages throughout the Diaspora, illustratethe effectiveness of the ideology that has shaped our views of languagein our society. Getting both African Americans and African Jamaicans toaccept the ideology of their inferiority has worked well as some of usrefer to our "bad hair" and our "bad English." Loretta Brunious (1998, p. 177) locates Janet's belief in"the misguided deficit theory of language [which] shames childrenwho speak Black English, and when children are deemed to be"linguistically deficient," it is not a far jump for them toperceive themselves as inferior, inadequate, and powerless. Children whoare shamed about their language soon become ashamed of themselves."Tchudi and Mitchell's (1989, p. 255) analysis also links languageoppression and self esteem: "Predators can and do use dialectdifferences to exploit and oppress, because ordinary people can be madeto doubt their own value and to accept subservience sub��ser��vi��ent?adj.1. Subordinate in capacity or function.2. Obsequious; servile.3. Useful as a means or an instrument; serving to promote an end. if they can be madeto despise the speech of their fathers." Speech and language are the means through which we come to know theworld and ourselves; and rejection of an individual's speech isperceived as rejection of the person himself/herself. Faith Lintonaddresses this issue in the Jamaica Gleaner: "My language is animportant part of my identity. Human beings need to be affirmed in everyarea and aspect of their personal identity, be it in their racialcharacteristics, family and social background, religious beliefs ortheir language. When you denigrate my language, you denigrate me. Whenyou describe my way of speaking as a non-language it suggests that I ama non-person, not quite in the same category as those who speak'properly' "(Linton, 2004). Some of the African American women I interviewed for mydissertation on their use of Black English revealed their paradoxicalposition brought on by their need to learn and use Standard English tosurvive economically and gain acceptance at work. Yet, there isunderlying resentment that having to use Standard English meansacceptance of inequality in American society. Yvette believessubconscious resentment to learning Standard English might actuallyresult in unconscious resistance to learning Standard English. Thelatter is largely because of the disrespect associated with our ownlanguage, and also because of what learning Standard English says aboutour position in this society. There is frequent interplay and tensionbetween these two positions, which I understand and share. Within thecorporation my clients often did not get as much practice as they couldspeaking standard dialect because inside their work units, away fromcustomer contact, they often speak Black English among themselves."Perhaps factors such as linguistic and cultural resistance play agreater role in the acquisition of standard English than the mereability to link sound and symbol" (Macedo et. al., p. 86, 2003). STANDARD ENGLISH AND EMPLOYMENT FOR SPEAKERS OF BLACK SPEECH ANDLANGUAGE An important problematic of the linguistic status quo is that thefailure to teach speakers of Black English Standard English affectstheir employment opportunities. J. L. Dillard (1972) indicates that the"failure to provide adequate information about Black English is amajor hindrance to the educational system, although research into AfroAmerican language patterns was not initiated to resolve educationalproblems" (In Brunious, 1998, p. 177). Babich (1987, p. 92)maintains that "students are penalized or rewarded according to thedialect in which they communicate." Mitchell Duneier Mitchell Duneier is an American sociologist currently Professor of Sociology at Princeton University and regular Visiting Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the City University of New York, Graduate Center. [1]. , author of Slim's Table interviewed a blackfemale resident of the Chicago Housing Authority The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) is a public housing authority focusing on public housing in the city of Chicago, founded in 1937.It has built a number of public housing projects over the years. who wanted to leave theprojects and pursue the American dream, but she was reportedly hinderedby her inadequate command of standard English. Andrea invested in posthigh-school education at Robert Morris Business College, but despite herefforts to acquire training, she failed to pass the test to become aword processor when she applied at KMZ KMZ KamikazeKMZ Keyhole Markup Language, Zipped where she now works. Instead, shewas hired for a clerical position that requires limited grammatical andspelling skills. Duneier notes that: Without a command of Standard English, workers like Andrea Ellington have diminishing job prospects in the deindustrialized working world. While it is true that Black English is a suitable language for certain purposes and carries a great deal of standing in many places, in legal documents it carries no standing. And in all of those offices where success depends on the production of written material, it has no standing either (1994, p. 12). Duneier (1994) ties the issue of the use of Black English to theschool achievement and job performance of African Americans. He remarksthat Andrea's "greatest difficulty came from interpretingspoken English, a process that often hinders school performance forchildren who do not speak Standard English" (p. 12). An interestingobservation Duneier makes is that even black women at KMZ who masteredStandard English and corporate culture did not advance much in theirjobs and did not feel sufficiently challenged by their work. He mentionsthat these conditions create disaffected workers. The issues mentioned above are also applicable and relevant to theJamaican language scene. The Bible Society an association for securing the multiplication and wide distribution of the Bible.See also: Bible of the West Indies'(BSWI BSWI Bible Society of the West Indies (Kingston, Jamaica)) launch of the "Krismos Stori,"--Scriptures in theJamaican language--has sparked the contentious controversy that eruptsfrequently over speech and language in Jamaica. Just as with BlackEnglish, discussions on the validity and the use of the Jamaicanlanguage, referred to as patois pat��ois?n. pl. pat��ois1. A regional dialect, especially one without a literary tradition.2. a. A creole.b. Nonstandard speech.3. The special jargon of a group; cant. , seem to ignore the reality that thelanguage is the first and primary means of communication of most of thepopulation, and is universally understood by all Jamaicans.Conversations about our conceptions of what our language represents tous, why we feel as we do about the language and its use, and how we canenhance equal facility in standard English are rare. In his speech on education before the Jamaican Parliament inOctober 2003, Jamaican prime minister, P. J. Patterson remarked that"the ability to speak English in today's world is one of ourcompetitive advantages in terms of communication and economicdevelopment." Patterson also addressed the pervasiveness of theJamaican Language: "I think we have to face the fact that theteaching of English language English language,member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). Spoken by about 470 million people throughout the world, English is the official language of about 45 nations. at every level now has to be approached asif you are teaching a foreign language. In the daily exchanges on theradio, on television, English is the exception rather than therule." Stewart similarly concluded in 1969 that "the learningof Standard English by speakers of Negro dialect is more like foreignlanguage learning than it is like first language learning" (p.168). TEACHING STANDARD ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF BLACK ENGLISH: REVISITINGTHE DEBATE Jamaica's Prime Minister describes a position that wasunpopular to many Black Americans in the 60s, but which could improvethe mastery of Standard English and may result in better standardizedtest scores. Duneier (1994, p. 12) reviews the 1960s debate on teachingAfrican-American students Standard English. In the 1960s, when some linguists suggested that a quasi-foreign language approach might be needed to teach black children Standard English, there was so much resistance that experiments to test this idea never went far. It was offensive to many blacks to be told that they spoke a foreign language. Twenty years later, the problems have worsened, and we still don't know whether that approach would work. Perhaps the failure to teach English grammar explicitly--the way a foreign language like Spanish is taught--most hurts those whose grammar is most different. 'Whether or not Standard English is taught to African-Americans in the same way it is taught to Spanish speakers, we need a more efficient approach that makes speakers of Black English more fluent in Standard English,' says Solikoko Mufwene, a linguist at the University of Chicago. Tchudi and Mitchell offer the opposing view (1989, p. 255). Theybelieve: Obligatory bi-dialectalism for minorities is only another mode of exploitation, another way of making blacks behave as whites would like them to. It is unnecessary for communication, since the ability to understand other dialects is easily attained.... In the immediate present, the time and money now wasted on bi-dialectalism should be spent on teaching the children of the minorities to read.... the direct attack on minority language, the attempt to compel bi-dialectalism, should be abandoned for an attempt to open the minds and enhance the lives of the poor and ignorant. At the same time, every attempt should be made to teach the majority to understand the life and language of the oppressed. Linguistic change is the effect and not the cause of social change. If the majority can rid itself of its prejudices, and if the minorities can get or be given an education, differences between dialects are unlikely to hurt anybody very much. The authors are advocates of social justice, and the truth of theabove is inescapable; however, the link between facility in standardEnglish, literacy, and achievement on standardized tests means that forAfrican American students, bilingualism or bidialectalism must beoffered as an immediate survival mechanism because students cannot waituntil we have a just and equitable society to prepare themselves for thedemands of the workplace. Faith Linton (2004) of the BSWI problematizes the misconceptionthat: Jamaicans must eventually choose between Creole and StandardEnglish. This idea stems from the assumption that societies mustnecessarily be monolingual mon��o��lin��gual?adj.Using or knowing only one language.mono��lin . It is presumed that there is limitedlinguistic space, and that any additional space taken up by Creolerepresents a corresponding loss of space by English. But there arecountless communities in the world where people speak two or morelanguages. Why can't Jamaica become one of them? ... The Jamaicanlanguage situation does not present us with a choice. The reality of thesituation demands that we accept its inherent potential forbilingualism, and that we move purposefully in the direction of makingour Creole-speaking children truly bilingual, equally fluent in Creoleand in Standard English. Linton (2004) mentions another factor applicable to the educationof both Jamaicans and Americans of African descent. She notes that : Jamaican schools have, unfortunately, not been following sound linguistic principles, especially at the earliest level of schooling. The early stages of education ought to be carried out in the child's Mother tongue. This is not a recent idea. Fifty-two years ago, in 1951, a statement out of UNESCO declared: 'It is an axiomatic that the best medium for teaching a child is his Mother tongue ... he learns more quickly through it ...' Above all, the child must learn to read, first, in the Mother tongue. That is the only way to achieve reading with meaning. Once the child has learnt to read (not just call words), that skill can, at the appropriate time, be transferred quickly and easily to any other language. As the Kenyan Professor of linguistics, Dr. Aloo Osotsi Mojola, said when he visited Jamaica last September, "If Jamaicans learn to read in the Mother-tongue (Patois) it will be easier for them to learn English." Schiffman (2003) concurs with the above: "Pedagogically ped��a��gog��ic? also ped��a��gog��i��caladj.1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of pedagogy.2. Characterized by pedantic formality: a haughty, pedagogic manner. , weknow that children need to develop their literacy by linking it to theirmother-tongue skills...." (p. 112). Dandy (1991) explains that banning a child's community speechfrom the classroom "can have a negative effect on classroominteraction because it reduces the spontaneity of a student'sresponses. Exciting circumstances, those heavily laden with emotion,often trigger the use of a more familiar comfortable way oftalking." She maintains that "Standard English must be taught,for it is the accepted language of the dominant culture of the UnitedStates ''This article serves as an overview of the customs and culture of the United States. For the popular culture of the United States, see arts and entertainment in the United States. and it is expected in political and economic arenas. However, ifchildren are corrected every time they open their mouths, they willbecome extremely self-conscious and reluctant to speak. Teachers need tolisten to dialect renderings so that they can understand what thechildren are doing with the language" (1991, p. 5). Macedo,Dendrinos, and Gounari (2003) concur that "all those teachers whoconsider themselves agents of change and who struggle to create a moredemocratic culture need a thorough understanding of the role of StandardEnglish--even when minority students must acquire it in order to captureits dominance and recreate it as a counter-hegemonic force. Theirstruggle needs to highlight how Standard English is used "as aweapon to silence and censor censor(sĕn`sər), title of two magistrates of ancient Rome (from c.443 B.C. to the time of Domitian). They took the census (by which they assessed taxation, voting, and military service) and supervised public behavior. " (p. 43). I agree with the researchers above and believe that it is criticalto teach African American children Standard English while affirming andencouraging their use of their own language. At the same time, however,we must not ignore the oppression of linguistic biases that cripple thelives of many in our society. Notwithstanding the critical importance of bi-dialectalism, we arereminded by Barrington Chevannes' (2000, p. 180-181) discussion oflinguistic inequality in the Caribbean that bidialectalism is notenough. Chevannes reveals another feature of the linguisticdiscrimination in his surmising sur��mise?v. sur��mised, sur��mis��ing, sur��mis��esv.tr.To infer (something) without sufficiently conclusive evidence.v.intr.To make a guess or conjecture.n. that Creole speakers who are also fluentin European languages should be considered bilingual: "However,linguists speak not of bilingualism but of code switching...."Chevannes argues that code switching indicates inequality, because,"if the languages are equal, then it matters little which is used,when. I know of no island of the region where the Creole has equalstatus." He goes on to explain that the persistence of the languageis evidence of its value." TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR BLACK SPEECH AND LANGUAGE COMMUNICATION Addressing Linguistic Inequality in the Academy My concern about the needs of future teachers and other students toreceive credible information on black speech and language communicationled me to address linguistic diversity in my diversity classes. I usethe video "American Tongues," which leads the viewer acrossthe linguistic landscape of America. I have added examination questionsthat require students to translate Black English to Standard English orthe reverse. Many students seemed unconvinced by information explainingthe role of history, culture and politics in shaping speech andlanguage, however. Even the African American students, who comprisedless than one percent of the population, in my classes believed thatonly the ignorant and unintelligent speak Black English. Concern about these issues urged me to propose the course:"Black Speech and Language Communication Behaviors" in 2002.This course is a vehicle to engage the contentious, compelling issuesaround speech in the African Diaspora. The course's goals are toinform students of the discourse, history, research on Black English,discuss the politics of language, and allow students to conduct theirown research. Some of the learning experiences include simulating speechconsultations in the corporate environment, role playing role playing,n in behavioral medicine, learning exercise in which individuals assume characters different from their own. The individual may also be asked to simulate a particularly difficult situation and apply the characteristics that are common to his and reportingon responses to their situational uses of black English, writing apolicy on Black speech and language for a school district or anotherorganization, and having their speech analyzed, among other assignments.Some students have opted to prepare videotaped projects which I can usein instructing future classes. Part of my goal in developing this courseis to provide a forum for discussion and change by engaging students andothers in the university community in reflections and conversationsabout language and power. FREEDOM OF SPEECH While arguments against learning Standard English have appeal, itis important that some members of our communities do not decide theissue for all. Individuals in the African American community and inJamaica need the opportunity to decide what is in their own bestinterests. Various forms of community speech must be encouraged andaffirmed but speakers should have the choice to learn Standard Englishand become bidialectal. Babich (1987, p. 94) suggests that we encourage children to expandtheir "repertoire of dialects." Children also should beencouraged to separate dialects from an evaluation of the personal orcultural traits of people who speak them. He explains that "gettingan appreciation for the variety of backgrounds and capacities of peoplesurrounding us is a notable goal, but no surefire techniques have beendeveloped to accomplish the objective." Burling's (1973)remarks are still true: "For many years to come ... the realitiesof our discriminatory society will persuade many older children thatthey must learn to speak standard English, and when a young persondecides for himself that he wants to gain proficiency in the prestigedialect A prestige dialect is the dialect spoken by the most prestigious people in a speech community which is large enough to sustain more than one dialect. The study of prestige in language use is an important part of sociolinguistics. , our schools owe him all the help they can give him" (p.140). Burling suggests bidialectal teachers and a concentration ongrammar as opposed to pronunciation in teaching Standard English. The politics of speech and language and language oppression areissues of equity and social justice. At times I take a list or a map offormer colonies in the African Diaspora to class as a visual to questionwhy the people, those in the Caribbean, for example, are all consideredto be speaking "bad English." I often ponder, though, how wehumans can use communication, which is something so intrinsic to humanbeings, and yet, which is so extrinsic EVIDENCE, EXTRINSIC. External evidence, or that which is not contained in the body of an agreement, contract, and the like. 2. It is a general rule that extrinsic evidence cannot be admitted to contradict, explain, vary or change the terms of a contract or of a to the value of an individual toostracize os��tra��cize?tr.v. os��tra��cized, os��tra��ciz��ing, os��tra��ciz��es1. To exclude from a group. See Synonyms at blackball.2. To banish by ostracism, as in ancient Greece. and penalize pe��nal��ize?tr.v. pe��nal��ized, pe��nal��iz��ing, pe��nal��iz��es1. To subject to a penalty, especially for infringement of a law or official regulation. See Synonyms at punish.2. others. Striving to make the world a better placeto live for all people should be prominent in addressing issuessurrounding language and dialect use. After teaching "Black Speechand Language Communication Behaviors" twice, I see the need forwidening the discussion in our society and plan to write about some ofthe work my students have produced. Hopefully this course will offerstudents and me the opportunity to open doorways of understanding tolinguistic differences and the dynamics of power and language use. Use of the language required in the corporate culture in order toearn a living is not synonymous with synonymous withadjective equivalent to, the same as, identical to, similar to, identified with, equal to, tantamount to, interchangeable with, one and the same as disregard for the politicalsignificance behind the language issue. Under girding gird?1?v. gird��ed or girt , gird��ing, girdsv.tr.1. a. To encircle with a belt or band.b. To fasten or secure (clothing, for example) with a belt or band. issues of use ofBlack English and Standard English are power relations reflectingpeoples' positions to economic and political power which cannot beignored. Inequities resulting from valuing Standard English anddenigrating Black English, Jamaican Language or other forms of AfricanDiasporic speech should be exposed and addressed, not minimized byfocusing on our efforts to survive by learning and using the dominantdialect. Rickford and Rickford (2000, p. 9) agree that African Americansmust master Standard English and add: "But we also believe thatEbonics, African American Vernacular English, Black English, Spoken Soulor whatever you want to call the informal variety spoken by many blackpeople plays an essential, valuable role in our lives and in the life ofthe larger society to which we all belong." EMBRACING OUR SPEECH, AFFIRMING OUR IDENTITY Clearly, denial of our speech identity robs us of diverse modes ofexpressions, and fails to honor who we are and to accord the value andrespect due to our particular forms of human expression. The latter isan attempt at erasure ERASURE, contracts, evidence. The obliteration of a writing; it will render it void or not under the same circumstances as an interlineation. (q.v.) Vide 5 Pet. S. C. R. 560; 11 Co. 88; 4 Cruise, Dig. 368; 13 Vin. Ab. 41; Fitzg. 207; 5 Bing. R. 183; 3 C. & P. 65; 2 Wend. R. 555; 11 Conn. of people's distinctiveness that strikes ablow at their humanity. Without our language forms the dynamism, theverve would be missing and we would be separated by unfamiliar soundsand words that fail to embrace us with the oneness we feel when we bothspeak the same dynamic speech. There is something wonderful about beingyourself and honoring the positive traditions of your culture. Having tobe someone else to be accepted signifies rejection and speech andidentity are bundled/knotted together. Finally, fervent advocacy is needed to inform as well as toengender change on this issue. In order to achieve change it isimperative that, first, the harmful internal and external stigmatizingof the speech of the African Diaspora must end. Secondly, we thespeakers of languages and dialects deemed inferior must examine how andwhy we view our speech and language as we do. Thirdly, we must offer ourstudents the tools they need to be competent in Standard English.Finally, we must advocate for linguistic equality among allcommunication systems and teach students why we have differentlanguages. Conversation with at least one former college administratorrevealed that some institutions of higher learning believe that whetherto teach speakers of black English Standard English or not, or even howto do so is a controversial potentially inflammatory issue, andtherefore the subject is ignored. Consequently, students are beingineffectively prepared for their lives in a stratified stratified/strat��i��fied/ (strat��i-fid) formed or arranged in layers. strat��i��fiedadj.Arranged in the form of layers or strata. society. The following example prepares me for the times I hear my mothertell of how cousin Byron tried to "learn" her to ride abicycle." Although my sensibilities alert me that in otherenvironments this construction would attract negative attention. Iunderstand her and everyone else around us does as well. I focus onenjoying the reminiscences, seeing the images described and celebrateour history preserved in such constructions: "The toad, having finished his breakfast, picked up a stoutstick and swung it vigorously, belaboring imaginary animals."I'll learn 'em to steam my house!" he cried.I'll learn em. I'll learn em." Don't say 'learn 'em," Toad" said the Rat,greatly shocked. "It's not good English." "What are you always nagging at Toad for?" inquired theBadger rather peevishly pee��vish?adj.1. a. Querulous or discontented.b. Ill-tempered.2. Contrary; fractious.[Middle English pevish, possibly from Latin . "What's the matter with his English?It's the same what I use myself, and if it's good enough forme, it ought to be good enough for you!" "I'm very sorry," said the Rat humbly. "I onlythink it ought to be 'teach em,' not learn 'em." But we don't want to teach 'em," replied the Badger."We want to learn 'em--learn 'em learn em! 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(2004). "Identity Construction in discourse:Gender tensions among Greek Americans in Chicago." InEthnolinguistic Chicago: Language and literacy in the City'sneighborhoods. Farr, M. Ed Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.Mahwah, New Jersey Mahwah is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 24,062. The name Mahwah is derived from the Lenni Lenape word "mawewi" which means "Meeting Place" or "Place Where Paths Meet". . Linton, F. (December 23, 2003) Jamaica Gleaner, Tuesday, "Godspeaks patois." Macedo, D., Dendrinos, B. & Gounari, P. (2003).The hegemony of English. Bolder, CO: Paradigm Publishers. Makoni, S. et al. (2003). Black Linguistics: Language, society, andpolitics in Africa and the Americas. Canada: Routledge. Perry, T. & Delpit, L. Eds. (1998). The Real Ebonics Debate:Power, language, and the education of African-American Children. Boston:Beacon Press This article or section needs sourcesorreferences that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. . Meier, Terry, (1998). "Teaching Teachers about BlackCommunications. Perry, T. & Delpit, L. Eds. The Real Ebonics Debate:Power, language, and the education of African-American Children. Boston:Beacon Press. pp.107-125. Ricento, Thomas, Wiley, Terrence. In Journal of Language, Identity,and Education. Vol. 1 Number 3, 2002. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Rickford, J & Rickford R. (2000). Spoken Soul: The story ofBlack English. John Wiley John Wiley may refer to: John Wiley & Sons, publishing company John C. Wiley, American ambassador John D. Wiley, Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison John M. Wiley (1846–1912), U.S. & Sons, Inc. New York. Singh, M.; Kell, P. & Ambigapathy, P. (2002). AppropriatingEnglish: Innovation in the Global Business of English Language Teaching Smitherman, Geneva Geneva, canton and city, SwitzerlandGeneva(jənē`və), Fr. Genève, canton (1990 pop. 373,019), 109 sq mi (282 sq km), SW Switzerland, surrounding the southwest tip of the Lake of Geneva. . (2001 reprinted). Talkin that talk: Language,Culture, and Education in African America. Routledge, Taylor &Francis Group: London and New York pp. 140-141 Schiffman, H. (2003). "Tongue-Tied in Singapore: A languagepolicy for Tamil? In Ricento, T. & Wiley, T. (Eds.), Journal ofLanguage, Identity, and Education. p. 105-125--112 vol. 2 # 2, Stewart, W. (1969). "On the use of Negro dialect in theteaching of reading." In J. Baratz and R. Shuy (Eds.), TeachingBlack children to read. Washington, D.C.: The Center for AppliedLinguistics. Smitherman, Geneva. (2001 reprinted). Talkin that talk: Language,Culture, and Education in African America. Routledge, Taylor &Francis Group: London and New York. Tchudi, S.& Mitchell, D. (1989). Explorations in the Teachingof English. N.Y.: Harper Collins Publishers. Tucker, C. (1999). African American Children: A self-empowermentapproach to modifying behavior problems and preventing academic failure.Allyn & Bacon: Needham Heights, MA. Van Keulen, Jean E. et. al (1998). Speech. Language, Learning, andthe African American Child. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Winford, D. (2003). Black Linguistics: Language, Society, andPolitics in Africa and the Americas" In . Black Linguistics:Language, society, and politics in Africa and the Americas. Ed. ByMakoni, S. et al. Canada: Routledge. Audrey P. Watkins Western Illinois University For another university which uses the abbreviation "WIU", see Webber International UniversityAthleticsMain article: Western Illinois Leathernecks Department of African American Studies Macomb, Illinois Macomb is a city located in McDonough County, Illinois founded in 1831. It is situated in western Illinois southwest of Galesburg at 40��27'38" North, 90��40'27" West (40.460501, -90.674048).GR1 As of 2000, the city had a population of 18,558. 61455

Negotiating the Past: The Making of Canada's National Historic Parks and Sites.

Negotiating the Past: The Making of Canada's National Historic Parks and Sites. C. J. Taylor. Negotiating the Past: The Making of Canada'sNational Historic Parks and Sites. Montreal and Kingston:McGill-Queen's University Press, 1990. Pp. 288. $32.95 (cloth). C.J. Taylor's Negotiating the Past traces the history of oneof Canada's largest federal cultural programs, that of nationalhistoric parks and sites. Despite their role in the commemoration andpreservation of the nation's past, Canadian historic parks andsites have been little studied as a federal cultural program of nationalsignificance. Taylor's work, the core of which was written as adoctoral thesis at Carleton University Carleton University,at Ottawa, Ont., Canada; nonsectarian; coeducational; founded 1942 as Carleton College. It achieved university status in 1957. It has faculties of arts, social sciences, science, engineering, and graduate studies, as well as the Centre for , aims to provide the biography ofa federal cultural agency, explaining its program development as well asdocumenting initiatives to commemorate and preserve the past: itanalyses the functioning of a federal government agency, studies thehistory of heritage conservation in Canada, and considers Canadiancultural policy and the shaping of national identity. Beyond its meritsas a well-researched and readable work, Taylor's book is anoriginal and timely addition to the sparse scholarship on the history ofheritage conservation in Canada. The central theme in Taylor's interpretation of thedevelopment of Canada's historic parks and sites lies in a dynamicprocess of negotiation termed "the politics of historicsites." The key players in Canada's heritage conservationmovement, namely the national parks branch, the Historic Sites andMonuments Board of Canada, the provinces, politicians and grassrootsheritage advocates, have represented varied and frequently conflictinginterests since the formal establishment of a federal heritage programin 1919. According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. Taylor, the federal governemnt mediated thesediverging di��verge?v. di��verged, di��verg��ing, di��verg��esv.intr.1. To go or extend in different directions from a common point; branch out.2. To differ, as in opinion or manner.3. perspectives in the development of a national program ofhistoric site selection, interpretation and preservation. Canada'shistoric parks and sites program has thus been the result of an ongoingprocess of negotiation. Taylor describes the evolution of the heritage conservationmovement in Canada from its beginnings in the 1880s, through itsinstitutionalisation This article or section needs sourcesorreferences that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. in the early 20th century, and the growth ofconservation megaprojects beyond 1960. The formation of a nationalheritage movement in the late 19th century was spurred mainly byOntario-based imperialist nationalists. Influenced primarily by theBritish heritage movement, the Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (Soci��t�� royale du Canada), now known as the RSC: Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (SRC: Acad��mies des Arts, des Lettres et des Sciences du Canada launched anational heritage body in 1907, later replaced in 1919 by the HistoricSites and Monuments Board of Canada, an honourary board created toadvise the national parks branch on the administration of a federalheritage program. The history of interaction between these two bodies dispels theidea that the board was central to the federal program. As Taylordepicts, the parks branch frequently played a more significant role thanthe board, whose members tended to assume a nationalizing mission aselitist e��lit��ismor ����lit��ism ?n.1. The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources. custodians For more meanings of this word. Please see Custodian.The Custodians is terminology in the Bah��'�� Faith, which refers to nine Hands of the Cause assigned specifically to work at the Bah��'�� World Centre in attendance to the Guardian of the Faith. of culture. The primary concern of the Historic Sitesand Monuments Board remained a commemorative plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other vertical surface, and bearing text in memory of an important figure or event. program, while fromthe 1930s onward on��ward?adj.Moving or tending forward.adv. also on��wardsIn a direction or toward a position that is ahead in space or time; forward. the branch increasingly shouldered responsibility forarchitectural preservation, site development and tourism promotion. Negotiating the Past contends that the politics of historic sitescarried regional perspectives into a national forum, and argues that"national historic sites reflect regional identities." At thesame time, these political dynamics, combined with factors such as thefragmentation of government administration and the far-flunggeographical location of Canada's historic parks and sites, limitedthe development of coherent, rational policy objectives for the federalheritage conservation program. Projects such as Fort Chambly Fort Chambly at the foot of the Chambly rapids on the Richelieu River in Quebec, Canada, was built by the French in 1711. It was the last of three forts to built on the same spot, the first constructed in 1665 - then called Fort Saint Louis - by the Jacques de Chambly, to protect , Quebec,and Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, illustrate how regional heritage activistsshaped the interpretation and development of national historic sites.Throughout the book, there is a sensitive awareness to questions ofregional representation. Future editions would benefit from the additionof a map indicating the regional distribution of parks and sites. Taylor brings the history of federal involvement in historicalheritage projects alongside that of the growth of the national parksystem and the movement to conserve natural environments. Theconservation of built heritage in Canada contributed to the expansion ofthe idea of national parks. In this regard, Taylor brings furtherinformation to light about James Bernard Harkin, the innovativecommissioner of national parks, 1911-36. As a result of Harkin'sproposals, the Canadian national park idea was extended to encompasshistorical parks. Taylor's analysis imparts a welcome account ofHarkin's instrumental role in federal activities to conserve bothnatural and historical heritage. Taylor's book brings discerning insight to the structure,operations and politics of a federal cultural agency over the course ofits lifespan. The focus on a national agency is clearly directed, andreflects the influence of the federal state on heritage conservation inCanada. The study draws a close connection between the federal processand the articulation of Canada's cultural identity. In thisrespect, it strikes a chord with Bernard Ostry's work on Canadiancultural policy, The Cultural Connection. The cautious and noncommittalconclusion raises several unanswered questions about the future offederal heritage initiatives during an era of spending restraints andincreased provincial involvement in site conservation. Nonetheless, itis apparent from Taylor's argument that the federal government hasa central role to play in heritage conservation and the activeinterpretation of Canada's national history. Negotiating the Pastis a significant analysis and a well-written book that contributesgreatly to the history of heritage conservation and the Canadiancultural identity. P. A. Reichwein Department of History Carleton University

Neo-Salafi Attacks & New Iran Envoy Hurt Maleki's Electoral Chances.

Neo-Salafi Attacks & New Iran Envoy Hurt Maleki's Electoral Chances. A series of high-profile Sunni/Neo-Salafi attacks, all featuringsuicide bombers more sophisticated than ever before, are causingMaleki's popularity to plummet. Hurting his electoral chancesfurther is the advent of new Iranian Ambassador HassanDana'ei-Fard, and Iraqi born member of the Quds command widelyknown among the country's Ja'faris to be part of Tehran'ssupremacist regime, having worked closely with President MahmoudAhmadi-Nejad and Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei - men nowliterally hated by Iraq's secular Shi'ites as well as SunniArabs, with the secular Kurds being indifferent. The new Iranian ambassador is particularly close to Maleki,according to the Saudi-owned pan-Arab TV al-Arabiya whose Iran expertdescribes the man as "the main liability" for the PM. Thisenvoy is known in Iraq as being a "Safawi" - a reference toremnants of the Turkoman-Persian theocracy which in the 15th century ADruled much of the GME and was converted from Sunnism to Ja'farismby imams from South Lebanon's Jabel Amel region. That theocracy,then at war with the Sunni Ottoman Empire, was ruled by the Safawiddynasty (see rim6IranSafawidsHistoryJun28-04). Before his recent appointment as ambassador, Dana'ei-Fard (aPersian name) had been the man in charge of Iraq in the Quds command. Hewas the person who a few years ago turned a Quds Forces office in Erbil,capital of Kurdistan, into an Iranian consulate. Now, he is consideredin Tehran as viceroy of Iraq. His ranking in Tehran is far superior tothat of his predecessor in Baghdad, Hussein Qomi, a former Quds officer. Many Baghdad analysts say the Iranian regime has made a hugeblunder by sending this man as its ambassador because it clearly showsthe militarised theocracy wants to turn Iraq into a satellite of Iran.This makes Iran far more unpopular in Iraq than the US, not only amongthe Sunnis but mainly in the Ja'fari community which is mostlysecular. Some of these analysts say the Iranian regime's behaviour athome, being watched daily throughout Iraq (where the Ja'faritaqiyah tricks are better known than anywhere else in the Muslim world)and in their country is tending to make the US popular and moreappreciated than in the past. Of particular interest to the Iraqiswatching Iran is the way the IRGC-controlled regime is gettingincreasingly more repressive. This is reminding them of the behaviour ofSaddam's dictatorship, with many beginning to compare the latterless unfavourably than that of Iran. In an interview on the state run al-Iraqiya TV on Jan. 20, Malekisaid 70% of the Ba'th membership was Shi'ite Arab. He said:"The Sunnis will be much more important partners [in Iraq'sdemocratization] this time than at the last election. Yes, there are alot of Sunnis [on the election blacklist] but there aremoreShiites" barred from the March 7 election. In a debate on the US-funded al-Hurra TV on Jan. 29, a prominentAmerican analyst said what frightened the Iranian regime most was thedemocratisation of Iraq. He said Iran was trying to reverse that trend.An APS source in Baghdad on Jan. 30 agreed, saying Tehran preferred tosee a repressive sectarian system in control of Iraq. Neo-Salafi suicide bombers on Jan. 25 hit three top hotels inBaghdad, killing at least 41 people and wounding over 70, inco-ordinated moves to discredit the Maleki government. On Jan. 26,another explosion in Baghdad killed 22 people and wounded 80 others. Inthe CoR, Security & Defence Committee Chairman Hadi al-Ameri, whoheads the Shi'ite Badr Organisation which is part of the SupremeIslamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), on Jan. 26 was quoted by the BBC as sayingthe attacks were the work of al-Qaeda and the Ba'th and stronglydenied an Iranian/Ja'fari role. He said these attacks showed thatal-Qaeda and the Ba'th were weak and politically bankrupt and hitat allegation of an Iranian involvement. The SIIC leads the INA. Iraq's Kurdish Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said: "Thegoal [behind those attacks] is to disrupt the elections and undermineconfidence in the government and it's a purely political operation.These hotels were to be used for [March 7 election] monitors, forpolitical rallies, for meetings and so on - so what is very clear isthat it is a political campaign". Army Lt-Gen Ray Odierno, the chief of the US forces in Iraq, saidal-Qaeda was staging fewer attacks, but focusing on underminingIraqis' confidence in the state, adding: "We've beensuccessful over time at whittling down their capacity to sustain along-term insurgency so they have now transitioned to conducting clearterrorist attacks inside of Iraq to go after the legitimacy of thegovernment". Many had expected a surge in violence ahead of theelections, but the difficulty lies in defending against suicide attacks. Anthony Cordesman, a security analyst at the Centre for Strategicand International Studies in Washington, said that, as the Neo-Salafiextremists had become more fragmented and mobile, it had becomeincreasingly difficult to hunt them down. While there had been progresswith the development of the Iraqi Army, he said, "the year of thepolice never happened. But now the police are absolutely critical tosecuring local areas and it's going to take some years to bringthem to any kind of capability". Joost Hiltermann, an analyst atthe International Crisis Group, said that in the long-run politicalwrangles were more damaging than the bombs. If the political process"breaks down over de-Ba'athification, or whatever, you revertto civil war conditions". Al-Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) on Jan. 27 claimedcredit for the bombings, boasting how its suicide bombers could breachthe extensive Iraqi security, and that even deadlier attacks were tocome. The ISI had claimed credit for all previous attacks including thatof Aug. 19. The three previous multiple bombings - in August, Octoberand December - claimed more than 380 lives. The ISI said: "What iscoming will be tougher on them". An IRGC unit stationed at Iraq's al-Fakkah oilfield along thetwo countries' disputed frontier since Dec. 17 on Jan. 27 pulledback to the Iranian border. This followed bilateral meetings earlier inJanuary. But in Baghdad, experts warned that Iran was preparing toimpose on Iraq a territorial settlement heavily weighted in favour ofTehran. Ali Hassan al-Majid, or "Chemical Ali", a cousin ofSaddam who ordered a poison gas attack on a Kurdish village in northernIraq, was executed by hanging on Jan. 25. Majid, 68, was perhaps themost notorious figure from the former regime to be executed since Saddamwas himself hanged in December 2006.

Neolithic Bog Pots from Zealand, Mon, Lolland and Falster.

Neolithic Bog Pots from Zealand, Mon, Lolland and Falster. EVA KOCH. (Nordiske Fortidsminder (serie B For the Brazilian football league, see Campeonato Brasileiro S��rie B. Serie B is the name of the second highest football league in Italy. It consists of 22 teams. ) 16.) 576 pages, 131figures, 155 plates, map in pocket. 1998. Copenhagen: Der KongeligeNordiske Oldskriftselskab; 87-87483-39-4 ISSN ISSNabbr.International Standard Serial Number 0105-578X hardback. This book is a reworked Ph.D thesis, originally written in Danish.Is this book so important that an audience in international archaeologyhas to be reached? Are Neolithic bog pots from the Danish isles a topicof international relevance? In my opinion, the answer to both questionsis affirmative. Eva Koch's work provides an excellent overview ofthe large number of Neolithic bog pots. Her analysis is convincing andplaces this find group centre stage in two major international debates:the process of neolithization in southern Scandinavia, and thegeographical and chronological subdivision of the Funnel Beaker Culture Beaker cultureLate Neolithic and early Bronze Age culture of northern and western Europe. The people are known for a group of distinctive bell-shaped earthenware beakers decorated with toothed stamps, probably used in rituals of consumption. (Early and Middle Neolithic). The body of her work is the analysis of 688 pots found in the peatareas of the Danish isles of Zealand, Men, Lolland and Falster. A largemajority of the pots date to the Early Neolithic and the first half ofthe Middle Neolithic (Funnel Beaker Culture), although some pots areolder (Ertebolle Culture), or younger (later Funnel Beaker Culture andSingle Grave Culture). Koch divides the pottery into several new types,based on morphological criteria. Because most of the bog pots arecomplete, it is possible to describe various parts of the profile aspercentages of the complete height. In this way, the degree ofsimilarity between the pots is determined and statistically sound typesare found. This is the basis of the analysis. Available 14C dates areused to date the specific types, which allows a detailed reconstructionof the development in pottery morphology of the Early Neolithic andfirst half of the Middle Neolithic. As such, it is an importantcontribution to the debate on the start and development of the FunnelBeaker Culture in southern Scandinavia. This aspect is discussed indetail: Koch's study provides auxiliary arguments for the existenceof contemporary Oxie and Svaleklint groups as earliest groups of theDanish Funnel Beaker Culture. Available data on subsistence, settlementsystems, burial ritual, offering practices and pottery and flint typesare presented, resulting in handsome sketches of the Danish EarlyNeolithic. To some extent, the above would perhaps be expected of'pottery archaeology'. Luckily, Koch's analysis alsoopens up other avenues of research. She presumes that the pots weredeposited as offerings and she studies the topography of the find sitesand the spatial relation Noun 1. spatial relation - the spatial property of a place where or way in which something is situated; "the position of the hands on the clock"; "he specified the spatial relations of every piece of furniture on the stage"position with known settlements and megaliths. Kochconcludes that the pots are often found near prominent features in thelandscape and seem to be connected to various types of settlements:hunting stations, farming sites and enclosures. The detailed informationpertaining to the bog pots also includes data on associations. There arewooden platforms and stone pavements; and there are various categoriesof portable items: wooden spoons, bone and antler tools, flint tools,pottery sherds and 'carrying nets'. A revealing set of findsare the animal bones, as the deliberate deposition of specific elementsof skeletons and/or specific animals may provide direct access to thesymbolic significance of animals in the societies concerned. In order tointerpret the meaning of the animal bones associated with the bog pots,the subsistence base of the early Neolithic and Middle Neolithic isdiscussed first. This reveals a sharp contrast between hunting stations,with bone spectra dominated by bones from wild animals WILD ANIMALS. Animals in a state of nature; animals ferae naturae. Vide Animals; Ferae naturae. , and farmingsites, with a predominance of bones from domestic animals (cattle, pigand sheep/goat). Two sets of finds are associated with the bog pots:remains of meals and complete skeletons of cattle. In this firstcategory of bones, domestic cattle are the most frequent species, as inthe settlement sites. Second in importance are bones from sheep/goat,which are of minor importance in the spectra from the settlements. Kochsuggests that sheep/goat may have had a ritual significance. Otheranimals represented are pig, roe deer, red deer Red Deer, city, CanadaRed Deer,city (1991 pop. 58,134), S central Alta., Canada, on the Red Deer River. It developed as a trade and service center for a region of dairying and mixed farming. , dog and horse. Thus Koch's study is more than a typological analysis ofNeolithic pots. The role of pottery in the geographical and spatialorganization of the Funnel Beaker Culture is clearly reaffirmed.Moreover, her attention to the associated material and the relation withother aspects of Neolithic society produces an ideal starting point Noun 1. starting point - earliest limiting pointterminus a quocommencement, get-go, offset, outset, showtime, starting time, beginning, start, kickoff, first - the time at which something is supposed to begin; "they got an early start"; "she knew from the forfurther analysis. This leaves us with one point: to what extent doesKoch's study provide new ideas on the process of neolithization insouthern Scandinavia? Koch concludes that neither rising population, nora food crisis seem very plausible as the cause of the shift from aMesolithic to a Neolithic subsistence. Instead, she seeks an explanationin the combined effects of the elm decline (leading to a more openlandscape) and a climatic change Climatic Change is a journal published by Springer.[1] Climatic Change is dedicated to the totality of the problem of climatic variability and change - its descriptions, causes, implications and interactions among these. . Koch's own study does not providearguments for this explanation and this is not unexpected: the topic ofher study is related to the debate on the process of neolithization onlybecause it occurs at the same time, not because it can contribute to it.In my opinion, this is not the best part of her book. Koch's study of Danish bog pots again makes clear that thearchaeological data available in Denmark is of the highest quality. Itis no surprise that it continues to capture the imagination ofarchaeologists, in Denmark and abroad. D.C.M. RAEMAEKERS Archeologisch Adviesbureau RAAP RAAP Rape Assistance and Awareness ProgramRAAP Religious Alliance Against Pornography (Cincinnati, OH)RAAP Radford Army Ammunition PlantRAAP Remote Access Astronomy ProjectRAAP Rapid Application of Air Power , Amsterdam

Neolithic Britain and Ireland: are we nearly there?

Neolithic Britain and Ireland: are we nearly there? HILLY K. MURRAY, J. CHARLES MURRAY & SHANNON M. FRASER. A taleof the unknown unknowns: a Mesolithic pit alignment and a Neolithictimber hall at Warren Field, Crathes, Aberdeenshire. xii + 132 pages, 51b&w & colour illustrations, 19 tables. 2009. Oxford: Oxbow;978-1-84217-347-3 hardback 20 [pounds sterling]. ANNA RITCHIE. On the fringe of Neolithic Europe: excavation of achambered cairn on the Holm of Papa Westray, Orkney. xx+152 pages, 49illustrations, 46 tables. 2009. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries ofScotland; 978-0-903903-47-9 hardback 25 [pounds sterling] (20 [poundssterling] to Fellows of the Society). CHRIS FENTON-THOMAS. A place by the sea: excavations at SewerbyCottage Farm, Bridlington. xxi+341 pages, 228 illustrations, 86 tables.2009. York: On-Site Archaeology (On-Site Archaeology Monograph 1);978-0-9561965-0-7 paperback 25 [pounds sterling]. LILIAN LADLE & ANN WOODWARD. Excavations at Bestwall Quarry,Wareham 1992-2005. Volume 1: the prehistoric landscape (Dorset NaturalHistory and Archaeological Society Monograph 19). xxii+402 pages, 223b&w & colour illustrations, 124 tables. 2009. Dorchester: DorsetNatural History and Archaeological Society; 978-0-900341-88-5 paperback29 [pounds sterling]. MARTIN SMITH & MEGAN BRICKLEY. People of the long barrow: life,death and burial in the earlier Neolithic. 192 pages, 70 b&w andcolour illustrations, 16 tables. 2009. Stroud: The History Press;978-0-7524-4733-9 paperback 18.99 [pounds sterling]. KENNY BROPHY & GORDON BARCLAY (ed.). Defining a regionalNeolithic: the evidence from Britain and Ireland. viii+128 pages, 55illustrations, 1 table. 2009. Oxford: Oxbow; 978-1-84217-333-6 paperback28 [pounds sterling]. VICKI CUMMINGS. A view from the West: the Neolithic of the IrishSea zone. x+219 pages, 114 illustrations. 2009. Oxford: Oxbow;978-1-84217-362-6 paperback 35 [pounds sterling]. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Two thousand and nine seems to have been a bumper year forpublications about Neolithic Britain and Ireland, and the volumesreviewed here offer a variety of information and perspectives, coveringa wide geographical area. Four (Murray et al., Ritchie, Fenton-Thomas,and Ladle & Woodward) are excavation reports; one (Brophy &Barclay) is the proceedings of a Neolithic Studies Group meeting ondefining regionality in the Neolithic; and two (Cummings and Smith &Brickley) are clearly pitched as student textbooks, the former tacklingthe Neolithic of the Irish Sea, and the latter providing a round-up ofinformation on the human beings whose remains have been found in longmounds. The experience of reading these books has generated mixedfeelings in this reviewer: admiration at the sheer amount of work thathas gone into the creation of some of these volumes; frustration, mixedwith hope, at the challenges posed by the remains of this period; andsheer exasperation at the ill-informed and simplistic nature of thereasoning offered in one or two of the publications. Do these volumesget us closer to an understanding of this fascinating period? Perhapsnot surprisingly, the answer is 'yes and no; some, more thanothers'. Getting closer ... Presenting new information on the Neolithic is a step in the rightdirection, and three of the excavation reports significantly advance ourunderstanding of specific site types and periods. The fourth (onexcavations at Bestwall) also provides invaluable information, althoughthe main thrust of that volume is concerned with a well-preserved BronzeAge landscape. Murray et al.'s account of an Early Neolithic rectangulartimber 'hall' at Warren Field, Crathes, Aberdeenshire--and ofa nearby Mesolithic pit alignment dating to the eighth millennium BC,revisited during the Neolithic--offers an exemplary exposition of theresults of their excavations. This structure is one of a growing numberof large (> 20m long), rectangular structures dating to the earlycenturies of the fourth millennium BC and relating to the Carinated BowlNeolithic (for whose definition see Sheridan 2007 and 2010; see alsoBrophy 2007 for a recent review of these structures). They are mostly,but not exclusively, found in Scotland, and the Crathes example liesvery close to the 'hall' at Balbridie, just across the riverDee (but seemingly not intervisible with it, as the viewshed analysisindicates: fig. 20). The Murrays' excavation was undertaken as apart-rescue, part-research exercise for the National Trust for Scotland,with additional support from elsewhere. The excavators have asked all the right questions of the site, andthis has paid rich dividends: in addition to obtaining a suite ofhigh-quality radiocarbon dates (whose Bayesian modelling by PeterMarshall indicates that it was probably built between 3820 and 3720 calBC and burnt down between 3780 and 3690 BC), they have been able toconstruct a detailed biography of the structure and a clear picture ofactivities in the surrounding area. A pair of massive posts seems tohave been erected as a 'foundation' activity, establishing theaxis of the building--although without a clear structural role--andevoking the end-posts of contemporary timber mortuary structures. Havingbuilt the 'hall' around these, lived in it and carried outrepairs to it, the inhabitants then appear to have removed these'totem' posts, cleared out most of the contents of thestructure, and deliberately set fire to it. Whether they subsequentlymoved across the river to construct the Balbridie 'hall' is amatter that has elicited differing views from the various contributorsto the volume, with this reviewer proposing that they did. Otherinsights gained from the excavators' and specialists'meticulous interrogation of the evidence include the observation thatthe post bases had been deliberately charred to prolong their use-life;that a sizeable area around the structure had been cultivated; and thatthe inhabitants' animal husbandry regime included the processing ofdairy products, from either cattle or sheep/goat, as indicated by thelipid analysis of the pottery. Two alternative reconstructions of thestructure are offered (figs. 26 and 27), and the excavators'experience with, and interest in, experimental archaeology has led tothe inclusion of a useful discussion about how it may have burnt down. The Murrays' discussion of comparanda--which include therecently-excavated 'hall' at Lockerbie in south-west Scotlandand the earlier of two structures at Doon Hill, East Lothian, its daterecently confirmed by pottery examination and radiocarbon dating--ishelpful, although they stop short of embracing this reviewer's view(p. 93) that such structures represent the communal houses of the firstfew generations of immigrant farmers from the Continent. Discussion ofthe broader significance of Crathes within the debate overMesolithic-Neolithic transitions is left to Shannon Fraser (pp. 63-9),who claims 'in my opinion, it does not much resemble the very firstsettlement of incoming farmers. Rather, it looks like the result of acertain passage of time in which perhaps quite complicated and variedinteractions among native populations and more recent arrivals havetaken place ...' (p. 66). Debate over interpreting the evidence isindeed welcome, but it is only productive if it is accurate andwell-informed--something that cannot be claimed of the text here which,for example, inaccurately casts the 'immigrant farmers'hypothesis as a catastrophist scenario as regards the impact on localindigenous groups and which incorrectly implies that this reviewer hadsuggested that forerunners of the 'halls' are to be found inAtlantic Europe. Furthermore, while it may be true to say that theprecise point of origin for the Carinated Bowl ceramic tradition has notyet been pinpointed, we are closer to locating it than Fraser implies(Sheridan 2010). Anna Ritchie's report on her research excavations of thechamber tomb at the Holm of Papa Westray North, in Orkney, offersanother exemplary exposition of a carefully-executed excavation, and anattempt to maximise the information yield from the material retrieved.Beautifully produced--like other Society of Antiquaries of Scotlandpublications--this report falls into two parts. Part 1 describes theresults of her 1982-3 excavations of this stalled cairn, integratingthem with the results of George Petrie's 1854 exploration, whilePart 2 presents the results of specialist work undertaken on the findsboth during the 1980s and much more recently. Some of the latter hasresulted from external research projects, including Keith Dobney'sregarding the origin of the Orkney vole (an immigrant to thearchipelago, arriving from Continental Europe around 3000 BC); RickSchulting's and Mike Richards' on the diet of Neolithiccoastal and island dwellers; and Anne Tresset's and MarieBalasse's on Neolithic animal husbandry in island contexts. Theresults have produced a detailed picture of the construction and use ofone of Orkney's earliest megalithic monuments, and of the life ofthe human and animal inhabitants on what had been a promontory duringthe fourth millennium. The monument started as a free-standing circular cairn with amostly drystone-built, corbelled polygonal chamber opening to theNorth-West. Its contents were probably cleared out when a rectangularstalled chamber and its enveloping rectangular cairn were added around3500 BC, i.e. roughly at the same time as the nearby settlement at Knapof Howar on Papa Westray and the chambered horned cairn at Point of Cotton Westray. The main part of the interior remained accessible during andafter subsequent structural alterations, until the monument wasdeliberately infilled and sealed, around 2600 BC. Unburnt remains ofseven men, women and children date to between c. 3500 and c. 2900 BC;and during the second quarter of the third millennium it appears thatthe front part of the chamber was used by sheep as a shelter and forlambing. Isotopic analysis of the latter's teeth has shown thatsheep must have fed on seaweed over the winter (in contrast to the Knapof Howar sheep). If this had also been the case when the monument was inuse for human interments, this could account for the slight marinesignature noted in the diet of at least two of the three individualsanalysed by Schulting and Richards. Alternatively, fish could haveformed part of these people's diet, as suggested by the presence ofdeep-water species that must have been caught by humans; Harland andParks' thorough report on the fish remains draws a useful contrastbetween these bones and others that most probably entered the tomb asotter spraint. Not only does Ritchie's book thus provide a detailedlife history of a chamber tomb; like John Barber's report on thePoint of Cott excavation (Barber 1997), it also reminds us to focus onthe natural history and taphonomy of such monuments, and like Bayliss etal.'s work on southern English long barrows (Bayliss & Whittle2007), it highlights the importance of obtaining a good set ofradiocarbon dates. Moving south into Yorkshire, Fenton-Thomas' account of thelarge-scale, developer-funded excavations at Sewerby Cottage Farm,Bridlington, is also set to become a much-cited publication. Whilearound a third of the volume deals with post-Neolithic activity, therest deals with a rare phenomenon: the relatively well-preserved tracesof Middle Neolithic settlement, dating to the second half of the fourthmillennium BC. These include a trapezoidal post-built structure, around5 x 5m; a possible rectangular post-built structure, around 6.2 x 2.1m;and, overlying this, an oval, possibly turf-walled structure with arammed gravel floor, around 5m long. That structure seems to have beenre-built, then formally sealed (with a deposit including Grooved Ware)at the end of its life. Elsewhere within the excavated area, adistinction was drawn between groups of pits containing material thathad been deposited not long after use, and spreads of material thatseemed to have been lying around for a considerable period, with abradedsherds of different ages and flint from different episodes of knappingintermixed. This evidence prompted a discussion of the nature andtemporality of the Neolithic settlement, with the authors arguing forseveral episodes of occupation, of differing duration in different partsof the site, over the course of several centuries (pp. 78-95). As in the previous two volumes, the excellent specialist reportsare reproduced in their entirety, and they provide many useful insightsinto the nature and dating of the activities, the use of raw materialsand the wider cultural context. The pottery, dealt with by Terry Manby,comprises a small amount of undecorated Towthorpe Ware; a large amountof Peterborough Ware, in both its widespread sub-styles (Ebbsfleet,Mortlake and Fengate) and some of its north British variants (Rudstonstyle and 'Carnaby Top' jars); and a small amount of GroovedWare (in its 'northern manifestation of the Woodlands style').The radiocarbon dates, some obtained from organic encrustations on theinterior of sherds (and discussed by Bayliss et al. on pp. 294-301),make this a key assemblage for understanding the chronology of Middle toLate ceramic traditions in Yorkshire and beyond; and lipid analysis ofsome Peterborough Ware sherds by Rob Berstan and Richard Evershedrevealed the presence of ruminant dairy fat, and showed that some potshad been heated (during or after use) to over 300[degrees]C. There weretwo other findings of particular note. The first is the discovery,through radiocarbon dating, that some charred plant remains (includingthose of pea and wheat) from apparently secure Neolithic contexts musthave been introduced as a result of ploughing during the fifteenth andsixteenth centuries AD: once again, this underlines the importance ofemploying a rigorous programme of radiocarbon dating. The second is thediscovery of a fragment of quern made from Niedermendig lava from theRhineland, used as a post-packing stone in a pit (3878), one of acluster of similar-looking pits containing Neolithic material (pp. 38,40, 185-6). The authors have argued that the quern (or its stone) is aNeolithic import from the Rhineland, and they suggest that other quernfragments of the same material found in Wessex may also representNeolithic imports. This is a remarkable claim, whose potentialimportance (if correct) has not been appreciated: while we now have goodevidence for the cross-Channel Neolithic importation of a quern fromNormandy to Maiden Castle (Peacock et al. 2009), as part of a suite ofevidence for fourth-millennium cross-Channel links between southernEngland and north-western France (Sheridan et al. 2008 and 2010), thereis no evidence for Neolithic contact with Germany, so this discovery, ifgenuinely Neolithic, would be very significant. However, a question markmust remain over the Sewerby quern's date. Querns of Niedermendiglava (although not of the specific form of the Sewerby Cottage Farmexample) are well known from Roman contexts in Britain, and given thatRomano-British sherds were found in two of the pits in this cluster, andthat an Early Roman ditch is only about 15m away, it seems more likelyto this reviewer that the quern fragment actually belongs to that laterperiod of activity, and that the Neolithic material from the pit isresidual. The fourth excavation report, by Ladle and Woodward, on thelarge-scale, long-term excavations at Bestwall Quarry at Wareham, nearthe south coast of England, has already been hailed as a classic interms of advancing our understanding of Bronze Age settlement and landuse. It also represents a huge achievement by the principal authors, insynthesising such a large and complex body of data, and is a shiningexample of what can be achieved through collaboration betweendevelopers, voluntary archaeologists, and the state-funded archaeologyservice. The Neolithic evidence is relatively sparse (pp. 42-50, 133, 175-7,202-4, 353-6), and its interpretation is hindered by uncertainties overphasing and function and by the non-survival of bone. It is neverthelessimportant for yielding a good-quality date for Early Neolithic pottery(p.133), and the discussion (pp. 353-6) draws out much usefulinformation about the Early Neolithic of the Bournemouth region. Theevidence for Neolithic activity is restricted to scattered lithics ofEarly to Late Neolithic date and, within a 15 x 15m area, the following:four early Neolithic pits (one pre-dated by a timber post); arectangular post-built timber structure, 5 x 4m in size; a squashed ringof 15 timber uprights surrounding it; and an irregularly-shaped ditchedenclosure, roughly echoing the shape of the timber ring. A small amountof pottery of Early Neolithic, Middle Neolithic (Peterborough Ware) andLate Neolithic (possible Grooved Ware) type was found in the ditchfills. While some stratigraphic sequencing was possible, with the pitsand timber ring pre-dating the ditched enclosure, the position of therectangular structure in this sequence could not be ascertained,although only Early Neolithic pottery was associated with it (p. 354);the authors choose to interpret it, together with the timber ring andenclosure, as part of a monument that could represent the first stagesof creating a long barrow that was never completed. The pit contents aredescribed as the result of earlier ceremonial activity in this location,perhaps feasting (p. 353), and the associated pottery is identified asbeing typical of that found in Early Neolithic pit clusters within theBournemouth area (p. 204; table 18; fig. 214). As such it is pertinentto the debate about the origins and dating of the 'Hembury',or 'South-Western' style of Early Neolithic pottery (asdiscussed elsewhere by Cleal 2004 and Sheridan et al. 2008). The date(GrA-28428, 4955 [+ or -] 40 BP, 3900-3650 cal BC at 2[sigma] usingOxCal v.3.10), from carbonised residue inside a pot from pit L577,provides a much-needed chronological indicator; Bayliss considers itsmost likely date to lie between 3800 and 3640 cal BC (p. 133). Ceramicspecialists will no doubt continue to discuss the identity andsignificance of this pottery, just as others may revisit theinterpretation of the structural features. In the meantime, the authorsand excavators are to be congratulated for producing these useful newnuggets of information. The final volume to be considered in this section results fromSmith and Brickley's research, funded by the Leverhulme Trust andthe Arts and Humanities Research Council, into the information yieldedby human remains from Neolithic long mounds. People of the long barrowis an accessible and well-illustrated volume focusing mostly on southernEnglish long barrows but also including information from severalchambered long cairns in Wales and Scotland (table 9). It offers auseful summary of the history of research into these remains (Chapter2); of funerary and mortuary practices (Chapters 3 and 4); ofinformation gained about age (both biological and chronological), sex,relatedness, mobility, violence, diet, disease and disability (Chapters5 and 6); and of the later re-use of monuments (Chapter 7), finishingwith suggestions for future research (Chapter 8). It should provepopular with students and interested non-specialists. Criticisms arerelatively minor. Some relate to spelling and grammar (especiallyregarding apostrophes and the mis-spelling of 'practised').The historical review could arguably have mentioned the contribution ofSir William Turner and other Scottish-based anatomists, and on p. 83,the omission of a reference to Saville's and Hallen's datingof bones from Macarthur Cave to the Iron Age (Saville & Hallen 1994)is regrettable. At times, the use of Continental evidence, especiallyregarding Otzi the Ice Man, smacks of padding to fill gaps in theBritish evidence; and sometimes, contentious assertions made by othersare accepted uncritically, especially as regards Mesolithic-Neolithiccontinuity (pp. 83-4) and the nature of Early Neolithic settlement andland use (p. 119). On balance, however, the volume is to be welcomed. ... but still a way to go The last two books in this review are among the most expensive and,in this reviewer's opinion, are the least satisfactory--althoughindividual contributions to Brophy and Barclay's slim volume(Defining a regional Neolithic) are praiseworthy, including FionaRoe's brief essay on Neolithic querns (see also above). This bookresults from a Neolithic Studies Group meeting in 2001, but it tookeight years to appear, and the editors' preface was two years oldby the time of publication. The diverse contributions offer differingperspectives on regionality, and Clays summary of the Neolithic of theEast Midlands reminds us of the magnitude of the challenge to fill gapsin our knowledge for large parts of Britain. Loveday's contributionincludes the remarkable (and unconvincing) suggestion that polishedrectangular flint knives, 'Seamer' flint axeheads and'Duggleby' flint adzeheads are copies of early Continentalcopper axeheads, despite the absence of such 'prototypes' fromBritain (except one find of questionable provenance). And inCummings' paper on megaliths in south-west Wales and south-westScotland, it is stated (p. 58) that 'late Neolithic pottery wasfound at the White Cairn, Bargrennan', despite the fact that thepottery report which appeared in Cumming and Fowler's 2007publication (included in the bibliography) made it clear that the sherdswere from Early Bronze Age urns. Such lack of attention to detail isalso to be found in large parts of Cummings' book, which expandsher study to include eastern Ireland and claims to cover The Neolithicof the Irish Sea zone. In fact it focuses mostly on early Neolithicmegalithic monuments, and Chapters 6 and 7 reprise Cummings'off-published observations about the relationship between these andmountains and the sea. In the author's words, 'All I canrelate is what I myself have seen from the various chambered [sic] tombsof the Irish Sea zone. I have no way of knowing how people in theNeolithic may have perceived these landscape features ...' (p.126). No attempt is made to relate monument location to existingevidence relating to settlement and land use, and previous locationalstudies (e.g. by Cooney on the megaliths of County Louth, summarised inCooney 2000) are not discussed. This book reads as though it is a lecture course for first-yearundergraduates, and unfortunately the use of the first person not onlyforegrounds the narrator, but magnifies the pratfalls when they occur.Bold claims to 'provide a comprehensive overview of Neolithicmonumentality in the Irish Sea zone' (p. 60) simply offer hostagesto fortune (e.g. in the failure to discuss non-megalithic monuments (seeSheridan (2006) or Kytmannov's work on portal tombs (2009)); andsimplistic statements such as 'We know that Neolithic things appeareverywhere around about 4000 BC in Britain and Ireland' make onewonder whether the author has actually read the articles that haveappeared in books that she has co-edited (e.g. Cummings & Fowler2004; Whittle & Cummings 2007). It is one thing to disagree with thehypothesis of there being an Atlantic, Breton strand of Neolithisationreaching Wales, Scotland and the north of Ireland between 4400/4300 and4000 BC (as expressed, for example, in Sheridan 2004 and 2010); it isquite another to appear to be wholly unaware of this hypothesis, and tolump closed chambers and simple passage tombs together with portaltombs. Similarly, if Cummings had paid attention to the reviewer'sdiscussion of ceramic developments in west and south-west Scotland thatappeared in the volume she co-edited with Fowler in 2004, she could haveavoided the muddled and misleading account of Irish Sea pottery that shepresents in Chapter 3. (Furthermore, the provenancing work on Neolithicpottery that Cummings advocates (e.g. on p. 200) has, for IrishNeolithic pottery, already been done and published more than once bythis reviewer.) Other shortcomings, which reveal a shallowness in theauthor's knowledge of the archaeology of the Irish Sea region,include the surprising claim that the fragmentary jet spacer platenecklace, Food Vessel and associated lithics found in the Brackley Clydecairn date to 'the end of the early Bronze Age (1500 BC)'(p.79; and note that 'Scott 1955' should be 'Scott1956'). There is much to commend in Cummings' recording of thelandscape settings of megalithic tombs, but unfortunately those readingthis book are likely to end up further away from an understanding of theIrish Sea Neolithic than when they started. In sum, the reports and overviews discussed here leave thisreviewer both inspired and frustrated. Inspired by the quality andreporting of the fieldwork carried out in a multitude of environmentsand circumstances, and by the exciting new information obtained throughthe application of science. And frustrated at the lack of criticaljudgement and the inadequate knowledge base shown by some authors. Thejourney towards understanding the Neolithic of Britain and Ireland wasnever going to be easy. Yet it is only by 'keeping buggeringon' (to use Churchill's famous expression), by continuing todocument precisely its manifold manifestations, by keeping up-to-datewith the information available both here and on the Continent, and mostimportantly by asking the right questions of the evidence and knowinghow to go about answering them, that we are to advance. References BARBER, J. 1997. The excavation of a stalled cairn at the Point ofCott, Westray, Orkney (STAR Monograph 1). Edinburgh: Scottish Trust forArchaeological Research. BAYLISS, A. & A.W.R. WHITTLE (ed.) 2007. Histories of the dead:building chronologies for five southern British long barrows. CambridgeArchaeological Journal 17.1 (supplement). BROPHY, K. 2007. From big houses to cult houses: Early Neolithictimber halls in Scotland. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 73:75-96. CLEAL, R. 2004. The dating and diversity of the earliest ceramicsof Wessex and south-west England, in R. Cleal & J. Pollard (ed.)Monuments and material culture: 164-92. Salisbury: Hobnob Press. COONEY, G. 2000. Landscapes of Neolithic Ireland. London:Routledge. CUMMINGS, V. & C. FOWLER (ed.). 2004. The Neolithic of theIrish Sea: materiality and traditions of practice. Oxford: Oxbow. --2007. From cairn to cemetery: an archaeological investigation ofthe chambered cairns and Early Bronze Age mortuary deposits atCairnderry and Bargrennan White Cairn, south-west Scotland (BritishArchaeological Reports British Series 434). Oxford: Archaeopress. KYTMANNOW, T. 2008. Portal tombs in the landscape: the chronology,morphology and landscape setting of the portal tombs of Ireland, Walesand Cornwall (British Archaeological Reports British Series 455).Oxford:Archaeopress. PEACOCK, D., L. CUTLER & P. WOODWARD. 2009. A Neolithic voyage.International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 39(1): 116-24. SAVILLE, A. & Y. HALLEN. 1994. The 'Obanian IronAge': human remains from the Oban cave sites, Argyll, Scotland.Antiquity 68: 715-23. SHERIDAN, J.A. 2004. Neolithic connections along and across theIrish Sea, in V. Cummings & C. Fowler (ed.) The Neolithic of theIrish Sea: materiality and traditions of practice: 9-21. Oxford: Oxbow. --2006. A non-megalithic funerary tradition in early NeolithicIreland, in M. Meek (ed.) The modern traveller to our past: Festschriftin honour of Ann Hamlin: 24-31. Rathfriland: DPK. --2007. From Picardie to Pickering and Pencraig Hill? Newinformation on the 'Carinated Bowl Neolithic' in northernBritain, in A.W.R. Whittle & V. Cummings (ed.) Going over: theMesolithic-Neolithic transition in North-West Europe: 441-92. Oxford:Oxford University Press. --2010. The Neolithization of Britain and Ireland: the 'BigPicture', in B. Finlayson & G. Warren (ed.) Landscapes intransition: 89-105. Oxford: Oxbow. SHERIDAN, J.A., R.J. SCHULTING, H. QUINNELL & R. TAYLOR. 2008.Revisiting a small passage tomb at Broadsands, Devon. Proceedings of theDevon Archaeological Society 66: 1-26. SHERIDAN, J.A., D. FIELD, Y. PAILLER, P. PETREQUIN, M. ERRERA &S. CASSEN. 2010. The Breamore jadeitite axehead and other Neolithicaxeheads of Alpine rock from central southern England. WiltshireArchaeological and Natural History Magazine 103: 16-34. WHITTLE, A.W.R. & V. CUMMINGS (ed.) 2007. Going over: theMesolithic-Neolithic transition in North-West Europe (Proceedings of theBritish Academy 144). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Alison Sheridan, Department of Archaeology, National MuseumsScotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF, UK (Email:a.sheridan@nms.ac.uk)

Adapting an honors pedagogy to a general studies travel course.

Adapting an honors pedagogy to a general studies travel course. During a three-week January term, twelve general studies studentsfrom Mount Mercy College In 1957, the College became a four-year institution and awarded its first bachelor’s degree in 1959. The college received accreditation as a baccalaureate institution by the North Central Association in 1960. in Cedar Rapids Cedar Rapids,city (1990 pop. 108,751), seat of Linn co., E central Iowa, on the Cedar River; inc. as a city 1856. The second largest city in Iowa, it is named for the surging rapids in the river. , Iowa, enrolled in Culture andNatural History of Belize The history of Belize dates back thousands of years. Before European contactThe area now comprising Belize was originally inhabited by the Maya. The Maya civilization rose in the Yucat��n Peninsula to the north, spreading to Belize between the 16th century BC and the 4th and adopted the entire country of Belize astheir text. Two main objectives of the course were to give the studentsan immersion experience in another culture and to fosterinterdisciplinarity and multiple perspectives. The City as Text[TM]pedagogy suited these objectives perfectly. Before the ten-day travel portion of the course, studentsfamiliarized themselves with the CAT methodology. On the first day ofclass, they were presented with a blank map of Belize and asked to fillin what they knew in terms of geographical features, biotic biotic/bi��ot��ic/ (bi-ot��ik)1. pertaining to life or living matter.2. pertaining to the biota.bi��ot��icadj.1. Relating to life or living organisms. zones, andhuman impact. The students, who had received no instruction on thesetopics, were stymied by their lack of knowledge. Because of theirfrustration, they were immediately receptive when they were put intosmall groups, assigned one of these topics, and given thirty minutes inthe library to find out everything they could about their topic.Motivated to overcome their earlier ignorance, students researched withgusto and returned armed with facts and details. The blank map was projected anew onto the chalkboard, and studentswere invited to fill it in. The first group began hesitantly, sketchingin the physical features they had been sent to research. Then, with someexcitement, the group in charge of biotic zones came forward andsuperimposed their sketches over the landforms. Immediately, therelationship between, say, cloud forest cloud forestn.A tropical forest, often near peaks of coastal mountains, that usually has constant cloud cover throughout the year.cloud forestand mountain range became clear.By the time the group in charge of human settlements added theirinformation to the mix, students were already synthesizing anunderstanding of how the pieces fit together: how landforms, rainforestdensity, or weather patterns invited or limited the growth of towns,farms, and industry. Finally, students added cultural practices to themap and began to see how physical geography physical geography:see geography. affected settlement bydifferent ethnic groups, which in turn affects cultural practices suchas religion, cuisine, and folk art folk art,the art works of a culturally homogeneous people produced by artists without formal training. The forms of such works are generally developed into a tradition that is either cut off from or tenuously connected to the contemporary cultural mainstream. . Because students had been assigned to work on a specific andlimited topic, this portion of the course simulated interdisciplinarityas each student became an expert on one aspect of the geography ofBelize Belize is a small Central American nation, located at 17��15′ north of the equator and 88��45′ west of the Prime Meridian. It borders the Caribbean Sea to the east, with 386 km of coastline. but needed to rely on the expertise of others to understand thebig picture. Knowledge was not handed down from one student to anotherbut constructed in the conversation that occurred as all the studentsworked together to create an integrated map. At the end of the class,the learning was reinforced by a brief lecture that related what we hadlearned to the places where we would be traveling in a few days:students had much more at stake when they knew they would be living inthe rainforest and villages they had just mapped. Students alsocompleted a journaling exercise that asked them to reflect on thelearning process they had just used. In other preparatory work, students wrote an individual researchpaper on a focused topic that we would be covering while on the groundin Belize. Topics included questions about biology, ecology, farmingpractices, economy, ancient Mayan civilization, and contemporarycultural practices. The wide range of topics ensured a multifacetedconversation about the place we would be visiting; the depth to whicheach student researched his or her topic ensured that the class wouldhave at least one resident expert to consult when we were in the fieldconducting our explorations without the benefit of libraries or evenInternet access See how to access the Internet. . While we were in Belize, each student-expert taught theclass through a brief presentation prior to the related excursion,speaking about Mayan civilization prior to our visit to the Mayan ruinsat Xunantunich or about symbiotic relationships prior to our firstsnorkel snorkel,tube through which a submarine or diver can draw air while underwater. When in use, the top of the snorkel tube extends above the water surface into the air. in the coral reef. More importantly, however, the student-expertwas responsible for answering questions that spontaneously sprang upwhen we visited the site. By relying on the student-expert, the otherstudents gathered information through the CAT method of listening inaddition to mapping and observing while we were in Belize. Whenever wecould, we also listened to native residents and guides, but these werenot always available, so the student-experts provided a continual andreliable source of information. Thus primed, students journeyed to Belize, where they entered aprofoundly alien environment. They had acquired a limited text-bookknowledge of the place, but nothing could prepare them for theexperience of this wholly other culture, climate, and environment. Welanded in Belize in the late afternoon and spent our first night in ajungle lodge, with geckos chirping in the thatched ceiling, leaf-cutterants filing across the doorstep, and the blackness of an unlit forestpressing around. The disorientation disorientation/dis��or��i��en��ta��tion/ (-or?e-en-ta��shun) the loss of proper bearings, or a state of mental confusion as to time, place, or identity. the students felt in this situation wassalutary, pedagogically ped��a��gog��ic? also ped��a��gog��i��caladj.1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of pedagogy.2. Characterized by pedantic formality: a haughty, pedagogic manner. speaking, for it shook them out of theircomplacency as students. Surrounded by the unfamiliar, they had to lookat things in unfamiliar ways. As an experiential-learning method, CATmakes students step outside their conventional classroom paradigms, andat no time is it easier to do this than when they are experiencing analienation from what they know. Outside their ordinary habits ofthought, the students respond to the call to figure things out forthemselves, using the tools of mapping, listening, and observing. Forinstance, a visit to a rainforest farm was not a passive tour but ahands-on opportunity as students asked questions of the farmer; plantedcorn; and tasted sugar cane, cacao, ginger, and coconut. Later, touringthe rainforest with a Mayan guide who had studied with a shaman,students asked about the medicinal properties of plants and sampledleaves, saps, roots, and even live termites as they made observationswith all their senses. Students transformed their disorientation into aneed to find out, make sense of their surroundings, and synthesize anoverall picture of the place. Each day's activities were revisitedin journal entries where students reflected on how their interactionwith their environment influenced their ways of seeing. Using the CATmethodology, students experienced rainforests, coral reefs, Mayan ruins,farms, villages, and towns as we traveled around half of thisMassachusetts-sized area. Near the end of the trip, students were put in groups of three,given large sheets of paper and markers, and asked to revisit thefirst-day exercise of creating a map of Belize. Whereas on the first daystudents filled in blank Absent limitation or restriction.The term in blank is used in reference to negotiable instruments, such as checks or promissory notes. When such Commercial Paper is endorsed in blank, the designated payee signs his or her name only. maps with conventional features, after eightdays of CAT explorations they now free-formed conceptual maps that wereastounding in their diversity as well as their ability to articulatewhat the students had learned. Students not only drew from observationsmade during the trip but were influenced by their areas of expertise,both in their assigned topics and in the knowledge they brought fromtheir various majors. So, for instance, a group containing a biologystudent and an economist pointed out how different growing zonesstimulated economic opportunities such as citrus groves on the savannahsversus tourism in unfarmable areas. Some nursing students, acting ontheir own initiative since we had never formally covered the topic inthe course, focused on the different health-care practices they hadobserved in the villages versus the cities. The social science studentsresponded to both of these maps by observing how political policiesinfluence agriculture, tourism, and health care. The class, relying onmapping, listening, and observing, synthesized a rich, complexunderstanding of Belize as text. As a general studies course, Culture and Natural History of Belizewas designed to expand students' knowledge and skills in certainareas: written and oral communication, multicultural awareness,understanding of biological systems. The assessment methods included theformal research papers and informal reflective essays, an oralpresentation, and a written exam over course content. By nature, atravel course differs from a conventional classroom course anyway, yetconducting this course using CAT methodology superadded skills thatnormally do not get assessed or even taught: collaboration, leadership,initiative, the ability to think on one's feet and adapt to novelsituations, the ability to articulate the way knowledge is constructed. The success of this course in meeting its stated objectives as wellas its unstated ones was driven home for me three months after the tripwhen I asked the students to present at Mount Mercy's UndergraduateScholars Day. Six students whose topics formed a good cross section ofthe course content agreed to participate. Because of schedulingconflicts, getting this group together to rehearse their presentationbefore giving it was difficult; as an expedient, I told them each justto read a section of the research paper they had written prior to thetrip. What the students gave me instead was evidence of the effectivenessof City as Text as a learning method. On Scholars Day, the first studentbegan by reading from the script of her written text. Then shespontaneously interrupted herself, looked up at the audience, and beganto extemporize ex��tem��po��rize?v. ex��tem��po��rized, ex��tem��po��riz��ing, ex��tem��po��riz��esv.tr.To do or perform (something) without prior preparation or practice: extemporized an acceptance speech. based on the knowledge she had acquired in Belize itself,which was so much richer than the facts she had conned from the pre-triptextbook. She spoke from experience and she spoke with authority, withtotal command of her topic even though it had been three months sinceshe had studied it and had never rehearsed-had not even planned for thisspontaneous speech. The next student followed suit, and the next. Onestudent was absent because of illness, and another, on the spur of themoment Adv. 1. on the spur of the moment - on impulse; without premeditation; "he decided to go to Chicago on the spur of the moment"; "he made up his mind suddenly"suddenly , spoke about her topic as knowledgably as about his own. In otherwords Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke"put differently , these students, having been immersed the previous January intheir place as text and working cooperatively on the ground there toconstruct their knowledge as a group, had mastered their topic andretained their knowledge to the point where they could present anunrehearsed un��re��hearsed?adj.Not rehearsed. See Synonyms at extemporaneous.Adj. 1. unrehearsed - with little or no preparation or forethought; "his ad-lib comments showed poor judgment"; "an extemporaneous piano recital"; "an speech about it in April. During the question-and-answersession afterwards, students were asked about the process and benefitsof this form of experiential learning. Again, the students wereself-aware about their own learning process and articulated without anyprompting from me how the CAT method had stimulated their interest andenabled them to retain knowledge beyond what they normally do intraditionally taught courses, even in their own majors. What is most impressive is that these students were not from thehonors program but were regular students, with different interests andabilities, taking a course to fulfill a general education requirement.Honors pedagogies benefit more than only honors students. In terms ofwriting, oral communication, reflective judgment, multiculturalism,understanding of biological systems, and learning to read a text, thiscourse allowed students to integrate several branches of liberal studiesand make them relevant to their own concerns. At our small college, asthe conversation heats up over the role of a general educationcurriculum vis-a-vis professional training, CAT can provide a meaningfulway to educate all students in the liberal arts, engaging theirenthusiasm, enhancing their practical skills, and opening their eyes tothe world around them. JOY OCHS MOUNT MERCY COLLEGE