Raciolinguistics: How Language Shapes Our Ideas About Race

by H. Samy Alim (Editor), John R. Rickford (Editor), Arnetha F. Ball (Editor)

Raciolinguistics reveals the central role that language plays in shaping our ideas about race and vice versa. The book brings together a team of leading scholars-working both within and beyond the United States-to share powerful, much-needed research that helps us understand the increasingly vexed relationships between race, ethnicity, and language in our rapidly changing world. Combining the innovative, cutting-edge approaches of race and ethnic studies with fine-grained linguistic analyses, authors cover a wide range of topics including the struggle over the very term "African American," the racialized language education debates within the increasing number of "majority-minority" immigrant communities in the U.S., the dangers of multicultural education in a Europe that is struggling to meet the needs of new migrants, and the sociopolitical and cultural meanings of linguistic styles used in Brazilian favelas, South African townships, Mexican and Puerto Rican barrios in Chicago,
and Korean American "cram schools" in New York City, among other sites.

Taking into account rapidly changing demographics in the U.S and shifting cultural and media trends across the globe--from Hip Hop cultures, to transnational Mexican popular and street cultures, to Israeli reality TV, to new immigration trends across Africa and Europe-- Raciolinguistics shapes the future of scholarship on race, ethnicity, and language. By taking a comparative look across a diverse range of language and literacy contexts, the volume seeks not only to set the research agenda in this burgeoning area of study, but also to help resolve pressing educational and political problems in some of the most contested raciolinguistic contexts in the world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Linguistics, Race, Language, Psychology, Education, Teaching

376 pages, Hardcover

Published October 31, 2016

Reviews

[Scarlett Castleberry · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read philosophy for fun and this is the driest book I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading for school.
There were a few pieces of good information but mostly it was inconclusive and needlessly tribalistic. Thanks, goodnight.

[Miri Villerius]

Really awesome compendium of case studies on the intersection of race and language.

[Vicky Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Race as a Construct of Language and Culture

Raciolinguistics is a collection of scientific articles on how race is reflected in language patterns. These articles are not only written by experts currently in the field and in university faculties today; but they are written in a thoughtful manner relevant to today's world. The cover art says it all, with the reflection of the multicultural idea, with language iconography. The work as a whole debunks the fallacies of race and is built around the idea of language as a reflection of how we identify within our own cultures. It delves deeply into the cross currents of cultures within people of mixed race backgrounds and builds on the concept of racial identity.

The title of the cover art (as explained inside the hardback book jacket) is "Fight Racism" by Favianna Rodriguez, an Afro-Peruvian transnational living in Oakland, California. What I liked most about the book is that it has articles on a number of races and cultures. The list includes African Americans, Hispanics, Jews of color, Koreans, Chinese, Native American populations, and more including a number of cross cultures between these races. The articles cover the speech of rappers and of street gangs; television and internet, as well as in everyday life.

The work does well to cover the difference between mock Spanish and Spanglish, for example. Different multiracial celebrities are mentioned within the discussions. The importance of names and culture within the context of race is clearly researched. And, the book covers the topic of deracialization and changing names for 'race bleaching.'

From first to last, it reminds us that the whole concept of race is based more in culture than in genetics, and that race is an artificial construct of the mind. It is a lie we tell ourselves, as in one of the many lies. After all, we do race rather than bleed it. Anyone who doesn't already know that should look at the diverging phenotypes displayed on the face and skin of individuals within his or her own 'race.' Race is the behavior and language we use to fit in with the people we call our own.

One example from my own playlist of the multiracial world we live in is Tribal Funk by Pamyua. It is an interesting sound mix. But, the book provides many other interesting youtube links that illustrate some of the topics in the different articles. The only thing I noted missing from this work was any sort of information about the individual contributing authors. I found it helpful, or at least interesting, to google each author as I started their chapter for photo and CV info. It certainly helps to put a face and credentials to a name when evaluating each contribution. I recommend this work for those looking for current research and sociological ideas, rather than for a narrative book.

[Antoinette Van Beck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology was incredibly helpful in directing me in my Capstone research project this semester. There were many articles in this volume that I didn't have the time to read, but I foresee myself picking this up during some weekend or summer that I want to read something helpful, contemplative, and full of suggestions on practical applications of concepts that affect all, regardless of whether one realizes it or not (systemic racism, you know?). A little heady at times, but I would recommend it if you're up for a thought-journey and a consideration of facts that might not have been present in your consideration of the ways language, race, and society functions.

[Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for EDU-213. Really interesting field.

[Annah Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

10/10 - had to read this for my anthro class because my professor wrote it, but I learned so much!

[Claire Abs]

to-read

[Mike Mena · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far the best book on Raciolinguistics to date. Works as an introduction to concept but plenty of ground-breaking chapters for those already familiar with concept.

[Mills College Library]

306.44089 R121 2016