Other People’s English: Code Meshing, Code Switching, and African American Literacy

This book presents an empirically grounded argument for a new approach of teaching writing to diverse students in the English language arts classroom. Responding to advocates of the “code-switching” approach, four uniquely qualified authors make the case for “code-meshing”—allowing students to use standard English, African American English, and other Englishes in formal academic writing and classroom discussions. This practical resource translates theory into a concrete roadmap for pre- and in-service teachers who wish to use code-meshing in the classroom to extend students’ abilities as writers and thinkers and to foster inclusiveness and creativity. The text provides activities and examples from middle and high schools as well as college and addresses the question of how to advocate for code-meshing with skeptical administrators, parents, and students.

From Uncle Tom's Cabin to The Help: Critical Perspectives on White-Authored Narratives of Black Life

While narratives films such as The Help, Django Unchained, and The Blind Side have achieved popular acclaim, they have also been the subject of critical controversy, demonstrating that the much touted 'post-racial America' has yet to come to terms with the power of race in contemporary imaginative and social lives. Examining a wide range of texts and film this collection of essays boldly investigates the promise and perils of racial ventriloquism, that is, when white authors appropriate the history and stories of black life.

Code-Meshing as World English: Pedagogy, Policy, Performance

A collected volume of original essays, Code-Meshing as World English presents code meshing—blending dialects and languages with standard English—as the better pedagogical alternative to code switching—shifting between dialects or languages in different settings—in teaching literacy to diverse learners.

From Bourgeois to Boojie: Black Middle-Class Performances

Examines how generations of African Americans perceive, proclaim, and name the combined performance of race and class across genres.

Vershawn A. Young and Bridget Harris Tsemo. From Bourgeois to Boojie: Black Middle-Class Performances. Wayne State University Press, 2011.

Your Average Nigga: Performing Race, Literacy, and Masculinity

In Your Average Nigga, Vershawn Ashanti Young disputes the belief that speaking Standard English and giving up Black English Vernacular helps black students succeed academically. Young argues that this assumption not only exaggerates the differences between two compatible varieties of English but forces black males to choose between an education and their masculinity, by choosing to act either white or black. As one would expect from a scholar who is subject to the very circumstances he studies, Young shares his own experiences as he exposes the factors that make black racial identity irreconcilable with literacy for blacks, especially black males.