Tracing the Roots of Nontraditional Rhetoric
In the first semester doctoral program in rhetoric and composition at the University of Texas at El Paso, I had an opportunity to study a course entitled “Introduction to Rhetoric and Writing Studies” in a multicultural setting in which there were students from Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Like the composition of the class, the syllabus was constituted by diverse thematic titles such as civil discourse, contemporary rhetoric, composition studies, nontraditional rhetoric, writing instruction, research, book review and the like. While all the topics were interesting enough for me to study, it was in the domain of nontraditional rhetoric that I found myself most interested. The terminology …show more content…
Gloria Anzaldua’s article entitled “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” arrests my attention owing to the hybrid rhetoric profusely used. Right from the outset of the essay, Anzaldua recounts her bitter experience of being punished and humiliated by the school simply for not speaking the English language and talking back to the Anglo teacher. That she is infuriated with the school authority is reflected in the expressions “talk[ing] back” and “answer back” which repeat at least five times on the very first page of the article, reminding the readers of how the writer is silenced both at school and at home. She also narrates how all Chicano students are compelled to take speech classes to get rid of their accents. The way school tries to obliterate Spanish accent of students leads her to form a vehement expression such as this one, “Attacks on one’s form of expression with the intent to censor are a violation of the First Amendment” (2947). By devising the very title of the article from the perspective of the colonizer, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” she shows a rigid dichotomy between the colonizer and the colonized which is represented by the hegemonic English speakers and the Spanish speakers respectively. The perspective here is very powerful because it allows the readers to examine the colonizer’s attitude to the colonized on the one hand, and the plight of the Spanish students on the other hand. The ventriloquizing of the colonial voice in the title suggested by the phrase “wild tongue” is Anzaldua’s strategic move to show how the imperialists represent the Others as uncivilized or wild, necessitating their intervention as the tamer or civilizer who is not only capable of pronouncing words correctly but also capable of teaching the wild. By positioning the tamer at a point from which to educate the non-English speakers, Anzaldua is
In the first semester doctoral program in rhetoric and composition at the University of Texas at El Paso, I had an opportunity to study a course entitled “Introduction to Rhetoric and Writing Studies” in a multicultural setting in which there were students from Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Like the composition of the class, the syllabus was constituted by diverse thematic titles such as civil discourse, contemporary rhetoric, composition studies, nontraditional rhetoric, writing instruction, research, book review and the like. While all the topics were interesting enough for me to study, it was in the domain of nontraditional rhetoric that I found myself most interested. The terminology …show more content…
Gloria Anzaldua’s article entitled “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” arrests my attention owing to the hybrid rhetoric profusely used. Right from the outset of the essay, Anzaldua recounts her bitter experience of being punished and humiliated by the school simply for not speaking the English language and talking back to the Anglo teacher. That she is infuriated with the school authority is reflected in the expressions “talk[ing] back” and “answer back” which repeat at least five times on the very first page of the article, reminding the readers of how the writer is silenced both at school and at home. She also narrates how all Chicano students are compelled to take speech classes to get rid of their accents. The way school tries to obliterate Spanish accent of students leads her to form a vehement expression such as this one, “Attacks on one’s form of expression with the intent to censor are a violation of the First Amendment” (2947). By devising the very title of the article from the perspective of the colonizer, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” she shows a rigid dichotomy between the colonizer and the colonized which is represented by the hegemonic English speakers and the Spanish speakers respectively. The perspective here is very powerful because it allows the readers to examine the colonizer’s attitude to the colonized on the one hand, and the plight of the Spanish students on the other hand. The ventriloquizing of the colonial voice in the title suggested by the phrase “wild tongue” is Anzaldua’s strategic move to show how the imperialists represent the Others as uncivilized or wild, necessitating their intervention as the tamer or civilizer who is not only capable of pronouncing words correctly but also capable of teaching the wild. By positioning the tamer at a point from which to educate the non-English speakers, Anzaldua is