Theme: To show that AAVE has the same importance value as SE but code-switching is valuable when SE is not your home language. I chose this topic because I feel that there is still some thoughts that SE is more superior and that AAVE should be eliminated. I feel very strongly about this topic because before this class I had no knowledge of AAVE. I knew that ebonics wasn't/ isn't accepted everywhere but I didn't know that there have been so much going on about it, for example, the SRTOL document. I feel this topic will be a good continuation on proving that AAVE has not changed over time like most things do.
The 4 genres I would like to choose from are Imaginative Writing, School Writing, Personal/ Private Writing, and Visual Pieces. I plan on my audience being the general public, no one in specific. I plan on having an electronic handbook for those interested to bring light to those that were in the dark like I was before this class. I plan to use a poem but if I cannot find one to support my idea to its fullest I plan to use a song with lyrics. In the area of School writing I plan to use scholarly articles that i've read throughout the class and possibly one from project 3. For Personal / Private I plan to use 2 recipes and compare/ contrast the together and show that the can both be understood no matter which dialect is chosen. Last but not least, I plan to use a college of photos to help protray this theme.
My own ignorance guided me to this theme. If I hadn't been informed about AAVE and the effects that is has had on the world thoughout time I would still be in the dark. I want to bring everyone that was just like me to the light, give them something to think about and also allow them to be able to make their own choice on whether, in their mind, SE is the most important of all or not.
Conference on College Composition and Communication. “Students’ Right to Their Own Language”. College Composition and Communication. Spec. issue of CCC 25.3 (1974):1-32.
Canagarajah, Suresh . "Safe Houses in the Contact Zone: Coping Strategies of African-American Students in the Academy." College Composition and Communication 48(1997): 173-196.
