#BlackCommunicationMatters: Creating equitable spaces for Black communication and language through a womanist rhetorical lens

The objective of this single-class activity is to get students to make connections between Eurocentric standards of communication and African American Vernacular English (AAVE) through a womanist rhetorical lens. This activity sheds light on how professional, academic, and corporate communicative spaces tend to deflect and reject Black people based on the use of language patterns that resist hegemonic, classist, racist, and sexist communication styles. Students will reflect on the ways that their communication have (un)consciously oppressed communities within and outside their own. This activity’s goal is to get students to understand the importance of practicing diverse communication. Courses This activity is attended for courses that focus on diversity, intersectionality, language, communication, gender studies, intercultural communication, rhetoric, and/or cultural sensitivity. Objectives By the end of this activity, students will be able to: define womanist rhetorical theory (WRT) and the theory’s goals, purposes, and calls of action; directly apply the goals of WRT to the lived experiences of Black people; and understand the relevance, applicability, and utility of WRT by making connections to the ways in which students may be (un)consciously oppressive in their communication toward intercultural communities in their personal, academic, and corporate spheres.