The raciolinguistic perspective as a tool for critical reflection on dominant discourses

Abstract

Cet article développe une réflexion critique visant, d’une part, à accéder de manière plus intime à l’expérience du milieu minoritaire pour une personne racisée et minorisée, et, d’autre part, à examiner l’apport de la perspective raciolinguistique pour recadrer à la fois la signification et l’orientation des recherches en milieu minoritaire. Par une méthode de récit de résistance (counter-narrative), l’article propose deux voix : celle de l’autrice qui partage des extraits de ses carnets personnels et celle de la chercheuse qui, à travers la perspective raciolinguistique, ausculte certains discours dominants ayant mené au sentiment d’illégitimité de l’autrice. Dans le cadre de cette revue anniversaire, la réflexion livrée se veut porteuse de l’espoir d’un projet sociétal de pluralisation des savoirs pour un avenir serein, vitalisant et équitable pour tous.

Writing instruction for social justice: an investigation into the components of a teacher preparation course

“…If the pedagogy also centres on mainstream students, minoritisation is furthered, and the relationship between students and teachers can be compromised. By focusing solely on the mono‐mainstream identities and repertoires, teachers holding a mainstream perspective also commit a powerful act of exclusion towards minoritised students (Lavoie, 2022).…”

“…The concept of minoritised communities invites us to consider non‐ethnic understandings of culture (Hyland, 2004) and to consider all communities of affiliation as potential discourse communities that feed the students' repertoires. Minoritised youth tend to see their communities' repertoires excluded from the literacy classroom in French education (Brisson, 2017; Lavoie, 2022). We consider the students and teachers as engaged in a community gathered around common writing goals; according to Graham (2018), this makes the classroom (implicitly or explicitly) a writing community.…”

“…We have loosely termed this the ‘ protective mono‐mainstream ideology ’. In the context of literacy education, this ideology manifests as a foundational assumption of protectiveness that is double‐edged; more specifically, the drive to protect the integrity of the ‘traditional’ French Canadian identity from the Anglo‐dominant majority has given rise to practices that oppress others who are different from the majority within Francophone school communities—namely, standardised French monolingualism is the valued norm (Bélanger and Dulude, 2020; Roy, 2010); Euro‐dominant and colonial traditions/knowledge are most prevalent (Lavoie et al, 2021); normative expectations negate the practices of bi/multilingual or bi/multicultural students (Gérin‐Lajoie, 2002); minoritised identities are erased from the classroom (Lavoie, 2022; Prophète, 2022); and minoritised repertoires (intellectual traditions, cultural resources, linguistic practices, perspectives, and experiences) are excluded and misunderstood (Cormier, 2020). If left unchallenged, teachers holding a mainstream perspective engage with a curriculum already tainted by the mono‐mainstream ideology, which can uphold oppressive structures and the mainstream gaze.…”