Vernacular theory - 1994 summer seminars on African American language and literature at Pennsylvania State University

American Visions, June-July, 1994 by Anthony C. Murphy

Does Ralph Ellison's novel, Invisible Man, become a richer text when the reader approaches it with an understanding of the black vernacular tradition? "I think in the end you really can't understand that text if you don't know black American folktales," explains William J. Harris, an associate professor of English at Pennsylvania State University. "To get a real meaning of the text, you have to know who Brer Rabbit is; you have to know Brer Rabbit is a trickster. And in terms of language, you have to know about the dozens--that verbal assault form developed by young men insulting each other's mothers sort of blundy. You have to know these forms to come to a real sense of the novel."

Harris is the co-chairman, along with Penn State colleague Bernard W. Bell, of "African-American Voices: Language, Literature and Criticism in Vernacular Theory and Pedagogy," the fourth in a series of annual Penn State summer seminars in theory and culture. Scholars Houston A. Baker jr., Robert O'Meally, Geneva Smitherman and Hortense Spillers will lead discussions in their respective fields--literary criticism, the blues-jazz aesthetic, black vernacular English, and the black feminist-womanist tradition.

"I think vernacular theory is important because of the increasing dominance of popular cultural forms in American society," says Penn State Vice Provost for Educational Equity james B. Stewart, who leads a session on African-American cultural studies paradigms.

The conference is aimed at university teachers interested in developing a theoretical approach to teaching African-American literature. "What we want people to go away with," explains Harris, "is a sense of the complexity of the culture... in terms of language, in terms of tales and in terms of music. [What we want is] that they take it back to their classrooms and that they can implement it."

"African-American Voices" is scheduled June 21 to 25, on the campus of Pennsylvania State University in University Park.