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The Contributions of Kermit Campbell

Kermit E. Campbell Overview

In over 20 years of teaching, including his current position at Colgate University, Campbell has researched the use of Black Vernacular or Black English Vernacular in writing, pop culture, and everyday speech, emphasizing its rhetorical strengths and validity.

Generation, Campbell provides thought-provoking and groundbreaking analyses of Black Vernacular, from its African roots to its modern use in music. Campbell’s knowledge of traditional, Western rhetoric is extensive, and the way in which he applies this knowledge in his arguments concerning non-Western, non-traditional rhetorical practices is striking.

valid and complex rhetorical form with a deep history, and should be treated as such. He traces the modern use of insults, “signifying,” or asserting identity and self-worth, and certain “call-response” features of Black Vernacular back to their origins in African oral traditions and folk-tales. He repeatedly uses the example of the Signifying Monkey of African folk-lore, the “trickster” character who uses rhetoric to challenge power structures, relating this to ways in which African Americans can assert their own identities in a hostile world. Practically, Campbell points to the importance of recognizing as valid such Black Vernacular in academia, from elementary schools to Universities. He challenges the superiority of traditional, “standard” English, arguing that by allowing students to write in their own vernacular they are able to “affirm” their “social and cultural identities” (“Real Niggaz’s Don’t Die” 69) in ways that a forced standard English does not allow. Theoretically, he cites authors such as Gloria Anzaldua, emphasizing that not allowing students the use of their vernacular, in effect, denies and denigrates their identities. Practically, Campbell encourages his own students to write in their vernaculars, pointing out that while not perfect by standard English measures, the students are able to construct complex ideas and figures of speech that his opponents argue are not possible outside the academic English that has become the standard. He applies this theory and practice to national issues such as the debate over whether to teach Ebonics in public schools, pointing out that this is a perfectly valid way to resist the largely white, male-dominated cultural norm.

lifestyle. He then applies these same strategies to his classrooms, encouraging his students to examine the use of non-standard English in these media using their own experiences and own vernacular. He deftly explores the use of language, and black vernacular in particular, in song lyrics to examine the ways in which people are able to challenge the hegemony of traditional, “standard” language, culture, and lifestyles by rejecting the use of the dominant form of verbal expression. He extends the scope of his studies further by arguing that the increased popularity of rap and hip hop has “humanized […] ghetto blackness” (“There Goes the Neighborhood”) in a way which has allowed even white suburbanites to identify with, or at least be exposed to, backgrounds and lifestyles which are different from their own. In his study of artists such as DMX, he argues that the use of vernacular in rap music exposes ever-present racial prejudices and stereotypes, forcing people to recognize that society is not homogeneous or colorblind in the way some would like to think. The use of black vernacular in song lyrics and by students in the classroom at once recognizes these differences and shows students that a person can have a powerful literary voice, even while rejecting the standard academic language.

way which blatantly demonstrates the effectiveness and validity of the freedom to speak/write in whichever vernacular one chooses to. The ease with which he moves from one to the other practically illustrates the theoretical assertions his research investigates, and sends the message to his students and his fellow academics that his work is powerful, thoughtful, and original, whether he chooses to write in standard English or vernacular. Though this use of vernacular speech in his book, for example, is jarring at first, his decision to write in this way is brilliant and groundbreaking in the sense that he has rejected the traditional notion that an academic book about rhetoric must be written in a certain kind of academic jargon.

encourages his students to write in any vernacular they feel comfortable with, but teaches the use of vernacular, exploring non-traditional texts, including music lyrics, in a way which allows his students to analyze texts that recognize their identities and language in ways that more traditional canonical works cannot. By allowing his students the freedom to not only write in the vernacular they choose, but about subjects that are just as unconventional, his students are able to challenge the dominant language, ideologies, and forms of writing (such as the traditional English composition essay) in ways that allow them to express themselves and discover a written and oral voice that traditional academia has deemed invalid. In his own words, Campbell’s passionate commitment to effecting positive change in his writing and teaching is evident:

Thus, whether writing eloquently in academic prose or vernacular, whether researching the complexities of oral and written black vernacular, or applying these concepts and ways of thinking to his classroom, Campbell has contributed tremendously to opening up a path of study in which many others are sure to follow.

Works Cited