The Writing Center will host a workshop centered on discussions of double and multi-voicing in connection to Africana culture. Credit: Kate Shields | Lantern Reporter
The Center for the Study of Teaching and Writing is celebrating United Black World Month through a free interactive student workshop Thursday centered on discussions of double- and multi-voicing in connection to Africana culture.
Njoki Mwangi, writing center assistant coordinator, said in an email double-voicing takes the perspective and response of the listener into consideration, and multi-voicing is speaking with a plurality of voice that allows a person to receive a variety of answers. The workshop will discuss multi-voicing as a feature of Africana identity and collectivist cultures and how it can enrich the world by better understanding one another, she said.
“Many students engage in double-voicing even if they are not aware of it,” Mwangi said. “We are creating a space where students can discuss these two kinds of speech in a relaxed atmosphere.”
The workshop is free to students, and through short talks, writing exercises and discussions, students will reflect on their use and how they are seen in collectivist cultures.
Mwangi said double-voicing is used when there is a difference in power between parties, particularly showing one is “socially aware.”
“The employee who knows you can’t demand a raise at a new job seems socially aware to his employer,” Mwangi said.
Mwangi said double-voicing can become harmful in certain circumstances.
“When used in the wrong context or at the wrong time, double-voicing makes you sound like you don’t know what you want and are unsure about what you know,” Mwangi said.
Mwangi said multi-voicing is used when trying to describe something bigger than one person’s experience. She said Black communities, immigrants and those who grew up in America are well-versed in multi-voicing.
“There are many lives lived and numerous perspectives had and changed. Letting them coexist side by side enriches the world,” Mwangi said.
Mwangi said African and Asian cultures specifically retain many aspects of collectivism, which values cooperation and interconnectedness.
“Given that these cultures originate from huge continents with large populations and numerous ethnicities and languages, multi-voicing is a naturally occurring phenomena,” Mwangi said.
Angel Evans, writing center consultant, said in an email multi-voicing constitutes a range of voices within Africana identity and allows people to talk about their own concerns, including cultural memories, histories, space and time.
“Collective (Africana) identity doesn’t mean all people of African descent think/live/[identify] the same way or should,” Evans said. “Rather, it means we share a common solidarity—or kinship—that exists throughout our differences.”
Evans said students who attend the workshop, regardless of whether they are of African descent, should find value in learning about double- and multi-voicing because it is a practice present wherever spoken language is used.
“In understanding how we use language, we have a better chance of understanding and stewarding wholeness in our human condition,” Evans said.
The workshop takes place from noon to 1:30 p.m. Thursday in Hale Hall Room 110B. Students can register online.
