“Leap on this, so I can bust your lip
Because the lord made man, but man made speech
And speech is only talk, and talk is cheap”
-Stetsasonic Don’t let your mouth write a check that your ass can’t cash
“Got the tone to ya head yo life flashing right front your eyes”
-Project Pat feat. Frayser Boy Mouth Write A check
Abstract
Despite non/minimal adversarial feminist argumentation models heavily critiquing rude, hostile, uncooperative argumentative practices, I argue that these models slip easily into instances of ‘white talk’ when white individuals are engaged with BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color) on matters concerning racial injustices. While these models address overt aggression, a more nuanced modification is needed for the models to handle cases of white passive aggressive argumentative tactics (‘white talk’). Moreover, I also argue that given the language and argumentative ideology within academia, ‘white talk’ cannot be addressed by BIPOC without ‘argumentative smothering.’ Building heavily from Dotson’s conception of ‘testimonial smothering,’ I argue argumentative smothering occurs when an interlocutor heavily modifies their argumentative practices due to an oppressive environment in an attempt to situate their argument in such a way that it will be receptive and ‘acceptable’ to the other interlocutor and/or audience.
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Notes
Within this paper, I aim not only to set forth my arguments, but throughout the paper I occasionally engage in African American Vernaular English (AAVE) or African American Language (AAL). I do this for two reasons: 1—to challenge the conception of ‘presentable’ arguments and 2—because I wanna and I shouldn’t have to justify myself to nobody. And yes, I do know Dominant English subject/verb agreement.
The debate as to whether Ebonics constitutes a language within linguistic departments has done been had, but philosophy and argumentation theory have yet to catch up. For the purposes of this project, I remain theoretically neutral on this matter as the outcome of this old debate does not bear on whether argumentative smothering occurs. The point is that these argumentative practices do happen, and such practices do not rely on Ebonics being a language, dialectic, or something else entirely so please don’t get caught up in the question. What is important for my purpose; however, is the understanding that Ebonics is not merely ‘bad’ American English. For proof that Ebonics, AAVE, AAL is a language, see Baker-Bell (2020), Ramirez et. al (2005), Baugh (2000), Smitherman (2000, 2015), and Williams (1975).
This is distinct from feminist argumentation models conception of cooperative or collaborative argumentative practices.
Also referred to as ‘sounding’ or ‘snapping.’.
https://youtu.be/MP8USm7sABI One of the top comments hits the nail on the head quoting Dave Chappelle—“Every Black American is bilingual. All of them. We speak street vernacular and we speak ‘job interview.’”.
Within the 2010 article, there is zero mention of racial identity, let alone an analysis of misogynoir.
Govier does not conceive every disagreement as merely having two sides. Addressing questions through argumentation is much more complex and argumentation should reflect the complexity of issues at hand. Merely presenting the majority of disagreements within a two-sided model leads the arguer, according to Govier, to “speak or write very prejudicially—using distorted facts, loaded language, false statements, questionable hypotheses, inappropriate authorities, fallacious arguments, tendentious rhetorical questions, and much else” (1988, 47). But dialectically and logically, at the heart of a disagreement we can formulate argumentation as a p vs ~ p model.
I want to flag this notion of prima facia granting respect to an individual and consideration for their beliefs. In the sections to follow, I argue that not only is this call for charitability harmful to BIPOC as individuals, but it also reinforces systemic racism.
For more on the notion that critical thinking and arguments do not occur from a ‘bird’s eye viewpoint’ see Warren (1988).
It may be foolishly optimistic of me to assume that many of these passive aggressive cases come from individuals who do mean well, but with more and more cases like Amy Cooper, where white people—especially white women, weaponize their fragility, I’m starting to believe I’m Boo Boo the fool.
A microaggression does take place within my example (re: “I don’t see you as a Black academic…”), but under the feminist argumentation models, microaggressions are not conceived as adversarial actions. Being charitable, I would think proponents and theorists of the model would conceive of microaggressions as unacceptable within dialogical exchanges. They perhaps would fall under within the realm hostility or aggression. However, there is debate as to whether microaggressions are really aggressive behaviors because more often than not, they are not only unintentional, but regular disguised as compliments. For more on microaggressions see Sue (2010) and Freeman and Weekes Schroer (2020).
It is also just in general very difficult for BIPOC to point out to white individuals’ instances when they are engaging in white talk. Two factors contribute to this issue: 1—whenever someone is addressing you as a person, it’s just difficult to hear, regardless of who you are and 2—it’s difficult to share epistemic resources across these types of power dynamics. Pohlhaus states “On the one hand, marginally situated people cannot demonstrate to dominantly situated people that there is a part of the experienced world for which dominant epistemic resources are inadequate because that part of the world is one to which dominantly situated knowers do not attend. On the other hand, the marginally situated cannot call the attention of dominantly situated knowers to those parts of the experienced world, because the epistemic resources to do so are unavailable or preemptively dismissed” (2012, 748).
For Black feminist theory, many of our theories and ideologies were housed in novels, poems, and biographies rather than academic forums throughout the late 1800s into the twentieth century. This remains true today. For more on the history of academic gatekeeping on Black feminism, see Cooper (2018) and Dotson (2016).
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Henning, T.M. “Don’t Let Your Mouth”: On Argumentative Smothering Within Academia. Topoi 40, 913–924 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-021-09751-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-021-09751-4