We first interviewed Professor Michel DeGraff back in season 1; he now returns for another episode, diving deeper into issues of culture and identity. He talks about his childhood in Haiti, where he was punished at school for speaking his own mother tongue, and where he was taught by his teachers and even his parents that Kreyòl was not “a real language.” After doing early work in natural language processing that led him to question widespread assumptions about language, Prof. DeGraff shifted his academic focus to linguistics. He now begins each iteration of his course 24.908 Creole Languages and Caribbean Identities by asking his students to write linguistic autobiographies that describe the languages they grew up speaking and examine their own attitudes about language. In addition to discussing that course, he talks in this episode about his efforts to draw attention to language’s role in perpetuating imbalances of power. As an added bonus, we hear from two students from 24.908, discussing how Prof. DeGraff helped cultivate trust in the classroom, and how that trust freed the students to enrich each other’s understanding of the world by sharing personal experiences and insights.
*English Translation of Prof. Michel DeGraff’s Kreyòl Statement:
So, my fellow countrymen,
There's something that is very VERY important to understand:
we must understand the origins of prejudices against Kreyòl.
We must also remember that Dessalines said, so clearly,
that everyone is human. And he also knew that,
if everyone is human, then every language is a perfectly normal language.
So Kreyòl, too, is a perfectly normal language.
That's why he said, since before 1804,
that Kreyòl is our own language,
so we don't need to always look for other languages to speak.
Yes, we must remember, if we did not have Kreyòl as a language,
we could never have succeeded in making this revolution
that gave us an independent Haiti.
Kreyòl was the language of the revolution.
So, today, we must use
Kreyòl too as language of instruction.
It is this language that will allow all children in Haiti
to access quality education as their right.
Relevant Resources:
MIT OpenCourseWare
The OCW Educator Portal
Professor DeGraff’s faculty page
24.908 Creole Languages and Caribbean Identities on OpenCourseWare
The MIT-Haiti Initiative
Chalk Radio Season 1 episode with Prof. DeGraff
NY Times op-ed by Prof. DeGraff
Linguistics and Economics in the Caribbean (article by Ianá Ferguson)
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions (https://www.sessions.blue/)
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Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Show notes by Peter Chipman
Connect with Us
If you have a suggestion for a new episode or have used OCW to change your life or those of others, tell us your story. We’d love to hear from you!
Call us @ 617-715-2517
On our site
On Facebook
On X
On Instagram
On LinkedIn
Stay Current
Subscribe to the free monthly "MIT OpenCourseWare Update" e-newsletter.
Support OCW
If you like Chalk Radio and OpenCourseware, donate to help keep these programs going!
Credits
Sarah Hansen, host and producer
Brett Paci, producer
Dave Lishansky, producer
Jackson Maher, producer
Show notes by Peter Chipman
