The Skin That We Speak Summary

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When reading the anthology The Skin That We Speak, edited by Lisa Delpit and Joanne Kilgour Dowdy, the dilemma of language attitudes within our society and the prejudice that it contains is obvious and overwhelming. With a large emphasis on the unfolding of this problem within our education system, Delpit’s and Dowdy’s collection of essays reveals how seriously and how deeply prejudice and bias surrounding speech and culture runs. However, one can also recognize solutions offered by author after author, many of these solutions including the changing of mindsets and language attitudes. The Skin That We Speak is an anthology that discusses language and culture, and it not only does an effective job of communicating to the audience the issues our society faces within the sphere of language …show more content…

How on earth can America’s educational system be influenced when it comes to teaching kids about speech, language, and culture? How can the way teachers are taught to teach children change, and how can the deeply-rooted prejudice many hold towards speech, language, and culture be fought? Yet throughout The Skin That We Speak, one can find little bits of hope sprinkled throughout most of the chapters. In some way nearly every chapter discusses ways in which mindsets can be changed towards these issues, and how the solution very much lies in the power of normal, everyday people as much as it lies in the hands of policy and law makers, of people in “positions of power.” In summary, The Skin That We Speak does a wonderful job communicating the book’s message to its audience and convincing the reader of the severe problem we face with language, attitudes and culture, and the prejudice surrounding

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