Sarah Swift

Examining the Power of Language Through HNRS 130: The Politics of Language

gsehgal2 — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 15:01:01 +0000

Examining the Power of Language Through HNRS 130: The Politics of Language gsehgal2 Mon, 03/27/2023 - 11:01

In This Story

Language, observes Honors College Student Phillip Dickey, has the “ability […] to heal and provide unity amongst people with different backgrounds and viewpoints in life.” It also has the ability to shape who feels included and excluded. Studying these concepts in HNRS 130: The Politics of Language enables students to observe and apply them within the world around them. Students at Mason and residents of Northern Virginia come from all over the world, bringing their languages, dialects, and accents with them. Mason prides itself in bringing together multicultural perspectives and fostering inclusivity, and the Honors College committed to promoting these values through its course offerings.

Prof. Habib

Anna Habib, an Honors College alumna who is now Term Professor of English and the Associate Director of Composition for Multilingual Writers, teaches this course as a way of giving back to the Honors College. “I picked the politics of language because a lot of the work that I've been doing is around linguistic justice,” Habib explains. Habib is engaged with the intersection of language and inclusion. Much of her research and professional work around linguistic justice focuses on finding ways to train faculty to be more aware of and respectful toward non-standard varieties of English. Habib noticed that students are too often missing from this conversation: “I was really curious to see what do students think and how do they take up these issues? So that's sort of where [the idea for this class] started. I wanted to help students think critically about the interplay of language and power. I wanted them to be able to recognize the ways that language is wielded to maintain power structures, but also how it can be used to reveal and even challenge those structures.”

HNRS 130: The Politics of Language is an Honors College course that looks deeper into the relationship between language and power structures in current society. Through an intimate seminar-style structure, students discuss readings covering the language of power/power of language, the language of politics/politics of language, linguistic discrimination, the language of war, cancel culture, inclusive and antiracist language, linguistic erasure, and linguistic revitalization. “My favorite topic in class is inclusive and diverse language because I think it’s such a relevant topic, especially since it’s something that Mason is trying to incorporate on our campus,” says Honors College student Brooke Gormon. “It’s always cool to learn about things that are relevant—especially relevant to Mason.”

As a way to encourage students to actively take charge of their learning, students facilitate discussions about each class session’s main topic. “We spend most of the class with the students leading,” says Habib. To help those who learn best through individual writing and reflection, students also write multiple reading responses and reflection pieces about what they read and discuss in class. Students have a range of choices for completing their final projects. These include writing a linguistic justice statement, filming a video essay, or making a creative public display to raise awareness of some of the themes from the class. Habib explains, “I structure the project in a way that they can pick what makes them more passionate about the topic because otherwise, what's the point?”

As to the overall goal of this class, Habib says, “I hope that [my students] will be more aware of any implicit bias that they [and others] have in relation to linguistic identity and linguistic practices and that they will be able to discern truth in a world that is oversaturated with information and misinformation. If they understand that language can be a tool for power, both good and bad, then they enter the world as more engaged, aware and compassionate citizens.” This neatly aligns with the Honors College’s overall goal to broaden students’ understanding of the world and challenge their beliefs through the Honors College’s unique curriculum. Mac Clapper, a graduating senior, underscores this point: “I would […] recommend HNRS 130 [The Politics of Language] with Professor Habib to other students. I think this has been my favorite Honors College class I’ve ever taken. It just really synthesizes everything that the Honors College stands for.”

Topics

Honors College

inclusivity

Muslim Student Advocate Rakibul Alam Strives to Create a  Better World for Underrepresented Students

Daniel Hyunbin Chung — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 18:04:08 +0000

Muslim Student Advocate Rakibul Alam Strives to Create a  Better World for Underrepresented Students Daniel Hyunbin Chung Fri, 02/10/2023 - 13:04

For Honors College student Rakibul Alam, creative writing was his gateway to advocacy. Rakibul Alam is a freshman in the Honors College majoring in business with a concentration in management and a minor in education. In 2021, when he was a senior at Westfield High School, he wrote a spur-of-the-moment poem titled “Utopia” about the struggles of Muslim Americans. "I just wrote it down because there were a lot of thoughts that I had and emotions that I was going through. And so, I just put it down onto a piece of paper."

A major catalyst for the poem was an incident of harassment that he witnessed his mother experience for wearing her religious headscarf. He recalls that as he was writing, “those images and emotions were coming through from that exact scene, and I was just putting it into words. There was no [defined] format.” Alam used the poem as an expression of his hope to change the world for the better. “It was just me writing and thinking, ‘what can I do about this as an 18-year-old?' I envisioned a future about peace and justice and respecting each other's values and differences.”

When Alam was assigned to write a piece for his high school dual enrollment English class, he decided to submit a revised version of "Utopia.” It caught the attention of his teacher at the time, who encouraged him to submit it to the Live Poets Society of New Jersey for publication. Several weeks later, he was astonished to learn that his poem had been selected to be published in their forthcoming book, The Spring Edition for Faith and Inspiration.

Outside of writing this poem, Alam enjoys academic writing assignments and research projects, which he has had ample opportunity to pursue through Honors College courses. He proclaims, “I don't know why, but I just love writing research essays! I think the process of getting a lot of different articles and putting them together to help with what you're trying to find through your research is beautiful.” He is currently taking HNRS 110: Principles of Research and Inquiry, a first-semester requirement for all first-year Honors College students. His research project is about how climate change and high soil salinity are affecting farmers in coastal Bangladesh. “I just put together my literature review and I absolutely love the process,” Alam says. He is also taking a section of HNRS 130 this semester, "The Immigrant Experience,” with Professor Mark Rudnicki. He enjoys that it is a course that delves into writings and conversations about the experiences of underrepresented groups in the United States.

Outside of the classroom, Alam is a member of the Muslim Student Association and the Bengali Patriot Association. Additionally, he is a Student Senator in the George Mason Student Government. As a Muslim American Student Senator, Alam is driven to advocate for measures to give other Muslim students at Mason a more accommodating experience. For example, he was one of the Student Senators that brought attention to the issue of lack of dining options for those with religious dietary restrictions. “As a Student Senator, my goal is to push to incorporate dining hall meals that are more inclusive. And I like that we now have Halal meat options even if it’s just one or two items. It may not be a lot, but just having that there now gives Muslim students the option to eat on campus.”

As a continuation in advocating for and supporting other students, Alam plans to pursue a master’s degree in education leadership in hopes of becoming a school principal. "I want to be an exemplary leader for students and young individuals and encourage them to develop and reach their full potential,” he explains. “As a school principal, I will be able to make a direct impact, create a safe and inclusive environment, and implement ideas that will promote individuals to build bridges within communities. That is my dream."

A web copy of Alam’s poem can be found at: https://whswatchdog.net/2955/uncategorized/senior-publishes-poem-about-anguish-afflicted-by-prejudice/

Topics

poetry

creative writing

Honors College

2022 Annual Hackathon

Wasiq Muhammad Muhammad Ali — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 19:29:39 +0000

2022 Annual Hackathon Wasiq Muhammad… Fri, 10/07/2022 - 15:29

On October 1, Honors College Connects (HCC) held its second annual Hackathon. The Hackathon is an opportunity for students to come up with creative solutions to issues that various local nonprofit organizations face. This year’s participating nonprofits included:

Annandale Christian Community for Action, a church-affiliated voluntary organization assisting low-income families in the Annandale/Bailey’s Crossroads area;
Shelter House, a domestic violence shelter;
League of Women Voters Fairfax, a nonpartisan voter participation organization;
NV Rides, a network of volunteers providing personal transportation to seniors;

Sustainable Mason President’s Park Greenhouse, an organization that provides fresh produce to the George Mason University community;
Latino Economic Development Center, an organization that provides financial education to Latino & other underserved communities.

The students also enjoyed a catered lunch together and took group photos.

First-time Honors student participant Farhan Babar worked with Sustainable Mason, creating marketing material to promote their free produce options. He recounts one challenge his team encountered: “We tried doing so many things all at once that we ended up becoming separated. We weren’t even able to finish most of the things we were trying to do individually.” Despite the challenges of working in a large, ambitious team, Babar says that he enjoyed getting to know other Honors College students that day.

Sebastian Rodionov, another newcomer to the Hackathon, worked with NV Rides to create an advertisement campaign persuading recent retirees to become volunteer drivers for local seniors. He shares that for his team, “generally speaking, we did not run into any challenges at the Hackathon. I provided ideas and bounced them to other members for feedback. Our team also had a professional graphic designer who created a gorgeous Facebook post/sample flyer from scratch.” For Rodionov, “the best part of the Hackathon was seeing the end products of all the other groups and reflecting on all we accomplished that day.”

Topics

Hackathon

Honors College Connects

Honors College

Nonprofits

Sarah Swift

Examining the Power of Language Through HNRS 130: The Politics of Language

In This Story

Topics

Muslim Student Advocate Rakibul Alam Strives to Create a Better World for Underrepresented Students

Topics

2022 Annual Hackathon

Topics

Muslim Student Advocate Rakibul Alam Strives to Create a  Better World for Underrepresented Students