Code-Switching Expert to Speak to Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Professor, researcher and author George Paasewe finds that code-switching benefits students, staff, and the entire campus community.
Wauwatosa, Wis. — Black students are struggling to learn, navigate and perform code-switching at predominantly white institutions (PWIs) — but it does not have to be that way, according to researcher and author George Paasewe, who will speak to Osher Lifelong Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee at 4:00 pm on Thursday, September 9, 2021. Paasewe’s book, How Black College Students Learn Code-Switching (2020), provides solutions to overcoming racial tensions and educates readers on becoming social change agents through learning and mastering the tool of code-switching. The book is being adopted by high schools, colleges, and universities to enhance the campus community’s communication dynamics and increase students of color retention and graduation rates.
“Code-switching is a tool that anyone can use to break the communication barrier and make new connections with people outside of their race, ethnicity, and culture,” says Paasewe. “Language differences between cultures can serve as a roadblock. In these instances, code-switching has value because it allows one to participate in the larger, more diverse community.”
How Black College Students Learn Code-Switching includes a comprehensive guide to contemporary Black English terminologies and an introduction to cultural differences between Black and non-Black English speakers. The book also raises awareness of the challenges that Black students face while attending predominantly white institutions. Educators are adopting How Black College Students Learn Code-Switching into their curriculum for instruction. First- and second-year experience programs and college and university courses in sociology, linguistics, and African American studies are utilizing the book to change the dynamics at their institution.
Paasewe first encountered code-switching in college. During his first weeks living in a residence hall, he spoke casually to another young man. When his peer could not understand him, Paasewe realized he had to code-switch.
“I credit the tool of code-switching to enhancing my collegiate experience at a predominantly white university,” says Paasewe, who identified and addressed a gap within the research on code-switching, which is how code-switching is learned.
George Paasewe is the author of How Black College Students Learn Code-Switching and the Founder/CEO of The Code-Switcher, which educates self-published authors about the book-writing and publishing process. Paasewe earned a Master of Science in education at Northern Illinois University and holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He teaches sociology at Bryant & Stratton College in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.
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