“Emerging through Critical Race Theory Counter-storytelling in a Rhetoric and Composition Graduate Studies Context”

by Caleb Lee González | Xchanges 15.1, Spring 2020

A CRT Counterstory in English Graduate Studies

One of my CRT counterstories highlights a specific writing class I took at the very beginning of my graduate school journey. There were a number of poems and essays on the syllabus, and the most notable, to me, was Morábito’s (2010) poem “Oil,” written in English. Before class, I also decided to read the same poem by Morábito, “El Aceite,” in Spanish, to find interesting points of analysis and understanding, especially within, but also between the two languages. I was relying on my linguistic heritage to help me engage with the text.

As my peers began to discuss the poem, some shared their confusion for what it could be about. When I looked it up in Spanish earlier, I learned that the poem was situated in a book of twelve poems called Caja de Herramientas. Each poem focuses on a small tool or item that is seemingly insignificant (e.g. screw, water, sponge, dishrag, hammer), which could be a nod at observing objects that reveal the details of life, including how our lives are shaped by the micro and seemingly ordinary. I read two other poems (“El Trapo” and “El Martillo”) for greater context. I shared with my peers that upon reading three of Morábito’s poems in Spanish, I found myself wondering more about the contextual situatedness of the poem within a larger work titled Toolbox. I was also wondering about the similarities and differences between the original and the translation of the book and what the poem might say to readers in both Spanish and English. After a few seconds of silence and with the sound of crickets outside, one of my white peers quickly changed the subject.