Royster, Jacqueline Jones. “When the First Voice You Hear Is Not Your Own.” College Composition and Communication, Vol. 47, No. 1, Feb. 1996, pp. 29-40.

In the article “When the First Voice You Hear Is Not Your Own,” Jacqueline Jones Royster examines “moments of personal challenge that seem to have import for cross-boundary discourse” (29). Royster supports her examination by giving anecdotal evidence, divided into three “scenes” that she explains and accompanies with the work of Black writers and scholars. Her purpose is to examine to the notion of subjectivity and how this interacts with human difference to acknowledge them as a complex reality in order to highlight the need for the academic community to be more in tune with the discourse, policies, and practices and how they can be more aware and inclusive of difference. As a student and possible future teacher I found Royster’s approach to connecting her “moments of challenge” to cross-boundary pedagogy captivating. I especially liked her spin on Cornel West’s idea that “someone gave Miles Davis a trumpet” and how she applied it to bell hooks and other African American women, and tied it in to the concepts of hybridity and “authentic” voice.