On Thurs. Mar. 30, 2023, the Language and Literature department hosted a special lecture titled “Crip Writing: Meaning Making in Disability,” with linguist Dr. Suresh Canagarajah from Pennslyvania State University. The lecture was held in Martin Chapel and at the beginning of his presentation, Dr. Canagarajah joked about how it was his first time giving an academic presentation in a chapel.
Dr. Canagarajah hails from Sri Lanka and is currently a professor of Applied Linguistics, English, and Asian studies at Penn State University. Dr. Canagarajah is the author of multiple books, his latest being “Language Incompetence: Learning to Communicate through Cancer, Disability and Anomalous Embodiment.” The journey to writing this book began in 2014 when he was diagnosed with cancer. As he was going through treatment and recovery, Dr. Canagarajah worked on an academic article for TESOL Quarterly. He said that the cancer gave him the time to write the article and the article helped him cope with cancer.
Dr. Canagarajah went on to speak about his writing process, his faith, and how his work has led him to find that language differences are not the barrier we think they are. Language, despite what people may say, can bring people together rather than drive them apart because overcoming language barriers requires relationality with one another.
A short question and answer session alongside refreshments followed the presentation. On Fri. Mar. 31, Dr. Canagarajah spent the day on campus visiting classes and taking other meetings.
Dr. Canagarajah shared during his Thursday evening presentation that he sometimes wonders how academic audiences will take a mention of his faith, but he knew he could share about it freely on this Christian campus. Professor of Language and Literature Martha Eads shared that she appreciated his connection between his work and his Christian faith. Dr. Eads says, “Interacting with Dr. Canagarajah at several events over three days convinced me that he aspires to follow Jesus’ example of entering humbly into others’ experiences to encourage and help them.”
Wendell Shank, instructor in the Language and Literature department, commented on the presentation Dr. Canagarajah gave in his Introduction to Linguistics class on Friday. He said, “Both in his Thursday night presentation and in Intro to Linguistics on Friday, Suresh emphasized that a shared goal would motivate speakers to look beyond differences in the way people speak in order to accomplish their communicative intent. Differences in accent and dialect are simply luxuries that can be allowed to create conflict in the communication when one doesn’t truly need to communicate.”
