Esta pesquisa foi realizada na Reserva Extrativista do Rio Ouro Preto, no município de Guajará-Mirim, no Noroeste do Estado de Rondônia. Saindo do porto da cidade, duas horas de voadeira subindo o Rio Mamoré, fica a foz do Rio Pacaás Novos, início da Reserva Extrativista de Seringueiros de Guajará-Mirim, mais três horas fica o Rio Ouro Preto, que juntamente com outros igarapés compõem a Reserva. A Reserva é ocupada em grande parte por filhos dos Soldados da Borracha, restando poucos que vieram na época da guerra; a maioria nasceu no seringal. No diálogo estabelecido a partir da História Oral concebida por Meihy, metodologia escolhida para este trabalho, os seringueiros falaram sobre suas vivências, aventuras de trabalho, histórias que conheceram, o que foi sendo incorporando ao discurso como vivências e o que carregam de sua comunidade de referência, as situações que os identificam e os marcaram independente de terem participado delas ou não. Por vezes algumas histórias são recorrentes, como se fossem condições inescapáveis à vida de qualquer seringueiro. A escolha foi de atribuir ao narrador o estabelecimento, na narrativa, de sua própria ordem; sua própria historicidade épica, apaixonada, ou engajada, incorrendo no risco de realizar a supressão de longos períodos da vida que por algum motivo foram secundarizados ou apagados, com total responsabilidade do narrador, estabelecendo um pacto ético e político com ele e não mera solidariedade ou tolerância. Assim, brotou não apenas uma temporalidade e uma geografia própria, mas muitas, o que torna difícil o trabalho tradicional de interpretação. Os textos nascidos das entrevistas sugeriram fortemente a idéia de SOBREVIVENTES até mesmo pelo seu caráter provisório, pois a dimensão de comunidade de seringueiros parece mais frágil que a de sobreviventes isolados, cuja provisoriedade repousa na mitologia diversificada e contraditória. Para tanto, pela primeira vez na Geografia é apresentada a narrativa voluntária, integral e singular de um grupo de seringueiros. Garantindo que as vozes SOBREVIVENTES se digam, para que, sobre esse dizer, possam surgir outros interlocutores que naveguem por essas vozes, também como narrativa, fazendo surgir a vida do seringueiro como ela é, como cada um deles gostaria que fosse identificada. O resultado não se assemelha a um dizer naturalizado e sem rosto, nem é mero suporte explicativo. / This research was carried out in the Reservista Extrativista do Rio Ouro Preto, in the Municipality of Gujará-Mirim, in the north east of the State of Rondônia. The Pacaás Novos River is situated at a point after a two-hour motor boat trip up the Mamoré River, where the Reserva Extrativista de Gujará-Mirim starts. A three-hour trip further up the Mamoré River the Ouro Preto River is located and with various streams forms the reserve area. The descendants of the soldiers of latex tapping occupy the greater part of the reservation with just a few of the pioneers who arrived there at the time of the war. The majority of them were born in the latex tapping reservation. In the dialogue, established from Oral History conceived by Meihy, the methodology chosen for this assignment, the rubber tappers spoke of their life, workday adventures and stories that they know which are being incorporated into the discourse as part of their lives and what they take from their community reference; the situations which identify and impress them, whether they participated or not. There are occasions when the stories are recurrent, as if they were inescapable conditions in the life of any rubber tapper. The narrator was attributed the choice of setting his own order in narrating; his own epic relating, passionate or active, running the risk of suppressing long periods of life experience which for some reason, as his responsibility, was given less importance or occulted, and so making an ethic and political pact with him and not just showing solidarity or tolerance. Hence, not only its own time and geography blossomed, but others as well, which makes the traditional assignment of interpreting difficult. The texts that derived from the interviews strongly suggest the idea of SURVIVORS, also because of the temporary characteristic, since the dimension of the rubber tapping community seems more fragile than that of isolated survivors whose precariousness founded in the diversified and contradictory mythology. This is the first time a voluntary narrative; wholly or singularly, from a group of rubber tappers; is presented in Geography for this objective. To guarantee that the survivors’ voices speaking of what was narrated can make other speakers express themselves by way of these voices, in narratives also, and by so doing make the life of the rubber tapper appear as it really is as each of them would like it to be identified. The result is not similar to a faceless and naturalized discourse nor is it merely an explicative support.

Cette étude apporte un nouveau corpus à la description du paysage linguistique de Basse-Bretagne et participe de ce fait à une meilleure connaissance de la langue bretonne dans son ensemble. Les habitudes langagières constatées dans ce parler haut-vannetais seront décrites à partir d'exemples issus de langue parlée, et de langue chantée, collectés auprès de vingt-cinq locuteurs traditionnels originaires de Languidic, nés entre 1919 et 1950. Après avoir défini le terroir dialectal de ce breton, haut vannetais intérieur de transition, nous présentons son système vocalique, qui est un élément distinctif entre les parlers de ce sous-dialecte. Nous verrons quele timbre des voyelles peut être centralisé ou neutralisé selon leur quantité, qui est elle-même dépendante de celles des consonnes. Le système consonantique sera défini et exposé en tenant compte de la typologie du breton, étant une langue à mutations consonantiques. Le schéma accentuel, bien que principalement oxytonique, présente de nombreuses variations. Les mutations consonantiques des initiales s'organisent en trois principaux groupes, s'associant pour certains mutateurs, créant ainsi trois types de mutations hybrides, auxquels il faut ajouter trois mutations isolées. La morphologie et la syntaxe du parler sont exposées et tenant compte des différents usages, allant du registre familier quotidien, à la langue soutenue des chants, qui sont une des richesses de ce terroir, où les traditions orales ont su se maintenir jusqu'à nos jours. / This work presents a new study of work to the visual description of dialectology in the lower region of Brittany and participates in providing a better understanding of the Breton language in its entirety.The usages and customs of this micro-dialect from this part of Brittany known as haut-vannetais will be described from examples of spoken language and song. These are collected from twenty five traditional native speakers originally from Languidic, born between 1919 and 1950. After having defined the dialect area of this local speech, haut-vannetais in transition, we present its vocalic system, which in itself is a distinct element between different spoken sub dialects. We will see that the tone of vowels could be centralised or neutralised depending on their quantity. This also applies for the consonants. The consonantal system will be defined and exposed by considering the typology of Breton, with initial consonant mutations. The lexical stress, which is principally oxytonic presents numerous variations. There are three principal classes of mutation, three hybrid and three isolated mutations. The morphology and syntax of this sub dialect is exposed in consideration of different usages, ranging from familiar everyday language to received pronunciation used whilst singing, which give a richness to the region where the oral traditions have been retaineduntil today.

O percurso de formação do leitor, sobretudo na sua fase inicial, que coincide com a entrada da criança na escola, parece condicionado não apenas a uma ambiência de leitura bem constituída, estabelecida pelo contato freqüente com a cultura gráfica por meio de diversos suportes da escrita. Há, nesse processo de transição, caracterizado pela extrapolação de um domínio da língua por meio da fala para se efetivar a entrada na escrita, a relevância de uma ancoragem em um repertório de diversos gêneros da oralidade constituído ao longo da primeira infância, no ambiente parental. Buscando melhor compreender os fatores que condicionam a efetiva entrada da criança no universo da escrita gráfica e, desta forma, sua aprendizagem da leitura, esta pesquisa procura investigar três aspectos que parecem fundamentais: o conceito de língua, a concepção de leitura e a relação entre aquisição de língua, em suas diversas expressões e possibilidades subjetivas. Diante de tal quadro, apoiou-se a investigação em teorias oriundas da Lingüística, da Psicanálise e da Educação. Assim, num primeiro momento, procura-se explorar uma concepção de língua a partir do fato de que sua manifestação está referenciada ao desejo do sujeito que a põe no discurso, o que torna sua aquisição sempre relacionada ao contato com o outro, primeiramente parental. Num segundo momento, define-se leitura a partir de um viés psicanalítico, portanto concebendo-a como um fenômeno que não se restringe à escrita gráfica e toda sua materialidade, mas amplia-se para as possibilidades do oral e as manifestações do inconsciente. Daí a necessidade de se propor metodologias que conduzam os processos de ensino de leitura e escrita tendo em vista as experiências da oralidade da criança. Tendo realizado tal percurso de extrapolação dos conceitos de língua e de leitura, apresenta-se aqui o relato de um estudo de caso realizado com uma criança com graves dificuldades de aprendizagem do código da escrita, na qual se pôde observar alguns percalços de sua relação com a língua já na oralidade, marcados, sobretudo, por um uso estritamente instrumental, sem a inserção de textos de gêneros lúdico-poéticos. Os resultados de tal situação de uso da língua se evidenciaram na prevalência de uma estruturação associativa do pensamento e da linguagem, bem como na fixação imagética, o que lhe dificultava transitar pela dupla articulação da língua, bem como pelo seu caráter metafóricometonímico. Diante de tal quadro e das freqüentes estratégias que buscavam a sua alteração, conclui-se que uma experiência oral bem constituída, marcada por uma leitura da imaterialidade da palavra e sempre associada a momentos de dinamização do desejo e da relação com o outro, pode ser fundamental para uma entrada bem sucedida no universo da escrita gráfica. / The reading development trajectory, specially on its beginnings when the child enters school, is apparently helped not only by a well-developed reading environment, fulfilled through frequent access to graphic culture where one can make use of different textual material supports. In the transitional period showed by an extrapolation in managing language through talking skills, which assures entrance into writing process, there is a relevant solid foundation offered by a vast repertory of oral genres formed in the course of first childhood in touch with parental environment. In search of a better understanding of the dominant factors for acquisition of writing and reading skills by children, this work intends to investigate three fundamental aspects: the concept of language, the conception of reading and the relationship between acquisition of talking and writing skills on its variety of expressions and subjective manifestations possibilities. In view of this picture this work is founded on theories proceeding from Linguistics, Psychoanalysis and Education. Thus, in a first time, the intention is to look into a language conception on the assumption of the fact that its manifestations are correlated to the psychoanalytic concept of human individual desire, which shows up into the discourse, and for this reason the acquisition of language skills is always connected with the relationship between people, specially the first parental ones. In a second time, reading is defined on a psychoanalytic approach and is therefore understood as a phenomenon which is not restricted to graphic writing and all its material forms but is amplified towards all possibilities of oral and unconscious manifestations. Hence the need for including educational methodologies of reading and writing teaching and paying proper regard to the early oral experiences of the child. After carrying out such an exposition by extrapolation from the concepts of language and reading, we present the report of a case study focusing on a child with severe difficulties in learning the writing code. His writings reveal a sort of disturbances in his relationship with the language even from oral practices, remarked specially by a strictly instrumental use of language with no insertion of textual forms of ludic and poetic genres. The results of such a situation in the use of language became evident as it is shown at the prevalent associative structure of thought and language, as well as at the imaginary level fixation, which means an extra difficulty for the learner to pass through the double articulation of the language system or through its metaphorical and metonymical qualities. In view of such a picture and the often-renewed strategies pursuing its modifications, we conclude that a well established oral experience - marked by the understanding of the word on its immaterial pregnance and always associated to situations of a dynamic conception of desire and relationship with the other - can be a good indicator for a successful entrance into the world of the graphic writing.

Este trabalho tem por finalidade apresentar resultados de pesquisa sobre as marcas da oralidade em textos escritos, especificamente em jornais considerados populares e nesta dissertação em manchetes do jornal Meia Hora de Notícias. Os jornais populares têm interesse maior pela divulgação da notícia e aproximação com o público leitor. A importância deste trabalho se dá pelo dinamismo da língua e a intensa troca entre o oral e o escrito. Essa troca faz da linguagem jornalística uma mistura entre o formal e o informal como maneira de envolver o maior número possível de leitores. Assim, recorre-se a teóricos que apresentam conceitos referentes a questões de língua, linguagem, discurso e oralidade: Marcuschi (1993, 1995, 2004 e 2007), Koch e Oesterreicher (1985, 2007), Charaudeau (2007, 2008), Koch (1997, 2008), Ong (1998), Preti (1983, 2004), Dias (1996), Urbano (1998, 2000, 2006 e 2011), Fávero (2009). Nossos objetivos específicos são: delinear as particularidades da linguagem do jornalismo popular, verificar a relação entre língua falada e língua escrita, analisar as marcas de oralidade presentes no jornal Meia Hora de Notícias com base nos níveis discursivo e linguístico e compreender tais marcas de oralidade como estratégias de aproximação do leitor. Nossa hipótese é que a simulação de oralidade é uma estratégia do jornalismo popular, por isso a presença de ocorrências de oralidade nas manchetes. Pesquisamos 365 capas do jornal e optamos por uma análise mais detalhada de 30 manchetes. Enfocamos o campo discursivo, que contempla a narrativa, a língua culta x a língua popular, as fórmulas fixas, as frases triádicas e o envolvimento do narrador nas notícias do jornal. No campo linguístico, destacamos os aspectos fonético, lexical e morfológico a fim de entender como se configuram os recursos de oralidade utilizados pelo Meia Hora de Notícias. / This paper aims to present research results about the marks of orality in written texts, specifically in newspapers considered \"popular\" and in this dissertation in newspaper headlines Meia Hora de Notícias. The tabloids have greater interest in the dissemination of news and approach to the reading public. The importance of this work is given by the dynamism of language and the intense exchange between the oral and the written, this change makes the journalistic language a mix between formal and informal as a way to involve the largest possible number of readers. Thus, we make use of theoretical concepts that have related to language issues, language, speech and orality: Marcuschi (1993, 1995, 2004 and 2007), Koch and Oesterreicher (1985, 2007), Charaudeau (2007, 2008), Koch (1997, 2008), Ong (1998), Preti (1983, 2004), Dias (1996), Urbano (1998, 2000, 2006 and 2011), Favero (2009). Our specific objectives are: to outline the particularities of the popular journalism language, verify the relationship between spoken and written language, analyze the marks of orality present in the newspaper Meia Hora de Notícias based on the discursive and linguistic levels and understand such brands as orality approximation strategies the reader. Our hypothesis is that orality simulation is a popular journalism strategy, so the presence of orality of occurrences in the headlines. We analyzed 365 newspaper covers and opted for a more detailed analysis of 30 headlines. We focus on the discursive field, which includes the narrative, the cultured language x popular language, fixed formulas, the triadic phrases and the involvement of the narrator in the journal news. In the linguistic field, highlight the phonetic, lexical and morphological aspects in order to understand how to configure the orality of resources used by Meia Hora de Notícias.

Partindo do entrecruzamento entre a Psicanálise freud-lacaniana, a Linguística, a Educação e estudos que se convencionou chamar equação oralidade-escrita (HAVELOCK, ONG), apresenta-se o relato de experiências com alunos de 1ª à 4ª série em uma escola pública estadual e em uma ONG, ambas situadas na Zona Oeste da cidade de São Paulo. Nas instituições citadas, implemetou-se um projeto de linguagem que parte do pressuposto central de que o arcabouço de textos orais funciona como possibilitador da leitura fluente e significativa, assim como da escrita autoral que dialoga com os textos da memória. Acreditase ainda que nem sempre a relação dinâmica entre a oralidade e escrita é considerada pelas escolas e pelos métodos de alfabetização que focam a aprendizagem de modo preponderante na escrita nos anos iniciais. A partir de diagnósticos baseados na cultura oral de alunos que, mesmo após os anos dedicados à alfabetização, apresentavam dificuldades de aprendizagem de leitura, procurou-se criar e ministrar estratégias pedagógicas capazes de fundamentar um programa de ensino que considerasse a transição dinâmica entre cultura oral e cultura escrita, através de um conceito de língua mais amplo, baseado nos diálogos entre a Linguística e a Psicanálise, e que desse modo também levasse em conta as manifestações subjetivas que não se enquadram em classificações estanques propostas pelos métodos de alfabetização. Para traçar o percurso teórico-metodológico, optou-se pela pesquisa de natureza qualitativa e por um paradigma mais amplo que considerasse os indícios sutis que davam sinais das dificuldades renitentes dos alunos, para o que recorreu-se à Psicanálise e ao paradigma indiciário de Ginzburg. Os relatos de caso têm como objetivo demonstrar a aplicação da metodologia, apresentando reflexões e possíveis intervenções que podem contribuir para a elaboração de programas de ensino que tenham como preocupação a heterogeneidade da sala de aula brasileira. / Starting from the crossing of Freud-Lacanian Psychoanalysis, Linguistic, Education (HAVELOCK, NGO) and studies that were formally called oral-literate equation, this paper presents the report of experiments with students from 1st until 4th grade in a state public school and in a NGO, both situated in the West Zone of the city of São Paulo Brazil. Was implemented, in the institutions mentioned, a linguistic learning project that departs from the central conjecture that the repertoire of oral texts works as a enabler of fluent and significant reading, as the authorial written that dialogues with the memory texts. It is believed still that not always the dynamic relationship between orality and written is considered by schools and by the literacy methods, which focus education in a preponderant manner in the written part in its initial years. Based on diagnostics built on the oral culture of students that, even after years dedicated to literacy, presented difficulties in learning how to read, there was an attempt to create and minister pedagogical strategies capable to fundament a teaching program that would consider the dynamic transition among oral culture and written culture, by means of a wider concept of language, based on dialogues between Linguistic and Psychoanalysis, and that at the same time took into account the subjective manifestations that do not fit in rigid classifications proposed by the literacy methods. To outline the theoretical-methodological trajectory, were opted a qualitative research and a wider paradigm that considered the subtle traces that signalized the persistent difficulties from the students, here applied as Psychoanalysis and the Indiciary Paradigm of Ginzburg. The case reports intent to demonstrate the application of the methodology, presenting reflections and possible interventions that can contribute to the elaboration of programs of literacy that have as a concern the heterogeneity in the Brazilian classroom.

[pt] Esta pesquisa objetiva comparar quantitativa e qualitativamente a realização, na escrita e na oralidade, do Sistema de Transitividade, que pressupõe a escolha de processos, participantes e circunstâncias, utilizados de modo a construir a significação do mundo interno e externo do usuário de uma língua. A teoria sistêmico funcional, que fundamenta a proposta (Halliday,1994, Halliday e Matthiessen, 2004,), toma como base não apenas a noção de que a forma está subordinada à função ─ e a ideia de que a organização interna da linguagem se dá em termos de funções que ela deve desempenhar na vida social ─ como também a relação do texto com o contexto. Para esta pesquisa, cartas de reclamação (N igual a126) e atendimentos em central telefônica (N igual a100) foram selecionados, a partir do CORPOBRAS PUC-Rio, para compor o corpus de aproximadamente 73.100 palavras. Considerando-se os estudos teóricos de gêneros na Linguística Sistêmico Funcional (Halliday e Hasan,1989), foi feita a descrição da Estrutura Genérica Potencial (EGP) desses dois gêneros do contexto empresarial. Para o estudo da Transitividade, os processos foram identificados e quantificados por meio do software Monoconc Pro (Barlow, 1999), usando-se as ferramentas Word List e Concordance, que indicaram a frequência e o uso de grupos verbais. O estudo dos elementos presentes na EGP das cartas e dos atendimentos mostrou que o foco das interações está principalmente voltado para a solicitação, a demanda, o problema ou a adesão. Nas cartas de reclamação, os processos verbais, relacionais e existenciais se constituem em escolhas recorrentes. O problema reclamado é o principal participante, para o qual o cliente solicita resolução, evitando confronto direto com a empresa. No atendimento em central telefônica, o cliente é participante experienciador que quer serviços e informações, havendo assim recorrência desse processo mental. A comparação da Transitividade na escrita e na oralidade evidencia a variação na criação de significados, sendo a solicitação mais formal e pouco autoritária nas cartas, enquanto nos atendimentos transparece uma disputa entre a pessoalidade, buscada pelo cliente, e a impessoalidade estabelecida pela empresa, por meio de práticas ritualizadas de linguagem. / [en] The objective of this research is to compare, from both a qualitative and a quantitative point of view, the realization in writing and speech of the Transitivity System. This System presupposes the choice of processes, participants and circumstances employed to express the internal and external world of a language user. The Systemic-Functional Theory that supports the proposal (Halliday e Matthiessen, 2004, Halliday,1994) is based not only on the notion that form is subordinate to function and on the idea that the internal organization of language takes place in terms of the functions language must perform in social life, but also on the relationship between text and context. The corpus for the research (approximately 73.100 words) is made up of letters of complaint (N equal 126) and call center contacts (N equal 100) selected from CORPOBRAS PUC-Rio. On the basis of theoretical studies of genre developed by Systemic-Functional Linguistics (Halliday e Hasan,1989), the Potential Generic Structure (PGS) of these two genres from the business context was described. In order to carry out the study of Transitivity, processes were identified and quantified with the help of the Monoconc Pro software (Barlow, 1999) employing the Word List and Concordance tools to indicate frequency and use of verbal groups. The study of the elements present in the PGS of letters and call center contacts has shown that the focus of interactions is mainly on requests, demands, problems or subscriptions. In the letters of complaint, verbal, material, relational and existential processes are recurrent choices. The reason for the complaint is the main participant for which the client requests a solution, avoiding direct contact with the company. In call center contacts, the client participates as Senser who wants services and information. As a result, recurrance of this mental process can be observed. A comparison of Transitivity in writing and speech shows the variation in the creation of meaning: in the letters, requests are more formal and less authoritarian whereas call center contacts show a clash between the personal approach adopted by the client and the impersonal one adopted by the company through ritualized language practices.

Cette thèse part de l’hypothèse générale que Toni Morrison et Léonora Miano s’inspirent des musiques afro-américaines dans leur travail d’écriture, selon des modalités particulières et pour des objectifs bien précis. Si ce domaine de la transposition littéraire des musiques afro-américaines a déjà donné lieu à un certain nombre de recherches, il n’a cependant pas encore fait l’objet d’une étude de synthèse telle que nous l’envisageons. En adoptant une démarche méthodologique qui se doit aussi bien à la sémiotique qu’à la littérature comparée, l’analyse s’intéresse au traitement des emprunts musicaux par les deux romancières, tout en dégageant les convergences et les divergences qui s’établissent entre elles au regard des différences de contextes. Constituée de quatre parties, l’analyse s’attèle d’abord à décrire la tradition littéraire afro-américaine dans laquelle s’inscrivent les auteures, avant de s’intéresser à la manière dont la référence musicale est mobilisée dans l’élaboration de la fiction, puis dans le traitement de la voix et de la structure narratives, et enfin dans le traitement de la langue et du style d’écriture. Il en ressort que la transposition littéraire des musiques afro-américaines, et particulièrement du blues et du jazz, entraîne un renouvellement systématique du discours romanesque, dans ses catégories formelles et génériques comme dans sa portée symbolique et ses visées idéologiques. La question identitaire, la déconstruction, l’oralité et l’hybridité deviennent les principaux paradigmes d’une écriture qui se transforme en acte de résistance et de subversion dans un contexte d’oppression. / This thesis is based on the general assumption that Toni Morrison and Léonora Mian take as a starting point the Afro-American music in their work of writing, with particular methods and for quite precise objectives. If this field of the literary transposition of the Afro-American music has already caused a certain number of researches, it however has not yet been the object of a study of synthesis such as we consider it. By adopting the methodological approach of semiotics and comparative literature, the analysis is interested in the treatment of the musical loans by the two novelists, and in the convergences and the divergences which appear when the various contexts are taken into consideration. Divided into four parts, the analysis describe first the Afro-American literary tradition in whom the authors fit, before explaining the way in which the musical reference is mobilized in the development of the fiction, then in the treatment of the narrative voice and the narrative structure, and finally in the treatment of the language and the style of writing. This reveals that the literary transposition of the Afro-American music, particularly blues and jazz, involves a systematic renewal of the aesthetic of the novel, on the levels of the formal and generic categories, the symbolic dimension, the ideological aimings. The theme of identity, the deconstruction, the orality and the hybridity become the principal paradigms of a writing which becomes an act of resistance and subversion in response to oppression.

Let me share with you Ubuntu oralities. These stories will connect us in a familial dialogue about how we can and are regenerating beyond neo colonialism by using Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a philosophical and ethical system of thought, from which definitions of humanness, togetherness and social politics of difference arise. Ubuntu can also be viewed as a complex worldview that holds in tension the contradictions of trying to highlight our uniqueness as human beings among other human beings. My interpretation of our Indigenous Ubuntu knowledge communicates how my understanding of Ubuntu is influenced by my Maseko Ngoni and Shona ethnic identities. Another influence of my understanding of our Ubuntu worldview comes from the African languages of my familial communities which are the main tools that I draw on for accessing our shared meaning and creating new shared meaning. The geopolitical experience of being Black in Africa and then leaving Africa for the West also has influenced my understanding of Ubuntu. These are my strengths and limitations in engaging Ubuntu. I give you this information because it is not my aim to create a false dichotomy about Blackness; rather, it is my aim to enter our global contemporary Black academic discourse with another form of remembering Blackness. My remembering is grounded in my own experience which has found constancy through Ubuntu languages and other social symbolic expressions. This cultural transmission process has allowed knowledge from my ancestors to cascade down to me. I believe that by sharing our social stories we build collective confidence to engage and challenge each other with respectful curiosity and, above all, with love. Love is the expression of relational care for our interconnectedness, which is the basis for researching our truths in our shared humanity. Ubuntuness has many ways of transmitting knowledge. This being said, for this work I will focus on how we can share our fragmented memories through our stories of family, community and nationhood, as a way of better understanding our Ubuntuness. This is the process of love creating possibilities beyond pain, isolation, abandonment and hate.

Let me share with you Ubuntu oralities. These stories will connect us in a familial dialogue about how we can and are regenerating beyond neo colonialism by using Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a philosophical and ethical system of thought, from which definitions of humanness, togetherness and social politics of difference arise. Ubuntu can also be viewed as a complex worldview that holds in tension the contradictions of trying to highlight our uniqueness as human beings among other human beings. My interpretation of our Indigenous Ubuntu knowledge communicates how my understanding of Ubuntu is influenced by my Maseko Ngoni and Shona ethnic identities. Another influence of my understanding of our Ubuntu worldview comes from the African languages of my familial communities which are the main tools that I draw on for accessing our shared meaning and creating new shared meaning. The geopolitical experience of being Black in Africa and then leaving Africa for the West also has influenced my understanding of Ubuntu. These are my strengths and limitations in engaging Ubuntu. I give you this information because it is not my aim to create a false dichotomy about Blackness; rather, it is my aim to enter our global contemporary Black academic discourse with another form of remembering Blackness. My remembering is grounded in my own experience which has found constancy through Ubuntu languages and other social symbolic expressions. This cultural transmission process has allowed knowledge from my ancestors to cascade down to me. I believe that by sharing our social stories we build collective confidence to engage and challenge each other with respectful curiosity and, above all, with love. Love is the expression of relational care for our interconnectedness, which is the basis for researching our truths in our shared humanity. Ubuntuness has many ways of transmitting knowledge. This being said, for this work I will focus on how we can share our fragmented memories through our stories of family, community and nationhood, as a way of better understanding our Ubuntuness. This is the process of love creating possibilities beyond pain, isolation, abandonment and hate.

This paper represents an attempt to account for two projects completed during the course of the fall semester of 2009. It will ground and illuminate the projects, my experiences while completing them, and the program-space in which they were completed. Relying heavily on the narrativizing and working through of intimate personal experiences, the paper will conclude by suggesting that we rethink the value of silence in communication. / text