Carmen Kynard

Carmen Kynard is the Lillian Radford Chair in Rhetoric and Composition and a Professor of English at Texas Christian University. Before that, she worked at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her research focuses on race, Black feminism, AfroDigital/Black languages and cultures, and schooling dynamics, particularly in composition, rhetoric, and literacy studies.

She has taught in New York City's public schools and in teacher education. Her research has appeared in Harvard Educational Review, Changing English, College English, Reading Research Quarterly, College Composition and Communication, and Literacy and Composition Studies. In 2023, Kynard was honored with the Richard C. Ohmann Outstanding Article Award for scholarship published in the academic journal College English.

Critical Race Literacy

Vernacular Insurrections In Vernacular Insurrections, Kynard defines "vernacular insurrections" as Black communities using their literary and cultural practices, linguistics, and political resistance to challenge oppressive academic influence and standards. During the 1970s, the American curriculum taught writing as a universal process where one formula fits all. Instead, she advocates for implementing anti-racist and Black historical context within composition and rhetoric pedagogy, similar to the modern idea of Critical Race Theory. However, Kynard argues that this policy was not a result of simple academic progression towards racial equity and inclusion of BIPOC students. Rather than an isolated policy, she views that SRTOL was enacted as a main result of the Black Power movement during the 1960s and Black student resistance.

Script-flipping and code-meshing In her writing, Kynard actively criticizes writing norms in the way she writes. She uses a rhetorical practice that professor David F. Green calls "script-flipping." Unlike code-switching, which deliberately switches from different dialects or linguistics depending on the audience, Kynard's writing changes between the two diction styles organically. 2015 Parlor Press, The Best of Independent Composition and Rhetoric Journals' “Best Article” Award - Teaching While Black: Racial Violence and the Landscapes of Disciplinary Whiteness 2006 Cultural Diversity Award, NCTE’s Conference on English Education for “The Skin I’m In’: Using voice Scholarship and Young Adult Literature about youth of Color to Transform Urban Teacher Curriculum”