Bennett, Louise. "'Bans O' Killing' by Louise Bennett." Throughlines. www.throughlines.org/suite-content/bans-o-killing-by-louise-bennett. [Date accessed].

“Bans O' Killing” is a satirical poem written in Jamaican creole or 'patois' by Louise Bennett. In it, Bennett names the historical mechanisms of power and violence that accompany cultural claims of one “standard” English. Channeling Shakespeare and Chaucer as exemplar non-"standard" English writers, she challenges the hierarchies that language policing reinforces. This audio recording was produced for Jonathan Hsy's Throughlines contribution, Chaucer's Englishes.
Further learning
Recommended

Teaching The Wife of Bath's Tale through adaptations
Chaucer's most outspoken pilgrim gets three modern makeovers: an animated film, a spoken-word performance, and a poem staged in a London market. Jonathan Hsy shows how these adaptations open fresh classroom conversations about gender, power, and justice.
-PaintingSceneLudovico-1816%20(1).jpg)
Spenser and his racializing influences
Comparing episodes from The Faerie Queene with episodes from the works that inspired Spenser, in particular excerpts from Ariosto’s and Tasso’s works, is a productive way to draw attention to how racialization travels and mutates across national traditions.

.jpg)
