Rhetorical Analysis Of Susta To Sista By Rochelle Brock

Attempting to break free of social constructions and otherness, Rochelle Brock delves into deep inquiry for the advancement of her pedagogy. Brock utilizes an interesting style of writing where she inserts an explanation, through a quote or internal dialogue, about the situation at hand; whether it be with her students or with the god to whom she was seeking guidance, Oshun. Dissecting the conversations inside her own head and those of the four students invited over for dialogue on the matter, she is able to examine the difference in rhetorical strategies used to suppress others and to combat otherness. The chapter, “Sista to Sista to Sista,” takes up a decent portion of the book and revolves around dialogue between Brock and four students regarding their experiences as Black women. Split into different arcs, one for each of the main concerns they faced. The first comes from a young woman named China, where she talks about the problems she faced in internalizing her emotions as a result of

Grace, another one of the students, takes her concern to the table as she realizes what she is struggling with “every day is how society sees me, how [she sees] herself through society’s eyes and what [she] feels inside,” (58). In turn, she is able to critically analyze her personal construction for the purpose of seeking an identity against the categories she had involuntarily inherited from others. China points out that people feel that their generation is spoiled as a result of the efforts their predecessors had put in to create a more just world for people of color. Yet, she mentions that while that was a step forward, it was not the end and that the generations following have to fight in a different manner in this world where the social element is still unaccounted for