Hierarchy and Palimpsest

I'm surprised that none of the theorists we've read thus far have really talked about hierarchies. Astell and Burke, I think, have come the closest to talking about difference, but not in terms of hierarchies. Astell, for example, I feel talks about difference in gender as just that: both having different roles in society and those roles don't collide. Even Burke seems to talk about terministic screens as relativism. Gates seems to include hierarchy and implicit confrontation between hegemony and non-hegemony as the pivot point of his theory.

 I was particularly interested in how Signifyin[g] was described as a palimpsest. But a palimpsest that was used in a way that I haven't conceptualized it. In Vis Rhet we talked about palimpsest as a way to almost honor the preceding texts--it was like stealing someone else's work and remixing it as a way to demonstrate respect for what came before. But this palimpsest has a different nature: black vernacular uses the original discourse as a way to having a perpendicular universe to spite the master narrative. The nature is ironic almost. I was also interested in the "interracial ear" and how that connects to the preceding discourses of the palimpsest. The barrier of interpretation allows for this kind of knowing understanding among the non-hegemonic groups--a sense of solidarity among dissenters. I think the key to this type of palimpsest is that it's almost invisible to hegemony--even the linguists that Gates references are like the Lion who understands only the literal meaning.

So, what does this new population contribute? Theories of dissent. Solidarity against oppression. And not just relativism, but differences in positioning on the hierarchy. How to create solidarity in the face of para-colonialism? These are the things I think inclusion of new rhetorics contributes. And I couldn't help but think about how this can be relayed to other dissent groups, but particularly dissent groups without much power--like the relationship between the Monkey and the Lion. Dissent groups which rely on solidarity through vernacular discourse to maintain, I think, a sense of dignity within a structure which attempts to make others feel inferior. Consider graffiti and how it runs against the master narrative: another example of palimpsest as a way to create solidarity--parody and remixing to put things in new contexts.  Or maybe look at social movements like Occupy Wallstreet or the WTO protests and these vernacular tactics based on available resources to fight against the establishment. While I don't want to place race outside the center of Gates' argument, I do feel like this is contributing an awareness of hierarchy that theories thus far have not accounted for.