Language, DEI and Professional Subcultures
Assignment 3, Disciplinary/Professional Literacies, is traditionally the big research paper of the First-Year Writing 5-assignment arc. At the start of the pandemic, Dr. Bump Halbritter and his team created a robust “shell” of these five assignments, and their version of the DL assignment is one I have found especially useful, centering as it does on the rhetorical analysis of a professional journal or trade publication and an interview with a professional. To keep this assignment focused, I repeatedly ask students, “What are the big takeaways from your research about communication practices in this field?”
So, how can this assignment continue developing the anti-racist pedagogy of the first two? My Assignment Explanation notes:
Assignment 1 asked you to look at the different identity groups you belong to, and analyze their position of power/privilege in the larger society. Assignment 2 focused in on language as a cultural artifact, and how your linguistic identities reveal the groups to which you belong. We can refer to these groups as subcultures, each one with its distinctive objects (including language), behaviors, hierarchies (power structures), gatekeeping, rules and enforcement. Assignment 3 is an opportunity to explore a different kind of subculture: a professional discipline. You can find an explanation of the general Assignment 3 on the First-Year Writing website.
As in the other sections of WRA 101, we will investigate your chosen discipline as a subculture. Our inquiry will help us identify some of the things that members of your future profession or academic culture value. In particular, we will direct our inquiries to learn what members of the culture value in terms of exchanging information, in terms of making and accessing expert knowledge, and in terms of managing evidence and establishing authority. In other words, we will study the literacy practices of this profession: the distinctive markers of how they use language.
In keeping with our theme of social justice, we will also examine the power, privilege and gatekeeping of this discipline, i.e. who is allowed to join it? How far are they permitted to rise in the power structure? And how does this gatekeeping function work?
At the very beginning of the assignment, I ask students what their assumptions are about diversity in the field they’ve chosen to study. Relative to the general US population, would the field show a similar proportion of races, ethnicities, genders, (dis)abilities, etc.? Then I share with them some resources from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, like these:
Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey
Labor force characteristics by race and ethnicity, 2019
When they have studied the data offered, I ask them:
How do these data confirm or disconfirm your expectations? What explanations might you find? What new hypotheses might you create?
The students are now primed to conduct their research with a view to DEI as well as communication practices. They may study the editorial board of their chosen journal, looking at names and professional affiliations to estimate the diversity there. They may look for a diversity mission statement in the journal’s “Aims and Scope.” They will probably ask some questions about the DEI experiences of their interviewee.
The “shell” model of the DL assignments proposes a personal “frame” around the research: in the introduction, students write about their background and interest in the field, and in the conclusion, they summarize their findings about professional rhetorical practices and set goals and means to prepare themselves for the field. I have enlarged the conclusion, asking them also: Where do you fit into the diversity picture of this profession? Are you near the margins of this disciplinary power wheel? If so, what steps will you take to find mentors and allies? Or are you close to the center of power? If so, what will you do to make this workplace more inclusive?
What about you? What were your expectations concerning diversity in the composition-teaching workplace? At MSU? In WRAC? What steps are you taking to promote inclusion?