On Edge: A Techne of Marginality

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Cecilia D. Shelton (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Abstract: Technical and professional communication has traditionally been rooted in the white , Western , hetero-patriarchal rhetorical tradition and bound by rigid notions of objectivity and neutrality that exclude historically marginalized and structurally oppressed communities. Using a multi-method analysis of #BlackLivesMatter Twitter activism , this study disrupts that tradition in two ways: 1) it foregrounds Black lived experience as the knowledge base for specialized expertise in navigating oppressive social structures and 2) it highlights skilled , persuasive communication tactics designed to resist those structures. The study concludes by producing a new analytical framework , A Techné of Marginality , which embraces Black subjectivities , values a critical understanding of our marginality , and identifies social justice activism as a kind of technical communication. In a kairotic moment when Black Feminist thinking and activism explicitly inform a broad swath of social justice work , A Techné of Marginality positions technical and professional communication theorists and practitioners to recognize the ways in which Black communities , and particularly Black women , have always , already done the unpaid labor that builds the communication infrastructures for equity , inclusion , and freedom.

Additional Information

Publication

Dissertation

Language: English

Date: 2019

Keywords

technical communication, Black rhetorics, cultural rhetorics, social movements

Subjects

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