Doxa in the Publishing World: Evidence From Journal Submission Guidelines

• In Event: How Do Marginalized and Minoritized Students Navigate the Writingworld's Doxa?

Abstract

The hierarchies of racial and linguistic legitimacy stigmatize linguistic practices and limit the capacity of racialized and socioeconomically marginalized language users by privileging idealized monolingualism. The white gaze privileges dominant white perspectives on any linguistic practices of language-minoritized populations, identifying their language use in racialized ways (Paris & Alim, 2014). Inspired by Bourdieu (2000), it was necessary to examine the “field”, where interaction happens according to certain rules and regulations. Writing always operates in specific cultural and ideological contexts, and power dynamics in the community impact writers’ literacy practices and intellectual lives (Kalan, 2021). The interaction between the writer and the reader always functions within a regime of social power. The dominant populations impose judgment and discrimination on writing to “define and control the oppressed, the marginalized, and the minoritized” (Kalan, 2021, p.104). Sometimes, writing from minoritized communities is marked as inappropriate despite their correspondence to standard forms.

First, using the lens of raciolinguistic ideologies (Flores & Rosa, 2015), this paper deconstructs the Writingworld (Kalan, 2021) and insists that “accented” writing is embedded in racialized ideological perceptions rather than objective linguistic practices. I analyze the inequality and bias in the Writingworld, how the reading subject “reads” from imaginary authorial voices rather than authentic written texts, and racializes the Writingworld. Additionally, this study examines what elements perpetuate the presumption that minoritized writers are inappropriate in academic environments and what naturalizes the unequal treatment of language-minoritized communities.

By analyzing the “reading subject”, this paper argues that we must dismantle the hierarchies that exclude non-white context and build boundaries of power around writing practices. It is hoped to add a critical perspective to rethink the interaction between the writer and the reader. It locates not only in the context of race, but also class, gender, and authority.

Keywords: Raciolinguistic ideologies, the Writingworld, the reading subject


References

Bourdieu, P. (2000). Pascalian Meditations. Cambridge: Polity. (Originally published 1997)

Flores, N., & Rosa, J. (2015). Undoing appropriateness: Raciolinguistic ideologies and language diversity in education. Harvard Educational Review, 85(2), 149-171. https://doi.org/10.17763/0017-8055.85.2.149

Kalan, A. (2021). Sociocultural and power-relational dimensions of multilingual writing: recommendations for deindustrializing writing education. Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781788927819

Paris, D., & Alim, H. S. (2014). What are we seeking to sustain through culturally sustaining pedagogy? A loving critique forward. Harvard educational review, 84(1), 85-100. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.84.1.982l873k2ht16m77

Author

• Sitong Wang, McGill University
  Presenting Author