Trans Oppression Through Technical Rhetorics: A Queer Phenomenological Analysis of Institutional Documents
Document Type
Article
Author ORCID Identifier
Zarah C. Moeggenberg https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7319-8642
Avery C. Edenfield https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1273-2204
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Volume
36
Issue
4
Publisher
Sage Publications, Inc.
Publication Date
7-21-2022
First Page
403
Last Page
439
Abstract
Technical communication has long acknowledged that documents can be unethical and even oppressive and harmful. But not all forms or experiences of oppression are equivalent or similar, and it can be instrumental to analyze in particular how certain groups are wounded by specific documents. In this article, the authors use Ahmed's queer phenomenology to analyze institutional and government documents and demonstrate the ways that these technical documents create failed orientations. Then, through a focused analysis of a federal proposal policy, they show how these documents can produce failures for trans people in particular. The authors close by suggesting courses of actions for redressing these failures.
Recommended Citation
Moeggenberg, Z. C., Edenfield, A. C., & Holmes, S. (2022). Trans Oppression Through Technical Rhetorics: A Queer Phenomenological Analysis of Institutional Documents. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 36(4), 403-439. https://doi.org/10.1177/10506519221105492 (Original work published 2022)