Kimberly A. Bain. Florida Atlantic University
What it means to be “professional” continues to be steeped in nuances of social and cultural context. The term professionalism is steeped in social and cultural implications, particularly for the African American student. Particularly, as language is thought to be culturally situated, it matters how the term is defined. One only needs to look at the historical contexts that surrounded the Crown Act of 2022, which was developed to prohibit the discrimination of African American hairstyles that were deemed to be “unprofessional” in both academic and workplace settings. For African American students seeking to write in a professional manner, they must work to navigate the social and cultural contexts of professional writing practices in order to establish themselves within the spaces they wish to take up. The work of the writing center is to help them navigate those nuanced waters to find the power of their voice within the establishment. This is done through a metacognitive understanding of when and why to use language; thus, the African American student decides what choices suit their rhetorical needs. Many scholars offer a way for these students to engage outside of their primary discourse using code-switching. Many of the articles explored in the following bibliography grapple with the implications of code switching, whether it is seen as demeaning or empowering for marginalized communities of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) native speakers. However, it is important for students and writing center tutors alike to understand the dynamics of code switching for a more empowered experience into when and how the practice can be used as a means of empowerment in having various discourse tools at one’s disposal.
Knowledge and understanding of these various discourse tools come in handy when we work with African American members of the university, who seek both academic and professional writing support, either to meet the needs of business writing courses or to apply for professional or graduate programs. Many times, the idea of professionalism is steeped in the work they bring to the center, not just as a student learning about a field’s discourse, but as someone seeking to establish themselves within a specific discourse community that has historically disenfranchised them. In addressing the confines that place these students at the margins of professionalized discourse, Ferguson and Dougherty (2022) point out that “Professionalism discourse has long been recognized as both raced and gendered in such a way as to inhibit African American/Black people from being hired or advancing within their organizational hierarchies” (p.4). The idea of professionalism is something that particularly African Americans struggle to meet “because being White is a defining characteristic of professionalism” (Ferguson & Dougherty, 2022, p. 4). Through this context, the concept of professionalism cannot be seen as objective and neutral, even in its writing practices. Writing center tutors must acknowledge the murky, subjective waters of professionalism and guide students in challenging their perspectives on its perceived objectivity.
Instead of a neutrality that exists around the idea of professionalism, African American writers must grapple with their own identities to meet the so-called standards of professionalism set out for them. When considering how the concept of professionalism oppresses, it can be understood that writers can struggle with professional writing strategies when asked to abandon their own for the sake of professional standards. As well intentioned as standardization may be, it serves to marginalize those who are further removed from its elements. For the African American student whose primary discourse is AAVE, the question becomes why what is deemed as professional exists in close synchronicity with the dominant discourse.
Many African American writers that I have worked with in the writing center have come in proficient writers who can make critical judgments about connections in writing. However, when tasked with professional writing assignments, they often seem more reserved and self-conscious of venturing outside of their primary discourses. It takes time to convince them that these concepts of professionalism can affect their sense of identity as Black professionals structured by white identity. Many are unsure about “sounding white” and losing their sense of identity through the adaptation to a secondary discourse that has culturally and socially been deemed as more valid than their own primary discourse. It takes multiple attempts at trying on these new rhetorical strategies to understand when, how, and why to use these elements of a secondary discourse that is, unfortunately, connotated with professionalism. However, reframing it and allowing these students to understand that their primary discourse is no less valid, but that they can use their secondary discourse to consider the elements of professionalism, can make them more comfortable moving through spaces of discourse. Once they have these understandings, they can find ways to navigate or otherwise “code switch” as Vershawn Young refers to it.
Helping writers in the writing center develop strategies to identify the why of professional standards in writing rather than just the what can provide them with the confidence to enter these spaces of professionalism that are deeply rooted in unfamiliarity and often, gatekeeping.
Acknowledging the history of these norms and validating the experiences and feelings of marginalization that African American writers face when considering themselves through the lens of what it means to be an African American professional are important steps that tutors can take in developing best practices for working with writers to develop their professional identities without losing their own.
The following bibliography explores resources that serve to address the paradox of professionalism through the context of the African American experience. It explores the nuances that exist beyond the facade of standardization that serve to marginalize African Americans, particularly through language, to promote a normative discourse that is steeped in white identity.
This bibliography also explores the possibilities of code switching and code meshing that work to support these writers in their efforts to identify opportunities to engage with professionalism in their communication practices. The bibliography provides resources for tutors that allows them to address their own biases about African American identity, culture, and language that have historically unprofessional connotations and to identify ways to support the writers that they work with through these understandings.
Where We’d Like the Field to Go
There has been much research that focuses on code-switching and how African Americans use discourse in physical spaces. However, Ekemezie’s (2021) article discusses how professional language use affects the Black professional in virtual spaces. Language encompasses more than what is written or spoken. Rather, language is characterized by the whole identity of its community and those belonging to that discourse community. Because of these considerations, what must also be considered is how concepts of language community across the internet and discourse communities continue to be redefined within the context of digital spaces. COVID-19 became the great equalizer where identities meshed into its own COVID-19 discourse community. Implications of post-COVID-19 practices have shaped the way work is done and communication is shaped within digital spaces, and this needs to be explored by writing center scholarship, particularly in the ways that professionalism is being redefined through shifting social power structures that no longer exist post-pandemic. Considerations of dress, decorum, and language have shifted, and the social and cultural implications have as well.
Language ebbs and flows between time and space. Considering the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped society and the spaces in which society operates has a significant impact on professional standards and how African Americans fit into those standards.
Additionally, the Black Lives Matter movement brought a large shift in the business and professional practices of many individuals. Occurring simultaneously with the COVID-19 pandemic, the movement allowed individuals to reexamine the social structures by which limiting concepts of professionalism stood on. Therefore, scholarship is needed to explore the ways in which the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement on professional communication practices have shifted to suit the calls for more conscious and inclusive standards of professionalism and how that reflects in the support that is offered to writers in the writing center considering these cultural and social shifts.
Discussions are continuing to circulate in the age of information faster than scholarly publications can keep up with. Thus, this bibliography is nuanced with recent scholarship and recent work from periodicals, pointing to an ongoing and open conversation. However, scholars must continue this open conversation and the implications that it has for writing center work. Investigating the many voices of African Americans who feel empowered and oppressed by standards of English as it relates to the concept of professionalism is important in getting a broader perspective on best practices to support the varied needs of those who seek support from the writing center as social contexts ebb and flow.
References
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Canagarajah, A. S. (2013). Negotiating translingual literacy: An enactment. Research in the Teaching of English, 48(1), 2013, 40-67, https://jstor.org/stable/24398646
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Ekemezie, C. (2021, January 21). Why it’s hard for people of colour to be themselves at work. Equality Matters,
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Ferguson, M.W. and Dougherty, S.D. (2022). The paradox of the black professional: Whitewashing blackness through professionalism. Management Communication Quarterly, 36(1), 1-27, https://doi.org/10.1177/08933189211019751
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