Technical Communication Quarterly Oct 2022

Superdiversity: An Audience Analysis Praxis for Enacting Social Justice in Technical Communication

Alison Cardinal University of Washington Tacoma

Abstract

This article introduces “superdiversity,” a concept from migration studies, as a framework for TPC practitioners and scholars defining migrant multilingual audiences. In contrast to intercultural understandings of audience, superdiversity better accounts for cultural complexity in diverse environments. The article uses an extended example to demonstrate how superdiversity operates as an intersectional and social justice-oriented praxis. The example of a nonprofit organization’s intake process illustrates how superdiversity helps this organization better define and understand its clients.

Journal
Technical Communication Quarterly
Published
2022-10-02
DOI
10.1080/10572252.2022.2056637
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
technical communication race and writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

  1. Tijerina (2025)
    A Case for Open Educational Resources in Technical and Professional Communicati…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Long et al. (2025)
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  3. Ghimire (2024)
    Understanding Transnational Technical Communication in Technical and Profession…
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  4. Reinsch (2024)
    Teaching Audience Adaptation With Value Frameworks
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly

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