Technical Communication Quarterly Jan 1998

An approach for applying cultural study theory to technical writing research

Bernadette Longo Clemson University

Abstract

When the idea of culture is expanded to include institutional relationships extending beyond the walls of one organization, technical writing researchers can address relationships between our power/knowledge system and multiculturalism, postmodernism, gender, conflict, and ethics within professional communication. This article contrasts ideas of culture in social constructionist and cultural study research designs, addressing how each type of design impacts issues that can be analyzed in research studies. Implications for objectivity and validity in speculative cultural study research are also explored. Finally, since articulation of a coherent theoretical foundation is crucial to limiting a cultural study, this article suggests how technical writing can be constituted as an object of study according to five (of many possible) poststructural concepts: the object of inquiry as discursive, the object as practice within a cultural context, the object as practice within a historical context, the object as ordered by language, and the object in relationship with the one who studies it.

Journal
Technical Communication Quarterly
Published
1998-01-01
DOI
10.1080/10572259809364617
Open Access
Closed
Topics
technical communication

Citation Context

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Cites in this index (12)

  1. SAUER (1996)
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  2. BRITT et al. (1996)
    Extending the Boundaries of Rhetoric in Legal Writing Pedagogy
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  3. BELL et al. (1995)
    German Memo and Letter Style
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  4. GRIFFETH et al. (1994)
    The Effects of Gender and Employee Classification Level on Communication-Relate…
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  5. KOSSEK et al. (1994)
    The Effects of Race and Ethnicity on Perceptions of Human Resource Policies and…
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  1. NICHOLSON et al. (1994)
    United States Versus Mexican Perceptions of The Impact of the North American Fr…
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  2. ZAK (1994)
    “It's like a Prison in there”
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  3. McCARTHY et al. (1994)
    Revising Psychiatry's Charter Document
    Written Communication
  4. LAY (1994)
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    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. DRAGGA (1993)
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    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
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    Rites and Ceremonials
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
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    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Also cites 5 works outside this index ↓
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     ↗
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