Journal of Business and Technical Communication Oct 2022

Trans Oppression Through Technical Rhetorics: A Queer Phenomenological Analysis of Institutional Documents

Zarah C. Moeggenberg Metropolitan State University ; Avery C. Edenfield Utah State University ; Steve Holmes Texas Tech University

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.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2022-10-01
DOI
10.1177/10506519221105492
Open Access
Closed
Topics
technical communication

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

  1. Gray (2026)
    The Utility of Inclusivity: How Emoji Proposal Writers Navigate Oppositional In…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Grant (2026)
    Not Playing Around: Feminist and Queer Rhetorics in Videogames
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  3. Jordan et al. (2025)
    Queer Potential in Professional Communication: “Queer Use” & Terms of Service
    Technical Communication Quarterly

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    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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