Tracing W. E. B. DuBois' “Color Line” in Government Regulations

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Apr 2006

Tracing W. E. B. DuBois' “Color Line” in Government Regulations

Miriam F. Williams

Abstract

In this article, I present findings from a discourse analysis of an often-overlooked genre of technical communication, regulatory writing. The study focuses on post-bellum regulations that disproportionately affected African Americans and the historical contexts in which the regulations were written. Historically, African Americans of all socioeconomic backgrounds have maintained an implicit mistrust of government regulations and the government officials who write them. The justification for this mistrust is deeply rooted in the fact that for decades regulations were not written to protect the rights of African Americans nor was their input considered in regulatory writing. In Communicating Across Cultures, Stella Ting-Toomey argues, “if conflict parties do not trust each other, they tend to move away (cognitively, affectively and physically) from each other rather than struggle side by side in negotiation” [1, p. 222]. This study reveals rhetorical strategies used in historical regulatory writing that may still impact the ethos of regulatory writers.

Journal: Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published: 2006-04-01
DOI: 10.2190/67rn-uawg-4nff-5hl5
Open Access: Closed
Topics: discourse analysis technical communication multilingual writers argument affect and writing

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Cites in this index (1)

Baake (2003)

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Also cites 4 works outside this index ↓

10.2307/1958366

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10.1086/268636

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10.1086/269111

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Bernstein D. E., Only One Place to Redress: African Americans, Labor Regulations, and the Courts from Reconst…

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