Microaggressions as speech acts: Using pragmatics to define and develop a research agenda for microaggressions
-
Kristen di Gennaro
und
Meaghan Brewer
Abstract
In an effort to explain why we found certain exchanges among colleagues troubling, the current study draws on Sue’s (2010a) microaggressions framework to reveal hidden hierarchies within an academic speech community. We complement Sue’s theoretical framework with empirical, pragmatic approaches to analyzing every-day, unrecorded interactions to both strengthen and refine the microaggressions construct and research agenda. Based on our analyses, which highlight the hierarchical relationships between participants, we propose revising the microaggressions construct to attribute their existence to revelations of (overt and covert) hierarchies, and not marginalization. Where Sue attributes microaggressions to an individual’s or group’s marginalization, our analyses suggest, in fact, that marginalization is the result (rather than the cause) of microaggressions. The analysis and discussion focus on hierarchical relationships common to many university English departments, but parallels can be drawn with other fields, such as language and linguistics programs within larger departments, and thus are relevant beyond a single discipline. We also propose restricting the microaggressions construct to unintentional slights and snubs (rather than both intentional and unintentional as in Sue’s framework), since part of what makes microaggressions so troubling is their unexpected appearance in conversations and friendly discussions among colleagues.
References
Austin, John L. 1962. How to do things with words. Clarendon: Oxford University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Brewer, Meaghan and Kristen di Gennaro. Forthcoming. Naming what we feel: Hierarchical microaggressions and the relationship between composition and English studies. Composition Studies 46(2).Suche in Google Scholar
Crowley, Sharon. 1998. Composition in the university: Historical and polemical essays. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.10.2307/j.ctt5hjpc7Suche in Google Scholar
Curzan, Anne 2017, June 14. The speech act of hoping. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2017/06/14/the-speech-act-of-hopingSuche in Google Scholar
Fuller, Robert W. 2003. Somebodies and nobodies: Overcoming the abuse of rank. British Columbia, Canada: New Society Publishers.Suche in Google Scholar
Grice, H. P. 1989. Studies in the way of words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Hairston, Maxine. 1994. The winds of change: Thomas Kuhn and the revolution in the teaching of writing. In S. Perl (Ed.), Landmark Essays on Writing Process, 113–126. Davis, CA: Hermagoras Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Kynard, Carmen. 2015. Teaching while black: Witnessing and countering disciplinary whiteness, racial violence, and university race-management. Literacy in Composition Studies 3(1). 1–20.Suche in Google Scholar
Lakoff, Robin T. 2017, June 13. Donald Trump, James Comey, and the ambiguity of “hope”. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2017/06/donald-trump-james-comey-and-the-ambiguity-of-hopeSuche in Google Scholar
Lau, Michael Y. and Chantea D. Williams. 2010. Microaggression research: Methodological review and recommendations. In D. W. Sue (Ed.), Microaggressions and marginality: Manifestations, dynamic, and impact, 313–336. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Suche in Google Scholar
Lilienfeld, Scott O. 2017. Microaggressions: Strong claims, inadequate evidence. Perspectives on Psychological Science 12(1). 138–169. DOI:10.1177/1745691616659391Suche in Google Scholar
McClure, Randall, Dayna V. Goldstein & Michael A. Pemberton. 2017. Labored: The state(ment) and future of work in composition. Anderson, SC: Parlor.Suche in Google Scholar
Maid, Barry. 2006. In this corner …. In L.S. Bergmann & E.M. Baker (Eds.), Composition and/or literature: the ends of education, 93–108. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.Suche in Google Scholar
Miller, Susan. 1991. Textual carnivals: The politics of composition. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Pierce, Charles. 1974. Psychiatric problems of the Black minority. In S. Arieti (Ed.), American handbook of psychiatry, 512–523. New York: Basic Books.Suche in Google Scholar
Runyowa, Simba. 2015. Microaggressions matter. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/microaggressions-matter/406090/Suche in Google Scholar
Schegloff, Emanuel A. and Harvey Sacks. 1973. Opening up closings. Semiotica 8. 289–327.10.1515/semi.1973.8.4.289Suche in Google Scholar
Searle, John R. 1969. Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139173438Suche in Google Scholar
Searle, John R. 1979. Expression and meaning: Studies in the theory of speech acts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511609213Suche in Google Scholar
Sue, Derald Wing. 2010a. Microaggressions and marginality: Manifestations, dynamic, and impact. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Suche in Google Scholar
Sue, Derald Wing. 2010b, November. Microaggressions: More than just race. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/microaggressions-in-everyday-life/201011/microaggressions-more-just-raceSuche in Google Scholar
VanPatten, Bill. 2015. Where are the experts? Hispania 98. 2–13.10.1353/hpn.2015.0011Suche in Google Scholar
Wong, Gloria, Annie O. Derthick, E. J. R. David, Anne Saw & Sumie Okazaki. 2014. The what, the why, and the how: A review of racial microaggressions research in psychology. Race and Social Problems 6. 181–200.10.1007/s12552-013-9107-9Suche in Google Scholar
Young, Kathryn, Myron Anderson & Saran Stewart. 2015. Hierarchical microaggressions in higher education. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education 8(1). 61–71.10.1037/a0038464Suche in Google Scholar
Yuan, Yi. 2001. An inquiry into empirical pragmatics data-gathering methods: Written DCTs, oral DCTs, field notes, and natural conversations. Journal of Pragmatics 33(2). 271–292.10.1016/S0378-2166(00)00031-XSuche in Google Scholar
Yule, George. 1996. Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford.Suche in Google Scholar
© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Effects of age and education on variable but native heritage grammars: Theoretical and empirical implications for the Null Subject Parameter
- Interpreting mood choice effects in L2 and L1 Spanish: empirical evidence and theoretical implications
- Does empirical data from bilingual and native Spanish corpora meet linguistic theory? The role of discourse context in variation of subject expression
- English for sale: Using race to create value in the Korean ELT market
- Language tests and neoliberalism in “global human resource” development: A case of Japanese Universities
- A mixed methods study of “English Corners” funded by the Taiwan Ministry of Education “Program for Promoting Teaching Excellence of Universities”
- Questions about CLIL which are unfortunately still not outdated: A reply to Pérez-Cañado
- Effects of recasts and form-focused instruction on the acquisition of novel vocabulary
- A translanguaging view of the linguistic system of bilinguals
- The relationship between English proficiency and humour appreciation among English L1 users and Chinese L2 users of English
- Beyond ‘(non) native-speakerism’: Being or becoming a native-speaker teacher of English
- “So, why do you sign?” Deaf and hearing new signers, their motivation, and revitalisation policies for sign languages
- Microaggressions as speech acts: Using pragmatics to define and develop a research agenda for microaggressions
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Effects of age and education on variable but native heritage grammars: Theoretical and empirical implications for the Null Subject Parameter
- Interpreting mood choice effects in L2 and L1 Spanish: empirical evidence and theoretical implications
- Does empirical data from bilingual and native Spanish corpora meet linguistic theory? The role of discourse context in variation of subject expression
- English for sale: Using race to create value in the Korean ELT market
- Language tests and neoliberalism in “global human resource” development: A case of Japanese Universities
- A mixed methods study of “English Corners” funded by the Taiwan Ministry of Education “Program for Promoting Teaching Excellence of Universities”
- Questions about CLIL which are unfortunately still not outdated: A reply to Pérez-Cañado
- Effects of recasts and form-focused instruction on the acquisition of novel vocabulary
- A translanguaging view of the linguistic system of bilinguals
- The relationship between English proficiency and humour appreciation among English L1 users and Chinese L2 users of English
- Beyond ‘(non) native-speakerism’: Being or becoming a native-speaker teacher of English
- “So, why do you sign?” Deaf and hearing new signers, their motivation, and revitalisation policies for sign languages
- Microaggressions as speech acts: Using pragmatics to define and develop a research agenda for microaggressions
