Summary
Elizabeth Wardle’s Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces proposes an interesting insight into the complexities of authoritative writing. Through her study and observation of Alan and his life at work, including his interactions with his co-workers and his beliefs about his role and that of others in the workplace, Wardle displays the consequences of the failure to effectively enculturate a new member into a community.
“Old-timers” within Alan’s community failed to properly enculturate him by failing “to view him as a fledging member but rather as an object”, and Alan failed to enculturate himself by failing to align his identity within his position with that of the community. Alan saw himself as possessing a high level of power and authority within his work environment, even over those who had been there far longer than he was.
Connections
This idea of identity and authority is similar to that found within Ann M. Penrose and Cheryl Geisler’s Reading and Writing Without Authority, in which Janet lacks the expertise, experience, and confidence necessary to write with appropriate authority and assert her identity within her writing.
My Analysis
However, in Alan’s case, I feel as though he may very well have the expertise, experience, and confidence within his particular field, but he lacks awareness of the community as a whole. Since Alan imagines his identity within the community as superior to that of his co-workers, and others within the community failed to properly enculturate him at the start, each and every one of Alan’s claims to possess or attempts to cultivate is ineffective and only serves to ostracize him even more.
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