In Elizabeth Wardle’s Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces, she asserts a connection between identity and writing. Wardle argues that one must find new ways of writing and being to fully participate in an environment. Depending on one’s position, their identity might grow to have feelings of authority. Wardle demonstrates this through the story of an egotistical man named Alan. Eventually, he left his role as a computer specialist out of frustration with his environment’s customs.
In my view, authority is the ultimate result of identity growth within a specific field. One may not feel confidence when they’re just starting out in a discourse community, even if they fit. They might feel as if the experts are infallible, while they – as a neophyte – have nothing to add. As time and experience grow, their identity grows confident, and their writing gains gusto. They’re familiar enough with the basics and customs of their discourse community that they can start playing around with them.
Wardle’s example demonstrates someone who artificially got himself into the illusion of authority. Even though he was unfamiliar with the discourse community’s ins and outs, his position perpetuated an ego. That ego was shattered by the overwhelming pressure of members firmly within the discourse community. You can’t fake your way into standing out. You have to prove you belong before you make a name for yourself.
A more natural example of this phenomenon is Ann M. Penrose and Cheryl Geisler’s Reading and Writing without Authority. They look at the processes and resulting texts between a college freshman (“Janet”) and someone on the verge of their Ph.D (“Roger”). In essence, Janet was under the impression that everyone else in the field was better than her. She also felt as if they must take their words as gospel.
She does challenge them in tape recordings, but Roger had the confidence to challenge people in his text. As a result, Janet’s text comes off as static, leaving too much to other people’s works. She wrote in a way that specifically tells the viewer what she’s trying to do. Roger clearly has enough experience to avoid such trappings. It can be certain that he made those same mistakes before.
The process of finding one’s identity is one thing, and becoming an expert with that identity is another. That journey is balanced between one’s work and themself.
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