Negotiation
of Identity and Power in a Japanese Online Discourse Community
Computers and Composition 19.1 (2002)
The study of electronic discourse
in the computers and composition field has thus far focused mostly
on the English language while electronic discourse practices in non-European
languages have received relatively little attention. This article examines
the discursive construction of identity and power in a Japanese online
discourse community by focusing on an e-mail list for Japanese professionals
in the field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).
Through the analysis of Japanese linguistic features—including formal
verb endings, address terms, and honorifics—as well as metaphors for
characterizing relationships, this study shows how social relations
among the list members were transformed as the emphasis shifted from
conventional criteria for establishing social relations (age, gender,
and social status) to other criteria available online, that is, the
amount of knowledge one demonstrates through discourse. Based on this
analysis, I argue that online discourse communities do not diminish
hierarchical social relations found in offline discourses but may allow
the negotiation of criteria for hierarchical relations, thus, providing
an alternative site for the negotiation of identity and power.
Matsuda, P. K. (2002). Negotiation
of identity and power in a Japanese online discourse community. Computers and Composition, 19(1), 39-55.