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Webinar Recap: Cultural Humility in Written Communication

This Clear Language Lab webinar took place on September 23, 2021 as part of the Plain Language Foundations Series. Check out the notes below, or access the webinar recording.


Key Points

  • Taking Plain Language to the Next Level: Design Justice

    • A communication is in plain language if its wording, structure, and design are so clear that the intended readers can easily find what they need, understand what they find, and use that information. - International Plain Language Federation


  • Breaking it down:

    • Cultural awareness: Recognition of one’s own culture and values and the cultures and values that others have that may be different from our own

    • Cultural competence: Understanding, appreciation, and interaction with cultures different than our own

    • Cultural Humility: Commitment to life-long learning, self-reflection, recognition of the roles power and privilege play, and acceptance of discomfort and the unknown


  • Some things to consider when talking about people

    • People-First Language: Aims to make personhood the essential characteristic of every person. People-first language views other descriptive social identities that people may hold as secondary and non-essential…

    • Self-Identification: …people who are robbed of opportunities to self-identify lose not just words that carry political power, but may also lose aspects of their culture, agency, and spirit. Progressive writing, as much as possible, should strive to include language that reflects peoples’ choice and style in how they talk about themselves. If you aren’t sure, ask.


  • How are vagueness and codes used to talk about disinvested communities?

    • From the Bass Center for Transformative Place-Making from Recognizing that words have the power to harm, we commit to using more just language to describe places at Brookings.edu

      • Inner city

      • Urban areas

      • High crime

      • Distressed neighborhood

      • Blighted areas

      • Vulnerable communities


  • Talking About Place: Suggestions from the Bass Center for Transformative Place-Making

    • from Recognizing that words have the power to harm, we commit to using more just language to describe places at Brookings.edu

      • Be intentional about…minimizing stigma, acknowledging harm, and recognizing the agency of people within places

      • Explicitly name the systemic root causes behind conditions, inequities, and challenges within places

      • Be specific, strengths-based, and solution-oriented


  • The Characteristics of White Supremacy CultureFrom Tema Okun

    • Paternalism: a system under which an authority undertakes to supply needs or regulate conduct of those under its control

    • Individualism: maintaining the political and economic independence of the individual and stressing individual initiative, action, and interests

    • Worship of the Written Word:Considerations of how content is produced and whether it is designed to intentionally  meet

    • the audiences needs

    • Urgency: Communication processes prioritize quick turnarounds rather than getting feedback from others or involving stakeholders


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