Gentlemanly Orthodoxy: Critical Race Feminism, Whiteness Theory, and the APA Manual

Although often viewed as burdensome, academic writing guidelines are rarely treated as actively problematic. Even progressive scholars are unlikely to challenge the cultural assumptions or political investments of academic style guides. Yet standards regarding clarity, precision, appropriateness, sensitivity, and objectivity are not politically innocent. In codifying formal guidelines for the presentation of research, academic style manuals reflect and reinscribe the racialized and gendered (among other) power relations characteristic of the academy. Drawing on critical race feminism and whiteness theories, this paper considers how scholarly investments in whiteness and patriarchy organize the influential APA writing guidelines. The present analysis refers specifically to the APA Manual , but similar analyses might apply to aspects of the Chicago and MLA manuals and the Bluebook , among other style guides.