Date of Award
Summer 7-26-2018
Degree Type
Capstone
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Professional Writing (MAPW)
Department
English
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Dr. Regina Bradley
Co-Chair
Dr. Lara Smith-Sitton
Abstract
This critical autoethnography aims to reveal how the cultural biases of a white majority industry impact the stories they select for acquisition and how they are edited. As an editor, I came to this topic from my personal desire to see if my own whiteness affects the way I view writers of color, their stories, and the audience that the companies market to. Thus, the purpose of this project is to explore the current conversations on the topic of diversity within the publishing industry and whether the conversation is making a connection between the lack of diversity in the workforce and the lack of diversity within the titles published. In addition to this exploration, I aim reflect on my own bias and editing process through a critical autoethnography of three major editorial projects. Thus, I hope this literature review and my reflection with encourage my fellow white editors to think about their own editorial processes.