As literary scholar, I am often met with scepticism about what I can contribute to the Social Sciences and specifically working in EDI. Many representations of minoritised groups in popular culture are frequently criticised for being insensitive, sensationalised, factually incorrect, and, in the worst incidences, offensive and harmful. While this is undoubtedly true, I am also aware that literature and popular culture have long been the medium through which we reflect on social and cultural phenomena. However, popular culture alone is not the only mode in which we make sense of what is happening around us. 

In fact, language is central to everything that we do. While this might seem like an obvious statement, it is something that is often taken for granted or even overlooked entirely. Language is the most prominent mode available to us to understand the world around us: our interactions, our beliefs, our culture, our identity, and even our thoughts are largely structured through language, from the words that we put down on paper and speak out loud to the words with which we internally organise our thoughts. 

One area in which the importance of language is so evident is that of the representation of minoritised people. If we take my own example of being a person with a long-term health condition or disability, we can witness how language morphs over time, can be politically motivated and takes on new meaning. Historically, health conditions or disabilities were represented through medical terminology (e.g. labelling someone as having a ‘disorder’, being ‘crippled’, being a ‘mental patient’ or even attaching the label ‘victim’, such as ‘burn victim’). This list is by no means exhaustive, and the range of terminology used evidences the role that language plays. The language use here is an example of how the historical terms used to denote disability focuses on the limitations of the individual. More recently, there has been a turn to using the social model of disability, where it is recognised that the cause of the [dis]ability is due to the society’s inability to meet the needs of certain people. Therefore, new language use is thought to represent barriers that are constructed by society, rather than something that is an individual’s issue. 

To consider the origins, etymology, cultural connotations, and reception of these terms is to perform a narrative reading. All terminological choices form a narrative construction of the person we are representing. We must all engage with these narrative readings and make a decision about the language choices that we make, knowing that we are feeding into, and even shaping, the narrative construction of people whose lives we are representing. I am painstakingly aware that this choice is often imperfect because in some cases we do not yet have fully inclusive language or there are disagreements about the best language to use. Any terminological choice, therefore, has the potential to be exclusionary. Nonetheless, a choice must be made, which can lead to fear around speaking openly about certain topics. Before even communicating basic ideas, we select, consciously or unconsciously, the language we use, knowing that our choices will form part of the representation of the underrepresented topic we are discussing. Due to the ideological discourse evoked in whichever terminology is selected, issues of forum-based representation come to light. To return to my example, how my health condition is represented in a medical setting will differ to how it is represented in a social or work setting. This issue raises numerous questions. These are questions that, through necessity, will continue to be explored as the terminological and forum choices reflect the greater narrative we construct about minority groups of people and how they are represented in different spaces.

We often hear the terms scientific, medical, or legal language and these modes of sharing knowledge are often positioned outside the realm of narrative construction. All discourse, however, is influenced by language and the social, cultural, and political messages that are tied up with the language that we use to represent others. It is not only those of us working in EDI that can benefit from the study of narrative when forming and sharing our own ideas. We all have a duty to recognise the fluidity of language and the importance of the narrative constructions we form through our language choices, especially when representing minoritised groups of people. We might not make the best choice all the time, we might need to re-evaluate the previous choices we have made, and sometimes there are only imperfect choices, but we owe it to the groups of people that we are representing to be mindful and recognise the power of the narratives we construct through our language choices.