Playful Teasing: Kiddin' on the Square

Abstract

This discourse analytic study examines teases among diverse staff to show how social justice commitments play out in actual meetings in a homeless advocacy organization. Before considering specific teases, I discuss the relationship between informality and teasing in this workplace setting. The analysis then focuses on 13 examples which show how social justice commitments get challenged in everyday practice: (1) The egalitarian commitment for all to voice opinions comes into tension with avoiding time-consuming meetings; (2) volunteering to share work can come into tension with doing one's fair share; (3) the more egalitarian work practice where staff take responsibility for setting their own work deadlines can, in practice, come in tension with the more hierarchical director's setting a deadline for them; (4) staff differ in job positions as well as economic and educational backgrounds and whether or not they have experienced homelessness. Teases provide a playful reminder of their egalitarian relationships, that despite staff differences no one is better than anyone else; and (5) race matters so much that in talk a simple reference to color—black or white anything—can provide an opportunity to celebrate blackness in this organization.