The genre of power: Writing, language, and epistemic borders in European academia

For translingual scholars, writing in English involves navigating tacit genre expectations that are widely enforced yet rarely made explicit. Conflicting advice compounds the challenge: normative writing guidelines promote conformity through clarity and correctness, whereas postcolonial critique encourages dissent against the symbolic dominance of English. The article contends that neither stance adequately explains the rhetorical dissonance and confusion felt by translingual authors when engaging with Anglophone management journals. To address this gap, the essay juxtaposes micro level conventions of text construction with patterns of epistemic marginalisation to operationalise postcolonial critique into practical heuristics. Specifically, it identifies four recurring points of genre mismatch (paragraph structure, voice, stance, and citation practice) and reframes them not as deficits but as divergences between rhetorical traditions. Drawing on lived experience and linguistic research, the paper illustrates how these tensions surface in manuscripts to reveal the genre grammar embedded in mainstream publishing norms. The contribution is both political and diagnostic. Linking micro level conventions to epistemic marginalisation generates awareness that promotes agency not through compliance but through informed rhetorical choice. Making expectations explicit provides a practical lever for change and guides feedback towards more effective support.