What is Transgression

Through this collaborative exploration of the meanings and meta-meanings of the words “welcome” and “sorry,” the authors of this work give voice to their unique positionalities, and reflect on the ways words carry power in different ways, contingent upon context. Drawing heavily from critical race theory, and particularly engaging with the construct of the microaggressions, this work pivots on the construct that a neutral perspective cannot exist, and that all work is political. The authors engage critical discourse analysis as well as autoethnographic explorations and tap into the ways “trigger words” can be used in ways that are coded and known to some members of a community, while being unfamiliar to or seen as neutral by other members of the community. Holding clear ideas about the ways in which language lands upon and shapes realities is central to this work.