Illröda texter, ärvda skrivningar och utrymmen för professionellt tyckande

Dialogiska perspektiv på yrkesskrivande i kommunal förvaltning

Abstract

Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin’s dialogism, the article examines the dialogical conditions of professional writing within Swedish municipal administration. The article focuses on the formal briefing note genre, a central text genre in municipal administration written by civil servants to present assessments and decision proposals to politicians. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with employees in one Swedish municipality with the aim to understand the dialogical factors that shape writing by studying how writers perceive their situation and the norms and practices that guide their work. The findings suggest that writers view themselves as active agents who influence texts, learning from experience, colleagues and previous texts. Colleagues and superiors play a crucial role in reviewing and approving texts, providing a collective dimension to the writing process. Templates and phrase banks are essential tools to help writers produce consistent and effective texts. Texts are tailored for politicians, who are the main recipients, but politicians rarely give direct feedback. The article discusses how writing in local government is highly regulated, yet allows for individual agency, highlighting the complex dia-logical relations that characterize the writing situation.