ABSTRACT
Speaking “like a man” in Teamsterville was, for me, initially a practical problem. For 21 of the 30 months in which I participated in Teamsterville-spoken life I was a group worker and the director of a group work program in Teamsterville. These positions required that I enact roles whose convincing performance demanded the display of authority and competence. My acquired speech ways, learned in the academic study of communication and practiced successfully in other professional contexts working with youth, were confusing and troubling to the Teamstervillers, so much so that my persona as a man was fundamentally problematic for them, and thus for me. For an adult male not to be seen and heard as “a man” in Teamsterville rendered him incredible and ineffective in his interpersonal relations. And yet, my professional tasks required that I work effectively, daily, among the Teamstervillers. This problematic of daily life was the crucible in which I learned how to speak “like a man” in Teamsterville.
