This open access book deals with the role of written texts in an increasingly diverse and dynamic society, bringing together a series of studies anchored in the Scandinavian research tradition of sakprosa, which roughly translates as ‘subject-oriented prose’ or ‘professional communication’. The authors examine the written text’s capacity to transcend contextual boundaries, as a crucial factor in the importance of capturing and maintaining content as a manageable entity. The chapters each deal with a text type that manages complex content in a specialized way, including genre shifting in CSR reports, discourse networks in modern digital culture, digital and social media crisis communication, and epistemic positions in non-fiction. This book is relevant to fields such as text research, professional/digital communication, discourse analysis and literacy studies, and may also be of interest to disciplines such as history, rhetoric, organization studies, media studies/journalism, and linguistics.
Author(s): Catharina Nyström Höög (editor), Henrik Rahm (editor), Gøril Thomassen Hammerstad (editor)
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 177
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
List of Tables
Introduction
Truth and Reality: Pivotal for the Concept Sakprosa
Text, Context, Genre and Discourse: A Practice Perspective on Sakprosa Texts
A Comment on Language Policy
The Nordic Research Tradition
The Chapters in This Volume
References
Texts as Cultural Artefacts: Theoretical Challenges to Empirical Research on Utterances and Texts
Introduction: Textual Studies in Sakprosa Research
Constitutive Features of Texts as Cultural Artefacts
From Utterance to Text: The Growth of Normative Sensitivity in Children’s Scribbling and Writing
The Development of Constitutive Text Norms: Historical Evolvement of the Text Culture of Written News and Political Opinion
Comparisons with Other Text Theories Used in Sakprosa Research
Final Remarks on Epistemological Status of the Theory of Texts as Cultural Artefacts
References
Texts Complying with Societal Pressures: Changing Genres in Finnish Companies’ CSR Reporting
Introduction
Genre Perspectives on CSR Reporting
Data and Method
Variability and Intertextuality in CSR Reporting
Stable Versus Variable Reporting Formats
CSR Reporting on Corporate Websites from the Perspective of Intertextuality
Discussion and Conclusion
References
Digital Discourse Networks: Digital Media as a Socio-material Condition for Access and Circulation
Introduction
Methodological Remarks
Digital Media as the Contemporary Discourse Network for Sakprosa
The Background of Digital Media: The Archive, the Database, and Algorithms
Sakprosa as Digitally Configured: The Case of Borger.dk
Sakprosa as Digitally Configured: The Case of SAGE Publishing
Conclusion
References
Sheep, Watch Dogs and Wolves: How the Master in Non-Fiction Writing Formed Actors for the Field of sakprosa in Norway
Introduction: Exploring a Master’s Programme in the Developing Knowledge Field
Background: The Epistemic Culture of sakprosa in Norway
Theories: Conceptualizations and Practicing of Genres
Determinations in a nexus of Practices
Genre Didactics: Rhetorical Genre and Dialogism
Findings and Discussions: The Roles of Sheep, the Watch Dogs and the Wolves
The Architecture of the Programme
The Roles in the Student’s Texts
Conclusion: The Master’s Programme as Epistemic Practice
References
Crisis Communication on Social Media: Informalization in the Hour-by-Hour Struggle for Information
Introduction
Purpose of the Study
Theoretical Framework
Literature Review
Data and Method
Analytical Approach
Data Analysis
Case A: Terror Attack
Case B: False Alarm
Conclusion and Discussion
References
Concluding Remarks: The Power and Potential of the Concept Sakprosa (CPS): A Guided Tour Through Five Topoi
Introduction
Sakprosa: From Anti-rhetorical Style to Textual Super-genre
Methodology
The Five Topoi
The City
The Anthill
The Choir
The Thing Site
The Borderland
Descriptiveness Versus Normativity
“The great globe itself, Yea, all which it inhabit”
“The baseless fabric of this vision?”
References
Index
