
A Genre Analysis of Social Change
Uptake of the Housing-First Solution to Homelessness in Canada
Diana Wegner(Author)
Inkshed (Publisher)
Published on 24. May 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
102 pages
978-1-64317-179-1 (ISBN)
Description
A Genre Analysis of Social Change contributes to current scholarship in rhetorical genre studies and discourse analysis in contexts of social change. Diana Wegner explores the ways that historical genre systems can be transformed through the process of discursive uptake across genres and their spheres of activity. In this study such cross-genre uptake is pursued from its beginning in advocacy genres to its incorporation into higher-level, institutional genres. It represents the summation of Wegner’s work over many years on how systems of genre can adapt to change as groups and institutional systems negotiate the uptake of solutions to major social challenges, in this case study the Canadian "Housing First" solution to ending homelessness. Her study shows how rhetorical genre analysis can offer insight into issues related to social justice for marginal groups within society.
Introducing the concepts of "deep" and "shallow" genre memory, Wegner analyzes why uptake is problematic and disturbing for those participants in the homelessness genre system who find that the receiving genre does not "remember" the historical moorings of its antecedent contexts. Genre provides an explanatory framework for these uptake dynamics, and for both the re-inscription of power relations and the incremental progress of the shared struggle to help homeless people.
The book includes an introduction by Heather Graves.
Diana Wegner taught in Arts Studies in Research and Writing at the University of British Columbia (2012-2019) and is a faculty emerita (Professional Writing Program, English, and Communications) at Douglas College, New Westminster, BC. She continues to pursue scholarship in the analysis and theory of language and power in contexts of social struggle (environmentalism, homelessness, and Indigenous women’s rights). Her work has been published in the Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Rhetor, Canadian Journal for the Study of Discourse, and Writing (formerly Technostyle) and in edited collections on language and communication.
More details
Series
Language
English
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
3 Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 6 mm
Weight
161 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-64317-179-1 (9781643171791)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Diana Wegner
Genre Analysis of Social Change, A
Uptake of the Housing-First Solution to Homelessness in Canada
E-Book
05/2020
Parlor Press, LLC
€9.49
Available for download

Diana Wegner
Genre Analysis of Social Change, A
Uptake of the Housing-First Solution to Homelessness in Canada
E-Book
05/2020
Parlor Press, LLC
€9.49
Available for download