Genre studies and archives introduction to the sp

Authors: Gillian Oliver Wendy M Duff

Publish Date: 2012/08/14

Volume: 12, Issue: 4, Pages: 373-376

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Abstract

Genre can be defined as a pattern of communication that conforms to community norms Genres are not fixed but are constantly evolving and emerging Examples of familiar genres range from speech utterances to publications from text messages to databases from blogs to formal reports Genre studies are a multidisciplinary area which has the potential to yield much of relevance to the archival communityWith these words we introduced our call for the papers for this special issue of Archival Science We were cautiously optimistic that authors would come forward with interesting and insightful papers on various aspects of genre and archives We received a tremendous response with a large number of very promising proposals The seven papers that subsequently made it through the reviewing process into this special issue represent the highest quality submissions but by no means the totality of research activity in archival science with a focus on genreThe concept of genre is not one that has figured prominently in either archival discourse or practice to date It has been suggested that there is a potential for it to be relevant in archival description and appraisal Oliver et al 2008 but it has attracted much more interest in related disciplines—particularly the information retrieval/information seeking behaviour research communities see Anderson 2008 for an in depth literature review of genre in information studiesConsequently if asked about genre an archivist may think of those illconceived lists of document types which become longer and longer as yet another ambiguous ‘type’ is added Or he or she may think of genre as a blunt instrument used in libraries to organise the fiction collection into broad groupings such as romance mysteries and so on In short the concept of genre comes with the accompanying baggage of a doubtful reputation Perhaps one contributing factor is a lack of understanding or lack of interest in the research emerging from the broader genre communityThough few archivists have discussed their ideas within the framework of genre theory they have focussed on aspects of the concept For example James O’Toole discussed the symbolism of records and perspectives of them as objects that may arouse strong emotions O’Toole 1993 Robert Hartland and colleagues describe the situation in which we live as a web of documents in which the environment changes as new technologies emerge but the web of documents is constant Hartland et al 2005Genre theory can build on and enrich studies of the document The genre community in its entirety can be grouped into three distinct subfields English for Specific Purposes North American/New Rhetorical Studies and Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Genre 2012 The subfield that this special issue draws on is that of New Rhetorical Studies New Rhetorical Studies can in turn be categorised in two broad groups traditional and current genre studies Traditional studies mine the familiar territory that includes literary genres poetry drama prose etc but the objects of attention for current studies are nonliterary texts furthermore current studies seek linkages between discourse and human action Freedman and Medway 1994 This recognition of context and exploration of influences that shape and fashion communicative activity resonates with the archival endeavour and is the focus of this issueLike the archive which is neither a neutral space where texts and artifacts simply accumulate nor the source of a single or stable narrative archival genres may be understood as collections and spaces where readers and writers are permitted to dwell amongst documentary remains crafting new narratives and new genres Eichhorn 2008 p 8The opening paper The orders of documents the orders of activity and the orders of information comes from Charles Bazerman a foundational and influential thinker in genre studies who is cited by almost all subsequent contributors to this special issue He provides a user perspective on archives and documentary forms arguing that it is necessary for the archival scholars to understand genre—which speaks to our responsibilities as archivists

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