Genre systems and recontextualization of science in electronic media

Abstract

In this paper I explore the process of science popu­larization from the vantage point of two concepts: genre system and recontextualization. I associate the socio-rhetorical and systemic-functional con­cepts of discourse genre with the socio-historical perspective (as credited to Mikhail Bakhtin and other authors along the same line) to define genre as a recurring discursive event in specific human activity spheres. I focus on the discursive process implemented by the midiatization of scientific research in science popularization publications divulged on the internet. The transposition of an ideational content from science (the new research, its methodology and results) into the electronic media occurs in a recontextualization movement that relocates (parts of or whole) texts from one sphere of human activity to another, providing visibility to the continuous flux between genres of the same system for science production and maintenance.