ABSTRACT
As research practices become more interdisciplinary, it has become important to consider appropriate genre practices for interdisciplinary writing. At first glance, it might appear necessary to create a specific theory of hybrid genres for interdisciplinary research. However, this chapter proposes that, instead, we should redefine genre theory as a theory of difference rather than fixed categorizations for understanding interdisciplinary research representation. For this purpose, the author presents a genre theory which is founded on the premise of “genre agility,” or the ability to move between genres, as opposed to “genre mastery,” or the ability to perfectly replicate a specific genre. The author argues that writers acquire genre agility when they develop (a) semiotic agility, (b) hermeneutic agility, and (c) discursive agility. A major catalyst for discursive agility is interdisciplinary connections, which expose writers to a multitude of complementing and competing discourses.
