Religious Intertextuality In Students’ Dissertations

Abstract

Intertextuality is a known concept about which several studies have been conducted. This study discusses the concept of religious intertextuality in academic discourse: students’ dissertations. As an academic discourse, dissertations are not expected to carry much of religious inter text. The use of positioning theory and social identity theory enabled the comprehension of the identities the authors of the dissertations create about themselves. These identities are created consciously by the authors. It was revealed that while almost all authors situate themselves as religious people, they, at the same time, position the religious entity/ies as all powerful. Authors used more of the horizontal; socio-cultural objects and socio-textual practices intertextuality in incorporating the religious inter text in the academic discourse.