Genre-mixing in academic introductions

In the present-day competitive academic and professional climate, genres are seldom seen to maintain static values but have become vehicles for a more complex and dynamic exchange of information, resulting in constant mixing of a variety of somewhat independent generic values within the more standardized genres. This paper looks at introductory genres and their various realizations, conventionally used to introduce academic books, and variously named as introduction, preface, foreword, acknowledgment and publishers blurb to investigate their nature, function and structure in the light of the present theory of genre analysis as discussed in Swales (1990) and Bhatia (1993). The main focus of the paper will be on the role of promotional intentions in the manipulation of generic conventions resulting in the mixing of generic values from the point of view of a utilitarian view of genre construction, interpretation and use.