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Sudan University of Science and Technolgy College of Graduate Studies Department of English Language
Sudan University of Science and Technolgy College of Graduate Studies Department of English Language
: Supervisor
:Co-supervisor
2020
Chapter One
(Summary)
1.1. Introduction
This qualitative study is led by the intercultural communication theory (ICT). This
theory posits that identity is formed, maintained modified in communication (Hecht
and Lu 2014). In addition, it confirms the bidirectional influence between identity and
communication as each one affects and be impacted by the other.
Previous literature shows that analyses of fiction from the perspective of intercultural
communication, in general, and identity, in particular, are scarce (Fox 2003; Liu &
Zhang 2011; Wierzbicka2010; Hirvonen2014). In addition, applying the theory of
identity on fictive writings could be significant in some ways. First, imaginative
writings play an important role in depicting real life in a way that might not be found
in many of the factual stories. That is, some fictive writings provide a fruitful source
of corpus for the IC analysis that scarcely occur in a single written real-life story.
Second, fiction has its favorable preference and massive impact on the readers,
particularly the chosen novels which have attracted attention of readers and
researchers worldwide. Therefore, the study aims to deeply investigate the religious
identity expressed in the above-mentioned novels; a topic that previous research did
not give much attention.
The focus of the current study is on investigating the concept of the religious
identity on the two fictive works and exploring the influence of the religious identity
on the character's relations as well as the effect of the other identity dimensions and
social factors on it. Thus, the study scope is limited to the religious identity and the
only source of data is the two novels.
This study takes the qualitative method of data analysis as its purpose is to analyze a
written text . It uses the descriptive discourse analysis (DDA) approach guided by
the intercultural communication theory (ICT).