Literature Reviews: Generative and Transformative Textual Conversations

The intention of this article is to invite readers to explore and understand how literature reviews can be conducted from a systemic and dialogical approach. After reading a paper by MONTUORI (2005), I considered how literature reviews could be situated systemically whereby connections and relatedness between people and ideas are identified. This opened up possibilities for me that were transformative, re-positioning a process that I had previously seen as positivist, to one which is connected to a systemic position (BARGE, 2006). In this article, I discuss how I conduct literature reviews from a systemic position; each text speaking to the others as in conversation, identifying themes, connections and generating new knowledge. The concept of texts "speaking" to each other lends itself to a dialogical approach. I will discuss how the systemic, dialogical and ethical considerations should be made. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs15035