Anthropologist As Writer, The: Genres And Contexts In The 21st

Description: Writing is crucial to anthropology, but which genres are anthropologists expected to master in the 21st century? This book explores how anthropological writing shapes the intellectual content of the discipline and academic careers. First, chapters identify the different writing genres and contexts anthropologists actually engage with. Second, this book argues for the usefulness and necessity of taking seriously the idea of writing as a craft and of writing across and within genres in new ways. Although academic writing is an anthropologist's primary genre, they also write in many others, from drafting administrative texts and filing reports to composing ethnographically inspired journalism and fiction.

Review: "This well-written collection of essays is not merely a programmatic statement about the need for anthropologists to experiment with genres, but indicates how it can be done. It succeeds in showing just as much as telling, with examples ranging from the thought-provoking to the entertaining." - Thomas Hylland Eriksen, University of Oslo

Contents: List of Tables Acknowledgements Introducing the Anthropologist as Writer: Across and Within Genres Helena Wulff PART I: THE ROLE OF WRITING IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL CAREERS Chapter 1. The Necessity of Being a Writer in Anthropology Today Dominic Boyer Chapter 2. Reading, Writing, and Recognition in the Emerging Academy Don Brenneis Chapter 3. O Anthropology, Where Art Thou? An Auto-Ethnography of Proposals Sverker Finnstrom Chapter 4. The Craft of Editing: Anthropology's Prose and Qualms Brian Moeran Chapter 5. The Anglicization of Anthropology: Opportunities and Challenges Mairead Nic Craith PART II: ETHNOGRAPHIC WRITING Chapter 6. The Anthropologist as Storyteller Alma Gottlieb Chapter 7. Writing for the Future Paul Stoller Chapter 8. Life-writing: Anthropological Knowledge, Boundary-Making, and the Experiential Narmala Halstead Chapter 9. Chekhov as Ethnographic Muse Kirin Narayan PART III: REACHING OUT: POPULAR WRITING AND JOURNALISM Chapter 10. On Some Nice Benefits and One Big Challenge of The Second File Anette Nyqvist Chapter 11. The Writer as Anthropologist Oscar Hemer Chapter 12. Writing Together: Tensions and Joy between Scholars and Activists Eva-Maria Hardtmann, Vincent Manoharan, Urmila Devi, Jussi Eskola and Swarna Sabrina Francis PART IV: WRITING ACROSS GENRES Chapter 13. Fiction and Anthropological Understanding: A Cosmopolitan Vision Nigel Rapport Chapter 14. On Timely Appearances: Anthropology, Art, Literature Mattias Viktorin Chapter 15. Digital Narratives in Anthropology Paula Uimonen Chapter 16. Writing Otherwise Ulf Hannerz Index



Author Biography: Helena Wulff is Professor of Social Anthropology at Stockholm University. Her publications include Ballet across Borders (1998, Bloomsbury), Dancing at the Crossroads (2007, Berghahn), and the edited volumes The Emotions (2007, Bloomsbury) and Ethnographic Practice in the Present (with Marit Melhuus and Jon P. Mitchell 2010, Berghahn).