Writing in Anthropology ─ A Brief Guide

Writing in Anthropology is the ideal, pocket-sized manual for undergraduate students and emerging anthropologists who wish to improve their writing.

Anthropology is a rapidly changing, global social science that encompasses a wide range of subfields, including archeology, cultural anthropology, biological/physical anthropology, linguistic anthropology, medical anthropology, and applied anthropology. It is also a growing field. While the economic downturn might motivate many college students to seek majors they perceive as more practical, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics projects job growth for anthropologists and archaeologists through 2020 at 21%, which is faster than the average for all other occupations.[1] And more undergraduate students in the United States are majoring in the social sciences and history than ever before: 175,000 students were social science and history majors in 2009-10 (the specific number of anthropology majors is not available).[2] In Canada, another 134,700 undergraduates major in Social and Behavioral Sciences and Law, 4,000 of them in anthropology.[3] Beyond serving their own majors, anthropology departments offer many courses for non-majors; indeed, at many universities it is one of the go-to fields for students seeking to fulfill both general education and W (writing-intensive) course requirements.

Writing is central to the work of anthropologists and they employ a wide range of genres, including fieldnotes, ethnographies, journal articles, reviews, reports, essays, personal narratives, and grant proposals. Most anthropology courses-both those in the major and for general education and W requirements-include substantial writing assignments. Those assignments often align with the professional genres listed above, but perhaps more are framed as school or apprentice genres-reading responses, summaries, literature reviews, personal reflections, and research papers-designed to help students process course content.

While anthropologists appreciate good writing and occasionally focus explicitly on it-each year, for example, the American Anthropological Association holds a workshop on writing for graduate students and professionals-there is no compact, practical writing guide that meets the needs of undergraduates and beginning graduate students. This Brief Guide aims to address that gap by pursuing four goals:
· Introduce the major genres and habits of writing in anthropology.
· Explain how reflexivity, expression, and interpretation are vital to the field.
· Convey insider strategies for writing and editing in the discipline.
· Describe the basic conventions for using sources; and to model a scholarly yet accessible style.

Shan-Estelle Brown is a medical anthropologist and assistant professor of anthropology at Rollins College. Previously, she was a postdoctoral researcher in the AIDS Program at Yale School of Medicine.