Comments on: How to write an anthropology book that people will read? http://savageminds.org/2010/02/01/how-to-write-an-anthropology-book-that-people-will-read/ Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:06:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: On Reaching a Broader Public: Five Ideas for Anthropologists « Neuroanthropology http://savageminds.org/2010/02/01/how-to-write-an-anthropology-book-that-people-will-read/comment-page-1/#comment-628913 On Reaching a Broader Public: Five Ideas for Anthropologists « Neuroanthropology Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:53:11 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=3169#comment-628913 [...] Breidenbach and Pal Nyiri, in their piece How to Write an Anthropology Book that People Will Read, make the same point: One reason why intercultural “experts”, as well as books such as Samuel [...] [...] Breidenbach and Pal Nyiri, in their piece How to Write an Anthropology Book that People Will Read, make the same point: One reason why intercultural “experts”, as well as books such as Samuel [...]

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]]> By: 40ag.com http://savageminds.org/2010/02/01/how-to-write-an-anthropology-book-that-people-will-read/comment-page-1/#comment-628858 40ag.com Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:04:17 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=3169#comment-628858 [...] writing over the years.  So far they’ve posted on the experience of writing together and writing for non-academic audiences.  These posts come on the heels of the publication of their book Seeing Culture [...] [...] writing over the years.  So far they’ve posted on the experience of writing together and writing for non-academic audiences.  These posts come on the heels of the publication of their book Seeing Culture [...]

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]]> By: Michael~ http://savageminds.org/2010/02/01/how-to-write-an-anthropology-book-that-people-will-read/comment-page-1/#comment-628814 Michael~ Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:04:13 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=3169#comment-628814 I would argue that there is no 'popular audience' - YET. It occurs to me that even the people who read 'non-fiction' written by PhDs are social and cultural “elites”, in terms of education and access, and in the minority. The so-called popular book industry is more about affluent knowledge-technocrats pandering to affluent, leisured consumers, than it is about an effort towards public education or authentic civic debate. Your points about writing for those outside the halls of the universities are good ones (and important), but what I would like to see, rather, is the construction of ‘new objects’ of knowledge – besides books and outside the dominant publishing industry - which bridge the several different gaps between specialist knowledge (of various strains) and public discourse. Documentary filmmaking has been somewhat effective in this, and some musicians embody a certain trans-conceptual intellectualism, but I’d like to see academics and intellectuals (and political radicals) develop more diverse expressive tactics which ‘speak’ to workers, immigrants, youth, people with disabilities, etc., in more meaningful and accessible ways. [Perhaps things like: street performance, random acts of discourse, video games featuring the work of people like Foucault, Darwin, Emma Goldman, and others, or other as yet unthought projects of outreach?] I would like to see intellectuals expand outwards from book-culture and digital media to create projects and objects that interject into daily life – unmediated by television or film – and more fully engage the imaginations of various people and populations, and all aspects of public life. This, of course, would be tough enough considering how popular culture often aims at, and taps into, our most primal and vulnerable motivations – but the opportunities created by intellectual engagements (and new objects of knowledge) can assist us towards evolving more enriching forms of social participation. Innovative and critical expressive engagement might just be our only defense for avoiding the mind-numbing effects of the glut of irrelevant and superfluous information swirling through so much contemporary media. Such is the cultural ecology inherent to the hyper-perspectivist, surplus and consumer reality of modern urban living… I would argue that there is no ‘popular audience’ – YET.

It occurs to me that even the people who read ‘non-fiction’ written by PhDs are social and cultural “elites”, in terms of education and access, and in the minority. The so-called popular book industry is more about affluent knowledge-technocrats pandering to affluent, leisured consumers, than it is about an effort towards public education or authentic civic debate.

Your points about writing for those outside the halls of the universities are good ones (and important), but what I would like to see, rather, is the construction of ‘new objects’ of knowledge – besides books and outside the dominant publishing industry – which bridge the several different gaps between specialist knowledge (of various strains) and public discourse.

Documentary filmmaking has been somewhat effective in this, and some musicians embody a certain trans-conceptual intellectualism, but I’d like to see academics and intellectuals (and political radicals) develop more diverse expressive tactics which ‘speak’ to workers, immigrants, youth, people with disabilities, etc., in more meaningful and accessible ways. [Perhaps things like: street performance, random acts of discourse, video games featuring the work of people like Foucault, Darwin, Emma Goldman, and others, or other as yet unthought projects of outreach?] I would like to see intellectuals expand outwards from book-culture and digital media to create projects and objects that interject into daily life – unmediated by television or film – and more fully engage the imaginations of various people and populations, and all aspects of public life.

This, of course, would be tough enough considering how popular culture often aims at, and taps into, our most primal and vulnerable motivations – but the opportunities created by intellectual engagements (and new objects of knowledge) can assist us towards evolving more enriching forms of social participation.

Innovative and critical expressive engagement might just be our only defense for avoiding the mind-numbing effects of the glut of irrelevant and superfluous information swirling through so much contemporary media.

Such is the cultural ecology inherent to the hyper-perspectivist, surplus and consumer reality of modern urban living…

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]]> By: Wednesday Round Up #101 « Neuroanthropology http://savageminds.org/2010/02/01/how-to-write-an-anthropology-book-that-people-will-read/comment-page-1/#comment-628361 Wednesday Round Up #101 « Neuroanthropology Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:50:06 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=3169#comment-628361 [...] Breidenbach and Pal Nyiri, How to Write an Anthropology Book that People Will Read? The authors of the recent Seeing Culture discuss their recent efforts to present a better view of [...] [...] Breidenbach and Pal Nyiri, How to Write an Anthropology Book that People Will Read? The authors of the recent Seeing Culture discuss their recent efforts to present a better view of [...]

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]]> By: Rob Kevlihan http://savageminds.org/2010/02/01/how-to-write-an-anthropology-book-that-people-will-read/comment-page-1/#comment-628356 Rob Kevlihan Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:20:26 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=3169#comment-628356 On a separate but related note, Laura Wagner, a Ph.D Candidate in Anthropology and a survivor of the Haitian earthquake has written a powerful piece over at www.salon,com entitled "Haiti: A Survivor's Story" - it is, in my view, a fine piece of public anthropology, and an important intervention in trying to reframe dominant media narratives on Haiti. The comments thread is also interesting in that many of the favorable comments describe it as journalism. Another sign of anthropologies lack of public visibility? Well worth a read. On a separate but related note, Laura Wagner, a Ph.D Candidate in Anthropology and a survivor of the Haitian earthquake has written a powerful piece over at http://www.salon,com entitled “Haiti: A Survivor’s Story” – it is, in my view, a fine piece of public anthropology, and an important intervention in trying to reframe dominant media narratives on Haiti. The comments thread is also interesting in that many of the favorable comments describe it as journalism. Another sign of anthropologies lack of public visibility? Well worth a read.

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]]> By: Rob Kevlihan http://savageminds.org/2010/02/01/how-to-write-an-anthropology-book-that-people-will-read/comment-page-1/#comment-628354 Rob Kevlihan Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:09:39 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=3169#comment-628354 On a separate but related post, Laura Wagner, a Ph.D candidate in Anthropology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill who recently survived the Haitian earthquake has written a striking piece at salon.com; it is, in my view, an excellent piece of public anthropology and an important intervention into public framings of the crisis in Haiti - although the comment thread is interesting in that many favorable comments call the piece journalism....the piece is posted at www.salon.com, title "Haiti: A Survivors Story" On a separate but related post, Laura Wagner, a Ph.D candidate in Anthropology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill who recently survived the Haitian earthquake has written a striking piece at salon.com; it is, in my view, an excellent piece of public anthropology and an important intervention into public framings of the crisis in Haiti – although the comment thread is interesting in that many favorable comments call the piece journalism….the piece is posted at http://www.salon.com, title “Haiti: A Survivors Story”

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]]> By: Pal and Joana on Savage Minds « Culture Matters http://savageminds.org/2010/02/01/how-to-write-an-anthropology-book-that-people-will-read/comment-page-1/#comment-628340 Pal and Joana on Savage Minds « Culture Matters Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:07:06 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=3169#comment-628340 [...] writing over the years.  So far they’ve posted on the experience of writing together and writing for non-academic audiences.  These posts come on the heels of the publication of their book Seeing Culture [...] [...] writing over the years.  So far they’ve posted on the experience of writing together and writing for non-academic audiences.  These posts come on the heels of the publication of their book Seeing Culture [...]

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]]> By: Fred http://savageminds.org/2010/02/01/how-to-write-an-anthropology-book-that-people-will-read/comment-page-1/#comment-628308 Fred Tue, 02 Feb 2010 07:09:10 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=3169#comment-628308 I sympathise with the desire to create a "coffee book" of cultural anthropology, but wonder if there is more to it than just educating the masses. Sure, physical anthropology sells well, and archaeology does equally well.The failure of cultural anthropology to find its authors on the best seller list seems to perhaps stem from their subject matter, "culture," having been co-opted by writers focused on politcs or economics. Is "Freakonomics" just plain economics? Or the many published political analyses on macro-strategies involving international actors, is this just plain politics? Once upon a time, cultural texts were hot sellers (Mead, Benedict, Harris, Malinowski), but that time has come and gone--perhaps the more relevant question to ask was why was Said so popular, although for many readers his works are difficult? Whom does anthropology teach? Is it better to teach anthropology in the class room and leave off "educating" the general reader? I'm sure I won't get a very solid understanding of quantum physics by reading a popular work. So why should I expect to get a good understanding reading a popular work about culture? And how much of popular works we read for pleasure really stick in the old brain? Perhaps the fear stems from a feeling that if one's field is not recognized in the popular press it looses some legitimacy? Would Levi-Strauss be Levi-Strauss without his popular writings? I look forward to reading "Seeing Culture Everywhere." I sympathise with the desire to create a “coffee book” of cultural anthropology, but wonder if there is more to it than just educating the masses. Sure, physical anthropology sells well, and archaeology does equally well.The failure of cultural anthropology to find its authors on the best seller list seems to perhaps stem from their subject matter, “culture,” having been co-opted by writers focused on politcs or economics. Is “Freakonomics” just plain economics? Or the many published political analyses on macro-strategies involving international actors, is this just plain politics? Once upon a time, cultural texts were hot sellers (Mead, Benedict, Harris, Malinowski), but that time has come and gone–perhaps the more relevant question to ask was why was Said so popular, although for many readers his works are difficult?

Whom does anthropology teach? Is it better to teach anthropology in the class room and leave off “educating” the general reader? I’m sure I won’t get a very solid understanding of quantum physics by reading a popular work. So why should I expect to get a good understanding reading a popular work about culture? And how much of popular works we read for pleasure really stick in the old brain? Perhaps the fear stems from a feeling that if one’s field is not recognized in the popular press it looses some legitimacy? Would Levi-Strauss be Levi-Strauss without his popular writings?

I look forward to reading “Seeing Culture Everywhere.”

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