Comments on: Putting on our public face: How can anthropologists get better at it?

By: Anthropology is Taking Over the World

Anthropology is Taking Over the World — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 03:05:50 +0000

[…] then there’s Erin Taylor, who has recently written about anthropology going public, and has been working to revitalize the big Open Anthropology […]

By: Don’t be a hero, just make anthropology public » Antropologia Masterra

Don’t be a hero, just make anthropology public » Antropologia Masterra — Sun, 22 Mar 2015 23:11:23 +0000

[…] really enjoyed Erin Taylor’s recent piece on SM about how to make anthropology public, and I wanted to add on to her suggestions about how to make […]

By: Erin B. Taylor

Erin B. Taylor — Sat, 21 Mar 2015 14:18:17 +0000

Jeremy, I agree, there needs to be materials available to help anthropologists with their public writing and to learn how to get published. PopAnth gives general guidelines on our submissions page for de-academicizing writing but nothing in depth. But there are a few anthropologists who have worked on parts of this issue in the past. Agustín Fuentes and a few others ran mentoring through the AAA website, but I think it’s defunct now (?). Paul Stoller ran a writing workshop at the AAAs last year. There are numerous anthropologists with regular columns, they clearly know how to write! It would be good to bring all these experts together. Maybe do an interview series asking them how they got started, etc?

By: johnmccreery

johnmccreery — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 06:57:00 +0000

Jeremy, one thing that might be helpful is checking out sources like Writer’s Digest [http://www.writersdigest.com]./ Another good place to start is John Scalzi’s Utterly Useless Writing Advice [http://whatever.scalzi.com/2004/12/17/john-scalzis-utterly-useless-writing-advice/]. Scalzi is a pro, not only a successful author of Science Fiction, but also a writer who makes a comfortable living writing in a variety of non-fiction genres. He is utterly candid, and what he says rings very true to me.

By: Erin Taylor

Erin Taylor — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 18:02:09 +0000

Thanks John. By the way, everyone, I’m currently in charge of social media for both PopAnth and the OAC, so if you want us to share stuff, just send it along. I don’t always see stuff on social media but you can email me, erin@popanth.com

By: Jeremy Trombley

Jeremy Trombley — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 13:16:42 +0000

One of the things I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is publishing articles or op-eds in newspapers and magazines. Not only would this help improve the image of anthropology, but if it were something we were more effectively trained to do it could help those of us on the edges of academia to supplement our near-poverty level incomes.

I’ve submitted a few things to magazines and articles but was quickly rejected. Part of it was that I didn’t know where to submit. I know about the big publications, but those places get a high volume of submissions and my little contribution would never get noticed. Figuring out how to identify potential venues for our work is one thing that might help.

Another issue was obviously the academic quality of my writing. I’ve been disciplined to write this way even though I blog regularly and do everything I can to make my writing accessible. Having some guidance on writing for public audiences would be helpful too.

I’ve been following Carole’s writing workshops on here, and they’ve been helpful. Maybe it would be good to have one specifically geared to writing for publics and getting professional journalists and op-ed writers to contribute and offer advice. Maybe the AAA, SfAA and other professional organizations – or even the OAC – could host workshops on writing and publishing op-eds, in which the participants actually write a short piece and have it reviewed and critiqued and then try to find a venue for publication.

Those are just some of my ideas on the issue. I’d be interested in hearing from others who have suggestions or other ways to help us all figure out how to write and publish better.

By: johnmccreery

johnmccreery — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 02:50:51 +0000

Re “mentor review.” . Put down is not the purpose. Neither is gatekeeping. Like most public-facing outlets for your writing, PopAnth is always looking for new material. You will not be offered this service unless the editors already like what you have written. We provide feedback. Our Holy Grail is to move whatever you have written from good to great.