Abstract

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.

“Overall, the collection should be a mandatory reference for all working ethnographers in the social sciences and required reading in all graduate courses on ethnographic methods.” • Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI)

“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

Helena Wulff is Professor of Social Anthropology at Stockholm University. Among her publications are the monographs Ballet across Borders (1998, Bloomsbury), Dancing at the Crossroads (2007, Berghahn), and Rhythms of Writing (2017, Bloomsbury).