An Overview of the Discipline

Anthropology is the scientific study of the origin, behavior, and physical, social, and cultural development of humans. Anthropologists seek to understand these many facets of humanity through a variety of means, drawing from the physical sciences, the material sciences (i.e., archaeology), linguistics, and cultural anthropology. There are five branches to anthropology: archaeology, biological anthropology, linguistic anthropology, cultural anthropology, and social anthropology.

Archaeologists study humans through analysis of their archaeological records. Biological anthropologists study the origins and physical development of the human species. Linguistic anthropologists examine how language influences social interactions. Social anthropologists observe how humans behave in social groups. Cultural anthropologists focus on the study of cultural variation among humans.

Writing in the Discipline

Reasoning

The goal of most anthropological writing is generally to persuade by means of explaining data. As Professor Deborah Olzsewski explains, "Archaeologists fall a little bit towards the explanatory, rather than the argumentative, to persuade their readers. Obviously when you’re explaining things and giving someone a level of interpretation, you're hoping that other people will agree with you, and so you've persuaded them. But I don't actually think most of us do much writing that you would consider really overtly persuasive."

Cultural anthropologist Professor Deborah Thomas notes that writing in anthropology is "an inductive way of working. We don't have a hypothesis we're trying to prove, but in the objective explanations of our findings, an argument is made." This is true across all the sub-disciplines, whether a cultural anthropologist writing an ethnography or a biological anthropologist presenting data to support her theories on human evolution. Most anthropological writing sets out to explain findings and thus relies heavily on explanatory reasoning to convey its points.

Evidence

When it comes to what is regarded as legitimate evidence in anthropology, Professor Philippe Bourgois explains, "It's very much up for grabs depending on what your subdiscipline is."

Archaeologists rely on physical evidence, or the "archaeological record," for most of their evidence. This is exemplified by materials found at archaeological sites, which range from structures to artifacts of different kinds to remains of animal bones, plant foods, etc. Acceptable evidence may also include some text-based work drawn from other specialists' studies. For example, the work of a geoarchaeologist might be called upon to provide knowledge on the formation of the landscape, the reason for its location, what has happened to it over time, and natural processes that have affected it.

Biological anthropologyrelies strongly on empirical data and the scientific method. Biological anthropologists test hypotheses with their data, and their arguments are made on the basis of those results. While theories are constantly put forth, the hypotheses must be legitimate and will be scrutinized by peers within the field. Theories are constantly compared to other theories in the field, so there must be a relatively substantial supporting body of evidence in order for a theory to be considered valid.

In cultural anthropology, the focus is on ethnographies and participant observation. Professor Thomas comments: "If we’re giving students an ethnographic project, which involves participant observation research, typically you would see descriptions of events and things that the student observes. For example, if a student does research on social networks within their dorm, he or she would maybe create some social network maps with different individuals talking about people in their networks, identifying where that overlaps. The work would probably include some interviews, as well as perhaps an analysis of archival documents or popular cultural texts."

Quantitative vs. Qualitative

Cultural anthropologists primarily use qualitative evidence—observations, interviews—though they may also use quantitative data such as surveys or draw from quantitative data that others have developed. On the other hand, biological anthropologists are heavily oriented toward quantitative empirical data. Archaeologists work with a series of material objects that may generate both qualitative and quantitative observations from their evidence.

Data-Based vs. Text-Based

All forms of anthropology are primarily data-based but typically supplement research with textual materials. For example, archaeology tends to use archival research. Of the five subdisciplines, cultural anthropology is the one that most "transcends that dichotomy." Professor Bourgois explains that cultural anthropology "is data-based, but at the same time takes texts very seriously." In addition to the primary focus on collecting original data, cultural anthropologists also read books or analyses of others' work on similar topics in order to contextualize their own arguments. Analyses of texts such as popular culture, films, songs, and novels help to situate data within a social context.

Authorship

Individual vs. Collaborative

Despite there being two types of archaeologists—processual (science-oriented) archaeologists, who focus on finding data and testing hypotheses, vs. post-processual (humanities-oriented) archaeologists, who try to understand ancient ideologies and ways of thought—all archaeologists are by nature collaborative. "When we go out and excavate a site," explains Professor Olszewski, "we cover all kinds of information. It doesn't matter if you are processual or post-processual. We work with lots of specialists in lots of fields, so we have somebody who does geology, somebody who studies plant remains, animal bones, and so on."

Professor Schurr describes biological anthropology as similarly collaborative, noting, “The work is mainly collective. While it depends on the nature of the project, my audience tends to be peers, other evolutionary biologists and geneticists.”

Cultural anthropologists, on the other hand, “are hopelessly individualistic,” as Professor Bourgois observes. Though data collection is often an inherently collaborative process for anthropologists studying living people, as they must interact extensively with the populations they are observing, this rarely extends to collaborative projects with other anthropologists.

Goal

Problem Definition and Solution vs. Positional Affirmation and Critique

Though the goal of anthropology tends to be problem definition and solution, it is not solely a problem-based discipline. As Professor Bourgois notes, “We often open up more questions than we answer.” Professor Olszewski shared that archaeologists—and anthropologists in general—also tend to do a lot of positional affirmation and critique, writing larger, more synthetic articles that propose new ways of looking at data.

Basically, anthropologists form and test hypotheses in addition to proposing new ways of looking at data. "These two are not inseparable," explains Professor Schurr. "Primarily we have specific aims to address with our work, but we also might wind up critiquing previous positions: showing how they were correct, or partly right, or now need to be revised. The two go hand in hand because we’re always building on previous research."

Writing Tips

Important Criteria for Student Writing

1. Having original ideas
2. Reasoning and evidence
3. Demonstrating mastery of others' ideas
4. Organization
5. Style
6. Grammar and Mechanics

Writing Process

I. Pre-writing: Collecting and Synthesizing Data

“All [cultural] anthropologists, when they’re dealing with the mounds and mounds and mounds of stuff they get from people—interviews, observations, demographic data—need to sift through it, read it over and over again, and see how things are trending and how they come together. There’s a long period of immersing yourself in data to figure out what it’s telling you.” – Professor Thomas

II. Writing

When it comes to producing written material, Professor Thomas's best advice is: Just do it. "The error is to attempt to make it perfect," she observes, "because students get paralyzed and nervous and that leads to writer’s block." Though Professor Thomas's own personal strategy of writing quickly and constantly rewriting may not work for every student, the important lesson is that at the end of the day, what gets you started is just getting started. If it is any comfort, he acknowledges that writing "takes tremendous discipline." It is not easy for your professors, either!

III. Post-writing: Editing

When reviewing your paper, some things to keep in mind include (a) reasoning and evidence, making sure that you have supported your original ideas with a solid range of qualitative and possibly quantitative evidence; (b) organization and coherence (c) sufficient contextualization of your particular proposition and reasoning.

Common Student Errors

• Failing to link the specifics to broader contexts and situations, not putting things in a larger perspective. Understanding context is very important in anthropology, so students should do their research and consult previous literature on the specific topics they are covering
• Not citing other scholars’ arguments when contextualizing the data you have gathered
• Writer’s block and paralyzing perfectionism
• Lack of proofreading
• Errors stemming from lack of experience in the field

Style

Anthropological writing blends aspects of the sciences and the humanities. Of course, anthropologists want to collect and present their data as scientifically as possible. However, many anthropologists argue that there is an intrinsic subjectivity in any kind of ethnographic or participant observation research, a position not all anthropologists are entirely willing to concede. Make sure you know the position your professor or other readers take on this question of subjectivity.

As a strong proponent of ethnographic subjectivity, Professor Bourgois notes, “The way an ethnographer frames information affects how it gets digested by the reader.” However, he also cautions students to stay humble and neutral in their observational objectivity. Ethnographic research involves extensive participant observation; only a modest and tentative level of knowledge can be gleaned in the short amount of time that students have to write their papers and do their projects. "Beware of that hubristic sense of omniscient knowledge," he cautions. Do not be the sort of "elite anthropologist who comes in [to study a culture] and says, 'This is who the 'x' people are; this is what their reality is.'"

Genre and Additional Resources

Popular Student Assignments

• Term papers
• Research reports
• Interviewing and fieldwork notes (cultural anthropology)
• Ethnographies, ranging from article-length to dissertations (cultural anthropology)

Typical Professional Writing

• Scholarly articles and revew essays in peer review journals
• Scholarly Books: e.g., ethnographies
• Grant writing
• Encyclopedia entries
• Textbooks
• Newspaper columns and articles
• Ethnographic novels

Exemplary Writers in the Field

• John and Jean Comaroff (cultural anthropology)
• Arjun Appadurai (cultural anthropology)
• Elizabeth Povinelli (cultural anthropology)

Helpful Books and Articles

Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes
The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography


© 2013-2014 The University of Pennsylvania

Meet the Professors

Philippe Bourgois
Cultural anthropologist Dr. Philippe Bourgois recommends Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography to any student interested in anthropological writing. More...

Deborah Olszewski
Dr. Deborah Olszewski focuses on different writing skills in her intro classes than in her higher-level courses. More...

Theodore G. Schurr
Theodore Schurr is a biological anthropologist working on the implications for disease in the deep historic past of hominids, using DNA to study human variation. More...

Deborah Thomas
Cultural anthropologist Dr. Deborah Thomas strongly advises her students to contextualize their arguments by situating them in a larger cultural perspective. She also provides her students with a series of guideline questions, meant to help them approach class readings. More...