Gabriella Campbell

Writing 2: Joshua Smith

Spring 2020

Writing Styles and Literary Practices in Anthropology

The discipline of Anthropology produces a wide range of research spanning topics such

as health, tribal culture, violence patterns or ancient diets, which makes this topic so widely

appealing. This singular discipline encompasses the study of humanity, as well as why and how

humans do what they do, all while maintaining the highest level of professionalism and credible

science in published research. The literary conventions of the discipline follow a formal style and

tone, supplemented with less formal, but equally informative visual aids such as maps or photos

of the culture being studied in the article. This use of visual aids is a distinct characteristic of this

discipline, since contrary to other disciplines the research being conducted is on living people in

real places. Therefore, photos, maps, and charts are used to better convey the setting of the

research to the audience, as well as allowing for a deeper understanding of the presented

research. The goal of the discourse community is represented by the literary practices mentioned;

using research on both present and past civilizations to further the understanding of humanity as

a whole. Anthropological research is published in academic journals or presented at conferences,

and is aimed at a broad scholarly audience, since themes within anthropology and ethnographic

research speak to other disciplines of science, humanities, and ecology.

When an anthropologist is writing an article, the best way for them to give the audience a

better insight into the details of their data, is to provide a visual illustration or other forms of

media alongside the data. Some examples of these visual aids include, photos of plants, maps of
an archaeological site, a table of data on land usage, or topographical maps. These facilitate a

deeper level of understanding and engagement with the research presented. An article, which

analyzed ethnographic data on the Chumash and their use of swordfish, utilizes a topographical

map to show all the site names where data was collected and analyzed and their locations in

relation to the Santa Barbara Channel.1 As you can see from the image below, taken straight

from the article, by visually representing where swordfish artifacts or cave paintings have been

discovered it allows the reader to better engage, and in this context allows the writer to show just

how prolific evidence for a strong relationship between the Chumash and the swordfish is. It also

gives the research context, something very valuable in Anthropological research, particularly

since the reader may have never heard of a specific tribe before, and images or other media types

such as this map provide that.

1
Demorest, Davenport. “The Chumash and the swordfish.” 260-263, (Cambridge, 1993).
Furthermore, the article also includes a picture and model of the harpoons the Chumash used to

hunt swordfish, with descriptions of their size and details of their construction in notes under the

labeled figure. It is common practice in anthropological research when presenting an object of

cultural significance, to also provide details on use and construction of the object to best respect

the meaning and specific cultural values behind any one artifact. A similar practice is

demonstrated in, “Ethnobotanical knowledge among the semi-pastoral Gujjar tribe” where

images of both plants and members of the tribe are included during the conclusion (depicted on

the right), another example of the

literary convention in use within

anthropological publications.2

Not only is this use of images in

an academic article unique, but it

is also very telling of the goals of

the discourse community. Rather

than present the data with no

background or context, it is

considered general practice for

anthropologists to reconstruct the

whole narrative, rather than just

2
​Dipike, Rana. “Ethnobotanical knowledge among the semi-pastoral Gujjar tribe in the high
altitude (Adhwari’s) of Churah subdivision, district Chamba, Western Himalaya.” 4, 18, (Journal
of Ethnobiology, 2019).
presenting the raw data. Which means, visual aids, graphs, and photos are essential to what the

community values, and therefore have become a convention.

Since most anthropological work produced requires fieldwork, either with ancient or

living subjects or sites, extra care and time go into presenting the history and culture of what is

being studied. When dealing with living data, a common convention in the writing is to include a

confirmation of consent demonstrated in the “Ethnobotanical knowledge among the

semi-pastoral Gujjar tribe in the high altitude” by a note at the end of the article confirming

consent of the informants was obtained before research began.3 To maintain a high level of ethics

and formality when writing about a culture or society in study, it is expected for anthropologists

to refer to individuals by their names in their native language, to use scientific names of plants

and animals, and even include certain words of cultural significance that may even be in another

language. For example the use of the phrase “​quilombola​ communities” in the article is used to

represent the native communities to the Ribeira Valley by their chosen and native name.4 This

helps immerse the audience in the ideas and values of the given culture, as well as to maintain a

formal and scientific tone throughout the writing.

The formalities in anthropology are further expressed through the literary conventions in

the quantitative and statistical analysis of the data, in the methods or discussion section of the

article. Here it is common to have percentages, formulas, P-values, statistical error, and even

detailed explanations of complex biological pathways or chemical compositions, which are

3
Dipike, Rana. “Ethnobotanical knowledge among the semi-pastoral Gujjar tribe in the high
altitude (Adhwari’s) of Churah subdivision, district Chamba, Western Himalaya.” 20-21,
(Journal of Ethnobiology, 2019).
4
​Prado, Helbert. “Ethnography, ethnobiology and natural history: narratives on hunting among
quilombolas​ from Southeast Brazil.” 2-3. (Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 2020)
added to help maintain professionality. One of the main community values within the discipline

is replicable and credible science. Which is why the inclusion of a methods or evidence section

where the author lays out what steps or analyses were conducted that lead to the results. In more

cultural settings such as “Chumash and Swordfish”, an anthropological study of the past,

presents the two lines of evidence, linguistic and ethnographic; while simultaneously explaining

their relatedness to their research question.5 Not only is it a writing practice, but a requirement to

publish the article is that the data is replicable, scientifically sound, and reviewed by other

academics.

Lastly, an important practice in the discipline of anthropology is presenting recent

research development and projects at large international conferences. Groups such as the

American Association of Anthropology or the Paleopathology Association, help unite the

discourse community yearly to share the newest developments in the field. Additionally, these

groups also publish their own journals with this work, and the submission process to a

conference requires the approval of an abstract and research project. So why is this important to

the conventions of Anthropology? Well, these forums allow for the exchanging of ideas in a

formal manner to a broad audience of scholars, one of the most important practices in the

discourse community. There are many conferences held yearly both nationally and

internationally, where all of the aforementioned literary conventions are presented via poster

boards, presentations, or articles. These conferences embody the goals and conventions of the

discourse community, the American Anthropology Association says, “the Association is

dedicated to advancing human understanding and applying this understanding to the world’s

5
​Demorest, Davenport. “The Chumash and the swordfish.” 258-259. (Cambridge, 1993).
most pressing problems,” a goal which is truly facilitated by conferences and the sharing of new

research and ideas in the field.6

References

“About AAA.” American Anthropology Association.

Demorest, Davenport. “The Chumash and the Swordfish.” (Cambridge, 1993).

Dipike, Rana. “Ethnobotanical knowledge among the semi-pastoral Gujjar tribe in the high

altitude (Adhwari’s) of Churah subdivision, district Chamba, Western

Himalaya.”(Journal of Ethnobiology, 2019).

Prado, Helbert. “Ethnography, ethnobiology and natural history: narratives on hunting among

quilombolas​ from Southeast Brazil.” (Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 2020)

6
​“About AAA.” American Anthropology Association.