Gabriella Campbell

Writing 2

3 May 2020

Writing Styles 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 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 visual aids such as maps or photos of the culture being studied in the article.

This is a distinct characteristic of this discipline since the research being conducted is on living

people in real places. Therefore, photos, maps, and charts are commonly used to better convey

the setting of the research to the audience. 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. The research produced in this field 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. In 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 Furthermore, they also include pictures of the Chumash

harpoons 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.

Similarly in, “Ethnobotanical knowledge among the semi-pastoral Gujjar tribe” images of both

plants and members of the tribe are included during the conclusion, another example of the

literary convention in use within anthropological publications.2 Not only is the 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, it is considered general practice for

anthropologists to reconstruct the whole narrative, rather than just 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 such as “prior consent of the informants was taken while conducting

these studies. This was done to adhere to the ethical standards of human participation in

1 Demorest, Davenport. “The Chumash and the swordfish.” 260-263, (Cambridge, 1993).
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).
scientific research.”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 be in another language. An example of this is the

use of the phrase “quilombola communities” in an article published in the Journal of

Ethnobiology, where throughout the article this phrase is used to represent the native

communities to the Ribeira Valley with their native name.4This 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

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

3Dipike, 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)
5 Demorest, Davenport. “The Chumash and the swordfish.” 258-259. (Cambridge, 1993).
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. But why is this important to

the conventions of Anthropology? Well these forums for exchanging ideas in a formal manner to

a broad audience of scholars is the most important practice 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 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.

6 “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)