Writing in community

Relationship building and accountability in knowledge production

Bibliographic Data

ID2260280
AuthorsJordi Armani Rivera Prince (0000-0001-8865-3011, Department of Anthropology Brown University Providence Rhode Island USA), Emily M Blackwood (0000-0002-2691-4770, Department of Anthropology and Climate Change Institute University of Maine Orono Maine USA), Madeleine Landrum (0009-0003-1086-0004, School of Biology and Ecology and Climate Change Institute University of Maine Orono Maine USA), Emily B P Milton (0000-0001-8504-1247, Department of Anthropology Michigan State University East Lansing Michigan USA), Elizabeth L Rodgers (0000-0002-7513-3663, Department of Anthropology and Climate Change Institute University of Maine Orono Maine USA), M Barnes (0000-0001-7953-7596, American Museum of Natural History), Elizabeth Chin (0000-0001-8486-6562, Editor‐in‐Chief, American Anthropologist USA), Christa Craven (0000-0001-8374-9487, Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program The College of Wooster Wooster Ohio USA), Kristina Douglas (0000-0003-0931-3428, Columbia University), Kristina Douglass (Climate School Columbia University New York New York USA), María José Figuerero Torres (0000-0002-6411-4432, Instituto de Arqueología Facultad de Filosofía y Letras Universidad de Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Argentina), M A Gutiérrez (0000-0002-6331-3763, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), Herr (0000-0003-2390-8866, Archaeology Southwest), Sarah Herr (Desert Archaeology, Inc. Tucson Arizona USA), Lisa Hodgetts (0000-0001-7114-0738, Department of Anthropology University of Western Ontario London Ontario Canada), Kirk A Maasch (0000-0002-8658-8030, School of Earth and Climate Sciences University of Maine Orono Maine USA), Kylie E Quave (0000-0003-3337-6306, University Writing Program and Department of Anthropology George Washington University Washington, DC USA), Danilyn Rutherford (0000-0001-9209-3336, President, The Wenner‐Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research New York New York USA), Daniel H Sandwei (0000-0002-9984-8831, University of Maine), Daniel H Sandweiss (Department of Anthropology and Climate Change Institute University of Maine Orono Maine USA)
Year2025
Volume127
Issue2
Pages319-338
Publication date2025-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Anthropologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7294 • E-ISSN: 1548-1433
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/aman.28070
OpenAlexW4409758185
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited115

As anthropology reckons with its past, present, and future, anthropologists increasingly seek to challenge inequities within the discipline and academia more broadly. Anthropology, regardless of subdiscipline, is a social endeavor. Yet research often remains an isolating (though not necessarily solitary) process, even within research teams and in coauthorship contexts. Here, we focus on peer-reviewed publication as the principal manifestation of knowledge production and propose a method for challenging division, hierarchy, power differentials, and adherence to tradition: writing in community. Writing in community is a collaborative form of writing that centers care, abundance, joy, and personal satisfaction over the individuality currently rewarded by the academy. This process engenders consensus, circumvents normative hierarchical research and writing, and promotes relationship building. Here, we experiment by inviting reviewers and editors into our community to collectively contribute to the writing process and reflect on that experience together. Ultimately, we challenge norms for scholarship, (co)authorship, and ways of knowing to offer a more equitable praxis of knowledge production. We propose that writing in community can help anthropologists enact values of multivocality and research transparency

Accountability · Economics · Knowledge management · Knowledge production · Political science · Production (economics · Sociology · Computer Science · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Education Systems and Policy · Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights · Law