The Real World

The art of persuasion is integral to politics and policy. As an experienced political pundit once said, "It is not enough to know what we ought to say; we must also say it as we ought." (The statement is Aristotle's, from his Rhetoric III, 1.) One of the many reasons that we anthropologists are so often absent without leave in policy discussions is that we are not trained to communicate our knowledge clearly and effectively to non-anthropologists. If there is any stylistic rule taught in anthropology graduate programs, it is to write so as to be completely unintelligible to outsiders. (Perhaps this is appropriate, since tenure decisions are made on the same basis.)

Linguistics · Media studies · Persuasion · Political science · Politics · Rhetoric · Sociology · Statement (logic · Law · Media Studies and Communication · Philosophy · Rhetoric and Communication Studies