Anthropology and the misery of writing
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2259895 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Orin Starn (0000-0002-2570-8182, Department of Cultural Anthropology Duke University Durham NC USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 124 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 187-197 |
| Publication date | 2022-03-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Anthropologist (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-7294 • E-ISSN: 1548-1433 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/aman.13677 |
| OpenAlex | W4210961733 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 17 |
We have had much excited talk about experimental ethnography and new genres of writing. Much of it acknowledges the difficulties of putting words to page. But few of the many reflections and meditations about ethnography really delve into the self-destroying anxiety and misery that can accompany writing in anthropology and across the humanities. That many of us-from graduate students to tenured professors-have suffered bad, sometimes career-ending trouble with writing is a public secret. I draw on my own struggle with writing and depression to try to make some sense of why desperation and worse related to writing are so relatively commonplace in anthropology today-and whether there's anything we can do about it
Academic writing · Aesthetics · Art · Creative writing · Ethnography · Literature · Pedagogy · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Anthropology · Anthropology: Ethics, History, Culture · History · Psychology
The Slow Professor
Academic Ableism
Evidence for a mental health crisis in graduate education
Looking for “The Stranger”
Panic Diaries
Alive in the Writing
Dear Graduate Student
Depression
Culture and Truth. The Remaking of Social Analysis
The Queer Art of Failure
Toward a Fugitive Anthropology
Sitting at the Kitchen Table
Anthropology and the misery of writing
Myths of Meritocracy, Friendship, and Fun Work
The Case for Letting Anthropology Burn
| Citations per year | 1.25 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |