Workshop

Hosted by: Society for Humanistic Anthropology

Of interest to: Any

Primary Theme: Practicing / Applied Career Development, Humanistic Anthropology, Technical Skill Development

(5-0560) The Ethnografiction Faction: Creative Writing for Resistance

Level of Audience: Intermediate

Click here to register for this workshop and add it to your existing Annual Meeting registration.

Join this two-hour, two-part ethnografiction workshop led by novelist and literary anthropologist Ellen Wiles.


Part one involves short readings from ethnographic fiction, followed by a discussion about fiction and its role in anthropology, particularly in relation to activism and resistance. There are a myriad questions to explore in relation to the controversial intersection of creative writing and ethnography, echoing on from the Writing Culture debate. For instance, how much scope is there for invention in ethnography? How does fiction relate to notions of fact, evidence, humanism and truth in anthropology? What are the advantages and disadvantages of writing imagined characters and events in relation activism and resistance?

Part two is a creative writing session exploring ways to craft ethnografictional texts and spur activism through imaginative prose, involving stimulating writing exercises, and the opportunity to read aloud and share your work-in-progress with others.

Learning Objectives:

• describe the scope of ethnografiction.
• understand the role of fiction and creative writing in ethnography.
• create their own ethnografiction texts.

Organizer(s)

• Ellen Wiles

  University of Stirling

Workshop Presenter(s)

• Ellen Wiles

  University of Stirling