EDCMA

Description

The workshop this year is designed to be a creative, non-hierarchical space for postgraduate students and faculty from Edinburgh and Durham to discuss innovative ways of getting anthropological work out into the world. The day will be divided into two sessions.

The morning session will focus on the ethics, practicalities, and possibilities of writing for, or presenting to, 'non-academic' audiences. We will focus on questions like: What is the purpose of writing/presenting anthropology? Is there a role for fiction in anthropological writing? What is 'representation'? This will be followed by a short introduction to the afternoon sessions and a game.

The afternoon session is an opportunity for us to discuss and experiment with creative ways of writing and reading anthropology. We will split into two groups to run parallel sessions:

Group 1. Writing session: Bring a piece of writing or an idea that you'd like to play with! Do you want to turn your ethnography into a comic? Trying to start medical anthropology TikTok? Have you always wanted to try your hand at poetry? This is a space to experiment and get some feedback from your peers. We will have about 45 minutes of writing time, and 45 minutes to present and give feedback.

Group 2. Critique session: Bring a piece of non-academic anthropology (e.g. blog, book, podcast episode) that you'd like to discuss. Is there a blog that you love? An artist who perfectly bridges acedemia and fiction? An anthropology podcast you fall asleep to? We'll have a conversation about what works (or doesn't) and why, and the boundaries of medical anthropology.

The sessions will end with a whole-group discussion about what we've made, learned, and discussed.