Literary Anthropology

Literary AnthropologyAdvanced Seminar Co-chaired by Stuart McLean, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology and Global Studies, University of Minnesota and Anand Pandian, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University, April 21–25, 2013. Photograph by Jason S. OrdazLiterary AnthropologyAdvanced Seminar Co-chaired by Stuart McLean, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology and Global Studies, University of Minnesota and Anand Pandian, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University, April 21–25, 2013. Photograph by Jason S. Ordaz

This advanced seminar will explore the place of literary craft in contemporary anthropology, focusing attention on forms of transformative encounter provoked by the reading and writing of anthropological literature. Participants will include anthropologists who have engaged creatively and experimentally with the practice of anthropological writing, blending ethnography with narrative forms such as fiction, memoir, poetry, and travelogue. The seminar is intended both as a forum for conceptual discussion and as an intensive workshop for the collaborative development of innovative forms of anthropological prose. Renewed attention will be focused on the discipline's unique position between the social sciences, humanities, and creative arts. The product of the seminar will be a book that attests to the promise of literary anthropology as an essential form of contemporary public engagement—an opportunity not only to reach different kinds of audiences, but also to unsettle familiar idioms of academic description and explanation.

Anand Pandian discussing his paperAdvanced seminar “Literary Anthropology” co-chaired by Stuart McLean, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology and Global Studies, University of Minnesota and Anand Pandian, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University, April 21–25, 2013, photograph by Jason S. Ordaz	Advanced seminar “Literary Anthropology”Advanced seminar “Literary Anthropology” co-chaired by Stuart McLean, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology and Global Studies, University of Minnesota and Anand Pandian, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University, April 21–25, 2013, photograph by Jason S. Ordaz	Advanced seminar “Literary Anthropology”Advanced seminar “Literary Anthropology” co-chaired by Stuart McLean, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology and Global Studies, University of Minnesota and Anand Pandian, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University, April 21–25, 2013, photograph by Jason S. Ordaz
Anand Pandian discussing his paper	Advanced seminar “Literary Anthropology”	Advanced seminar “Literary Anthropology”
Advanced seminar “Literary Anthropology”Advanced seminar “Literary Anthropology” co-chaired by Stuart McLean, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology and Global Studies, University of Minnesota and Anand Pandian, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University, April 21–25, 2013, photograph by Jason S. Ordaz	Anand Pandian and Stuart McLeanAdvanced seminar “Literary Anthropology” co-chaired by Stuart McLean, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology and Global Studies, University of Minnesota and Anand Pandian, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University, April 21–25, 2013, photograph by Jason S. Ordaz	Stuart McLeanAdvanced seminar “Literary Anthropology” co-chaired by Stuart McLean, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology and Global Studies, University of Minnesota and Anand Pandian, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University, April 21–25, 2013, photograph by Jason S. Ordaz
Advanced seminar “Literary Anthropology”	Anand Pandian and Stuart McLean	Stuart McLean