Anthropology of Writing: Understanding Textually-Mediated Worlds

253 Pages·2010·2.68 MB·English

by  David Barton

The Anthropology of Writing
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The Anthropology of Writing
Understanding Textually
Mediated Worlds
Edited by
David Barton
and
Uta Papen
Continuum International Publishing Group
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© David Barton and Uta Papen 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or
any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the
publishers.
David Barton and Uta Papen have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as Authors of this work.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 9781441108852 (hardcover)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India
Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group
Contents
List of Contributors vii
Preface ix
Part I: The Anthropology of Writing: Writing as Social and
Cultural Practice
Chapter One What Is the Anthropology of Writing? 3
David Barton and Uta Papen
Chapter Two Writing Acts: When Writing Is Doing 33
Béatrice Fraenkel
Part II: Writing in the Workplace – Institutional Demands
Chapter Three Updating a Biomedical Database: Writing,
Reading and Invisible Contribution 47
David Pontille
Chapter Four Eruptions of Interruptions: Managing Tensions
between Writing and Other Tasks in a Textualized
Childcare Workplace 67
Karin Tusting
Chapter Five Tracing Cows: Practical and Administrative
Logics in Tension? 90
Nathalie Joly
Part III: Writing by Individuals and Institutions
Chapter Six Vernacular Writing on the Web 109
David Barton
Chapter Seven Keeping a Notebook in Rural Mali: A Practice
in the Making 126
Aïssatou Mbodj-Pouye
vi Contents
Chapter Eight Writing in Healthcare Contexts: Patients,
Power and Medical Knowledge 145
Uta Papen
Part IV: Historical Perspectives
Chapter Nine Edwardian Postcards: Illuminating Ordinary
Writing 169
Julia Gillen and Nigel Hall
Chapter Ten Lawful and Unlawful Writings in Lyon in the
Seventeenth Century 190
Anne Béroujon
Chapter Eleven Sexuality in Black and White: Instructions to
Write and Scientia Sexualis in the Nineteenth and
Twentieth Century 214
Philippe Artières
Afterword 226
Brian Street
Index 233
List of Contributors
Philippe Artières, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris.
David Barton, Lancaster University.
Anne Béroujon, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris.
Béatrice Fraenkel, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris.
Julia Gillen, Lancaster University.
Nigel Hall, Manchester Metropolitan University.
Nathalie Joly, AgrosupDijon/French National Institute for Agronomic
Research UR, 718.
Aïssatou Mbodj-Pouye, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales,
Paris.
Uta Papen, Lancaster University.
David Pontille, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris.
Brian Street, King’s College, London.
Karin Tusting, Lancaster University.
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Preface
This is a book about the study of writing from a cultural and social
perspective. Writing is of course not a new topic of research. Neither
is the understanding of writing as a social practice a new idea. What is
referred to Literacy Studies or New Literacy Studies (NLS) is nowadays
a well established tradition of research developed in Britain and North
America, but drawn on and further developed by researchers in many
other countries and regions. Writing research, as much as other academic
study, however, tends to develop within more or less closely connected
research communities. Such communities, as valuable as they are, can
also limit the degree of intellectual stimulation and development that is
possible. As scholars, we tend to like the familiarity gained from working
within a known fi eld or discourse. But we also feel the need to extend
our knowledge and ideas beyond that of those whose work we know and
frequently refer to. Language, however, more often than not limits
our ability to experience research from other countries and traditions.
Academic communities are in part a result of language differences and
the limited ability we all have to read books and articles in languages
not our own.
The present book has two aims. First, it seeks to broaden the focus of
(New) Literacy Studies by reframing it as the anthropology of writing.
Secondly, it intends to break some boundaries that result from linguistic
differences and from the tendency to stay within one’s known fi eld of
experience. It brings together two research traditions on writing: the
Anthropology of Writing developed in France, and the (New) Literacy
Studies, originating in Britain and North America. Over the past
25 years, the French and the British traditions have evolved separately
with different theoretical and disciplinary traditions, and there has
been little exchange of expertise and cross-referencing of work done
within the other tradition. Francophone research on writing is virtually
unknown in Britain and Northern America and Anglophone researchers