Anthropology of Writing: Understanding Textually-Mediated Worlds PDF
Preview Anthropology of Writing: Understanding Textually-Mediated Worlds
The Anthropology of Writing Also available from Continuum Discourses of Endangerment, Alexandre Duchene and Monica Heller Rethinking Idiomaticity: A Usage-based Approach, Stefanie Wulff The Anthropology of Writing Understanding Textually Mediated Worlds Edited by David Barton and Uta Papen Continuum International Publishing Group The Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane 11 York Road Suite 704 London SE1 7NX New York, NY 10038 www.continuumbooks.com © 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. This page intentionally left blank 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
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