Paper short abstract:

Writing is a key mode of communication in anthropology. Yet anthropological texts can be boring. With the recent call for clarity in anthropological writing, this paper explores concrete multimodal essays where images and sound in online texts is identified in terms of a creative anthropology.

Paper long abstract:

Writing is a key mode of communication in anthropology, both academically and to a wider audience. Yet anthropological texts can be boring and unreadable. Building on the recent call for clarity in anthropological writing, this paper explores concrete essays in multimodal anthropology focusing on the role of images and sound (audio files) in online texts. Two of the essays are by Petra Rethmann (2021) https://edgeeffects.net/sensorial-attunement/ and Helena Wulff (2021) https://www.otherwisemag.com/someone. The debate on text versus image goes a long way back, but has taken on new meanings with online publications. The point is that a variety of topics, not only on visuality, sound (or dance), become more credible by combining texts with new digital possibilities. As to the actual writing, anthropology has a lot to learn from creative writing techniques, in particular how to write a theoretically informed narrative with a nerve. This benefits not only the discipline’s knowledge production, but also public anthropology, and increases the discipline’s relevance in larger society. It has even been suggested that a creative anthropology is more accurate than traditional academic texts. In order to accomplish this shift there is an emerging demand for courses in writing accessible anthropology. They often include training in different anthropological writing genres, from creative nonfiction and memoir to journalism. The only caveat in the move towards creative anthropology in a multimodal spirit is that it tends to be confined to publications that are not included in citation indices. This may be a disadvantage for an academic career.