Jessica Smith

Professor Vaughn
English Composition 2089
25 April 2016
An Ethnography of Those Who Write Ethnographies: UC Anthropologists
Among the many majors at the University of Cincinnati, anthropology is one that is not
very likely to be well known by the average student. Identifying oneself as an anthropology
major is often met with a confused smile and the question isnt that digging up dinosaurs?
What the person asking that question should probably know is that studying dinosaurs is
paleontology, which is an entirely different field of study in and of itself. Despite anthropology
flying under the radar, the University of Cincinnati houses a bustling discourse community of
anthropologists.
To give background on a field of study that is relatively unknown at the university,
anthropology is the study of people and their cultures across time and space. There are four
different subfields of anthropology which include cultural anthropology, biological anthropology,
archaeology, and linguistics. At the University of Cincinnati, all four subfields are represented
through studies within both faculty and students. The faculty boasts knowledge and experience
studying topics such as the lives and societies of Mongolian herders, molecular cell variation
within the human genome and its relation to the societal construction of race, and archaeobotanical evidence recovery in Israel. While ethnographies may be written more in cultural
anthropology than the other three subfields, writing about the customs, ideology, behaviors, and
general lives of groups of people is a central practice in anthropology. Similar to how this essay
will be an ethnography reflecting the discourse community of anthropology at the University of

Cincinnati, anthropologists have been writing ethnographies to delve deeper into different
cultures since the advent of the field of study itself.
While there have been articles and essays galore about the topic of discourse
communities, and there have been many debates over the criteria that make up discourse
communities, there has been next to nothing written regarding anthropology as a discourse
community. Discourse communities themselves are groups that share and communicate about a
common topic, field of study, or interest. One of the most influential writers on the topic of
discourse communities is John Swales, and he gives a list of six characteristics that he believes
are essential to constituting a discourse community. These characteristics are listed in his essay in
Writing About Writing and are as follows:
1. A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.
2. A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its
members.
3. A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide
information and feedback.
4. A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the
communicative furtherance of its aims.
5. In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific
lexis.
6. A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree
of relevant content and discoursal expertise (Swales 220-222).
In order to gather data on anthropology as a discourse community at the university, I conducted
research through personal participation such as attending public anthropology events sponsored
by the department and interviewing the director for Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Heather Norton.
Through this research, anthropology at the University of Cincinnati reflects all of Swales

elements of a discourse community, with some of the characteristics fitting Swales descriptions
to a different degree than others.
Similar to how the American Anthropological Association has its goals and founding
principles posted on its webpage, the University of Cincinnati Anthropology department
demonstrates Swales first necessary characteristic through the departments webpage. On this
webpage, information about the UC anthropology goals, history, key themes, research, and both
graduate and undergraduate programs within the department. The scrolling sets of images display
interesting events, publications, laboratory work, and even movie documentaries that students
and staff have been a part of. The goals of the anthropology department are shared and agreed
upon by all UC anthropologists, and the webpage reflects these goals with In the Department of
Anthropology at the University of Cincinnati, we are committed to both scientific and
interpretive approaches to the study of human diversity. Faculty and students in the department
conduct empirical research, using both quantitative and qualitative methods and analytical
techniques (University of Cincinnati Anthropology).
The UC anthropology webpage is also in accordance with Swales second and third
discourse community component of having methods of intercommunication between members of
the discourse community and providing mechanisms for information and feedback. While the
webpage for the anthropology department on UCs website only provides links for
communicating, and does not provide a platform of communication, the department has many
other sources for communicating and providing feedback and information. There are posters
detailing class descriptions and events within the department to encourage students to experience
what the department has to offer, but the main forms of information and feedback would be the
various social media platforms have University of Cincinnati anthropology accounts, such as

Twitter and Facebook. The Twitter and Facebook accounts are extremely active, and a variety of
different things are posted. There are posts/tweets made concerning anthropology sponsored
events on and around campus like the Taft Research Center Lecture Series that recently wrapped
up, World Anthropology events, anthropology degree requirement reminders, retweets and shares
from other anthropology based accounts like Sapiens, and even #AnthAlumMonday where
updates are given on the accomplishments of alumni of the anthropology program at UC. The
anthropology club at UC, Anthropos, also has a Facebook page where club announcements and
information is shared. Facebook generally is used more for communication than Twitter seeing
as the opportunity to more wholly express ones thoughts is not limited to 140 characters.
Aside from the social media platforms and the webpage, the anthropology department
also has other ways of communicating its goals. The Taft Research Lecture Series mentioned in
the previous paragraph is one main example of a genre that provides a chance for communication
that is not written. As a department, and a field of study in general, anthropology is very focused
on expanding the knowledge of all kinds of people and their cultures. Such a focus has been a
primary focus of anthropology as a field of study since its conception, conducting field research
through observation and participation in different cultures and then creating an ethnography on
the culture and its communities similar to what I am doing in this essay. The lecture series
specifically took place at the Taft Research Center, which is a building on campus dedicated to
furthering knowledge of the humanities through events such as lectures, movies, and even poetry
readings. The lectures sponsored by the anthropology department were a series as vast as the
study itself, with topics ranging from New York and Philadelphia street style photography and
blogging to how Muslims and their activism have changed over the course of history. The
anthropology department holds this unique genre of communication with high regard; professors

from all over the country have come to the university to enrich the minds of those who choose to
attend the lectures, and the fact that this genre is not written and strict with communication only
further reflects the departments versatility.
The fifth requirement for a discourse community according to Swales is that the
community must have a specific lexis. Upon first looking at anthropology, one might not think
that there are very many words or phrases that are unique to the field of study. Many of the
words used by anthropologists are words from every day life, such as culture and race;
however, in the context of anthropology, these words can hold more complex meanings than the
ones that a non-anthropologist might give them. For instance, culture is not one-dimensional in
anthropologythere is culture and there is Culture. This distinction can be somewhat
relative depending on who is giving the definitions, but the main differentiation is always
present. Culture is everything that we say, think, or do as a society, and is a universal of all
societies in the world, but culture is the specific elements of a society, such as the red painted
pottery that was specific to the people of Ban Chiang in 2100 BC in Thailand. This distinction is
one of the first things that a student might learn in Cultural Anthropology 1001, and it holds
importance in a field such as anthropology where the culture of different people is one of the
main focuses. Race is another example of a common word that has specific meaning in
anthropology. Anthropology recognizes that the common usage of the word race is often built on
arbitrary physical characteristics that derives from an ideology of believing that certain people
are lesser. Race is a major topic of study across the different fields of anthropology, including
cultural, biological, and medical anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics. For anthropologists,
race takes the human experience into consideration, and that is what makes the usage of the word
far different and specific than the potential usage in a different department.

Swales last criterion for a discourse community is that there is a threshold of

qualification for members of the discourse community. Upon interviewing the director of
undergraduate studies and programs for anthropology at UC, Dr. Heather Norton, she spoke on
commented on the criterion saying, I dont believe there are parameters that define a UC
anthropologist (Norton). Although her puts her at the pinnacle of expertise in anthropology at
the university, I am inclined to disagree with her. To be an anthropologist at the University of
Cincinnati, the one qualifier that I would give (beyond being a part of the anthropology major,
which is a more obvious qualification), is that UC anthropologists should have an open mind.
This is an open-ended kind of qualification, but I believe that it is necessary for any person
studying, and more importantly, practicing, anthropology. Anthropology is all about studying the
human experience and how different societies practice culture. Sometimes, an anthropologist
might come across obstacles in personal morality when studying a culture, but a true
anthropologist can process and understand that one does not have to agree with the practices
and/or ideology of a society to study them.
Dr. Norton also spoke on other facets of the anthropology department at the University of
Cincinnati that I found to be interesting. As the director of undergraduate studies for the
department, Dr. Norton is familiar with the many successes and potential snags in a field of study
such as anthropology. As one of my themes to study within the discourse community of
anthropology at the university was leadership and enculturation, I asked Dr. Norton if there were
any challenges resulting from experience that may affect leadership in the department. Dr.
Nortons response was a thoughtful one:
Yes, I do. But to be clear, there are different types of experience that I think we might be
talking about here. For example, its possible to be a highly trained and technically skilled

archaeologist, but still not have the necessary people-skills or management abilities to have a
leadership or administrative position within the department. Some faculty who have
experience as leaders of a field team or lab group might have a bit more experience in
managing people (e.g., identifying individuals strengths and weaknesses and assigning them
appropriate tasks based on these skills, navigating disputes/finding points of cohesion within
the group, facilitating discussions about future plans of action) or in other aspects of
department management (budgets, scheduling, etc.), but such experience doesnt necessarily
mean that they would be skilled at uniting the different personalities/goals of our particular
department. Also, you can be an absolutely brilliant anthropologist and still not be a good
leaderthe two skill sets dont necessarily go hand in hand (Norton).
Dr. Norton makes a key point that affects many discourse communities, not just
anthropology with the last sentence in her statement. Skill in leadership and skill in ones field
of study are not synonymous, and it is important to note that in general when considering
leadership in a discourse community. Leadership in a discourse community relates to another
important aspect of being a member of a discourse community, and that is enculturation. The
glossary of Writing About Writing defines enculturation as the process by which a newcomer
learns to become a part of a group or culture (including an activity system, discourse
community, or community of practice) (795). Linguist Ann M. Johns also speaks on
enculturation in the first edition of Writing About Writing when she cites Lave and Wenger
with as students begin to engage with the discipline, as they move from exposure to
experience as they work in a particular community, they start to understand its particularities
and what joining takes, (500). One of the most interesting parts of the UC anthropology
department that both Dr. Norton and I agree upon is that the faculty, staff, and students are

generally extremely inviting. As mentioned earlier, Dr. Norton does not believe that there are
parameters for being a UC anthropologist, and this might have to do with the fact that people
in the department are more than willing to welcome a neophyte with open arms. This
welcoming atmosphere makes joining the anthropology discourse community and the
enculturation that comes with it far easier than joining a different discourse community on
campus. Aside from having an open mind and being an anthropology major, a newcomer can
join the UC anthropologists with relative ease. The lexis and ideologies of the discourse
community can be learned through not only formal academic education, but also the
anthropology club meetings, attending the anthropology events and lecture discussions, and
even talking one-on-one with a professor. With such a diverse department and field of study,
reservations on joining the discourse community are likely to be quickly dismissed upon the
first interaction one has with a member of the anthropology department.
Despite the department and discourse community of University of Cincinnati
anthropologists being relatively recent compared to discourse communities and fields of study
that have been around since the campus conception in 1819, anthropology continues to
develop and thrive. New classes such as Dogs! The Evolution of Mans Best Friend and
Anthropology of International Migration continue to add to the unique and diverse interests
of the department, and the range of classes available set UCs anthropology department as a
whole apart from many other departments at universities across the nation and the world. As
someone who is making her way deeper into the discourse community of UC anthropology, I
hope to continue to learn from the vast resources around me and to take the knowledge I
accumulate and experiences I gain and take them with me as I venture through life and other
discourse communities I may enter. Even though UC anthropology flies under the radar like

the pterodactyls some mistakenly think we study, the importance of anthropologists will
continue to soar.

Works Cited
Anthropology. University of Cincinnati. University of Cincinnati Anthropology, n.d. Web. 25
Apr. 2016.
Dr. Heather Norton (director of undergraduate research and education at the University of
Cincinnati), email interview April 4, 2016, transcript.
Johns, Ann. "Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice: Membership, Conflict, and
Diversity." Writing about Writing: A College Reader. 1st ed. Ed. Elizabeth
Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. 499-518. Print.
Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. Writing about Writing: A College
Reader. 2nd ed. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins,
2014. 217-229. Print.
Wardle, Elizabeth and Downs, Doug. Glossary. Writing about Writing: A College Reader. 2nd ed.
Boston/Bedford St. Martins, 2014. 795. Print.

Dr. Heather Norton Email Interview

1. What is anthropology to you?
Broadly speaking anthropology to me is the study of humans (you can figure that out from the
name itself, though). To look at this in more detail, anthropology is a discipline that lets us study
human variation in terms of culture, behavior, and biology. Additionally, when we look at this
variation we do so not just with a focus on modern populations, but also by incorporating a time
component. We are interested not just in what humans are doing today, but also in what they did
in the past. This time component allows us to focus not just on the behaviors and traits of
modern humans in the recent past, but on the behaviors and traits of our ancestors, tracing the
evolutionary lineage that separates humans from other non-human primates.
2. Do you believe that experience affects leadership ability and positions in the anthropology
department?
Yes, I do. But to be clear, there are different types of experience that I think we might be talking
about here. For example, its possible to be a highly trained and technically skilled
archaeologist, but still not have the necessary people-skills or management abilities to have a
leadership or administrative position within the department. Some faculty who have experience
as leaders of a field team or lab group might have a bit more experience in managing people
(e.g., identifying individuals strengths and weaknesses and assigning them appropriate tasks
based on these skills, navigating disputes/finding points of cohesion within the group, facilitating
discussions about future plans of action) or in other aspects of department management
(budgets, scheduling, etc.), but such experience doesnt necessarily mean that they would be
skilled at uniting the different personalities/goals of our particular department. Also, you can be
an absolutely brilliant anthropologist and still not be a good leaderthe two skill sets dont
necessarily go hand in hand.
3. What are some challenges that you believe would make becoming part of the anthropology
community at UC difficult? Are there any parameters that you think set the standard for a UC
anthropologist?
Historically we have been a small department, with a small number of senior, tenured professors
and a large number of young, untenured faculty. To join the department as a junior faculty
member meant that not only did you have to get your teaching and research program going (a
standard any time you begin in a new department), but that there is also a heavy service burden
imposed on all of our junior faculty members. This means that we have several junior faculty
serving in positions of leadership. While this may pay dividends in the future (some of us learned
skills in departmental administration early in our time here at UC), it also means that it can be
harder to develop a vibrant research program while being tasked with all of these service roles.
A second possible challenge is that as a faculty we have a diverse set of interests. While there is
some cohesion among the archaeologists (around themes of human/environment interactions),
there is less cohesion among cultural and biological faculty. I am afraid that we sometimes find
ourselves searching for that mythical new faculty member who will become the glue that unites
us into a department with one to two main research foci. Im fairly certain that such a person
does not exist, but it doesnt mean that we are not unconsciously trying to develop a hire around
this idea.

I dont believe there are parameters that define a UC anthropologist.

4. Could you tell me about a time in which you were/are in a leadership position within the
department and any difficulties that you face(d)?
As Director of Undergraduate Studies one of my jobs is to help determine the classes that we
offer each academic year. This requires balancing the needs of our students (e.g., making
sure that certain required courses are taught with sufficient frequency) as well as faculty
workloads and faculty desires to teach certain specialized courses. There is often no path
forward that leaves everyone happy.