Steve Caton: Khalid Bin Abdullah Bin Abdulrahman Al Saud Professor of Contemporary Arab Studies at Harvard

Working with Texts

The first part of writing in anthropology is learning how to read anthropological texts. Texts in anthropology can come in many different forms — ethnographies, scholarly essays, book reviews, case studies, and site reports, to name a few. Whatever the type of text, you are most likely going to encounter theory, but this doesn't have to be daunting. Put simply, theory is an interpretive lens that anthropologists use to make sense of or illuminate a specific context.

Distilling a theory from a text and then applying it one's own observations and work is fundamental to anthropological scholarship, but how do you begin?

In these videos, Professor Steve Caton delves into difficult passages from Adorno's Negative Dialectic in order to illustrate the value of grappling with a text, situating it within a context, and applying key concepts to analysis in and of own work.

Don't Read Instrumentally
- What is the value of reading difficult texts? Professor Caton discusses how not to read solely for a section or class but for the value of “inhabiting” the text.
  What is the value of reading difficult texts? Professor Caton discusses how not to read solely for a section or class but for the value of “inhabiting” the text.

Placing a work in a time and era: Negative Dialectics by Theodor Adorno
- How many times must one read a text to really grasp it? Professor Caton discusses the larger context of when Adorno's work emerged and some of the analytic contributions of the larger research.
  How many times must one read a text to really grasp it? Professor Caton discusses the larger context of when Adorno's work emerged and some of the analytic contributions of the larger research.

To Approach a Constellation: Deep Reading of Adorno passages
- Professor Caton takes us through a reading of a few passages to place how we might grapple with hard to grasp concepts in relation to Adorno's larger work. Why struggle through such dense text - what is to be gained? What is a constellation of capitalism and how might we approach it? What gaps remain in our reading and understanding?

From Abstract to Visual: Dialectical Views of Lawrence of Arabia
- Negative Dialectics was an influential text for Professor Caton and a key theoretical driver of his book Lawrence of Arabia A Film's Anthropology. He discusses the film and how Adorno's work, specifically from the deep reading above, gives analytic purchase for understanding the film and the dialectical images of Lawrence of Arabia.
  Negative Dialectics was an influential text for Professor Caton and a key theoretical driver of his book Lawrence of Arabia A Film's Anthropology. He discusses the film and how Adorno's work, specifically from the deep reading above, gives analytic purchase for understanding the film and the dialectical images of Lawrence of Arabia.

Encountering the Ethnography

Ethnographies are the signature publication of social anthropological scholarship. Ethnography is a rather unusual genre of academic writing because it combines analytical argumentation with detailed, evocative descriptions of the people and communities that are the subjects of the research. At first it may be difficult to trace the author's argument throughout the "thick description," detailed account, he or she provides, but there are some tips for getting started.

DO'S AND DON'TS OF READING ETHNOGRAPHIES

DO: Read the introduction! The author’s intentions are often made explicit in the introduction, moving back and forth between foreground and background during subsequent chapters before becoming highlighted once again in the conclusion.

DO: Pay attention to your own responses — Where is your attention gripped? Where does it flag? Where do you find yourself skeptical or wanting more information? — Doing this will provide you with a sound basis for assessing both the strengths and weaknesses of the book.

DO: Pay attention to the way in which these various types of data reinforce (or contradict) other, while assessing each form of evidence on its own terms.

DO: Tailor your focus to different sections of the book: skimming some sections, closely reading (and re-reading) others, and underlining or highlighting key terms, phrases and claims that recur throughout.

DO: Because the argument of an ethnography is worked out throughout its narrative arc, you will need to preview, read, and distill the point of each chapter in order to discern whether the book succeeds in executing the author’s intentions.

DON’T: Get caught up in the personalities and events evoked in the text that you are at a loss to discern which details are primarily evocative and which serve as building blocks for an argument.

The Archaeological Case Study

The archaeological case study is one of the most common types of archaeological writing, combining both the author's analysis of a particular site with archaeological theory or other outside information. Case studies can range in length, but they typically consist of an background section where the author outlines previous research or the main theories she is using and then a section describing their data and findings. This latter section can often be very technical since it contains the data from surveys, excavation, and/or scientific tests. When reading case studies, it is important to take note of how the archaeologist uses their findings to offer an interpretation of a site, object, past society, etc. Some questions to think about while reading might include, How does this author's interpretation support or challenge existing theories? How is the author using data to support her claims? What traditions (and other archaeologists) is the archaeologist pulling from?