Despite sharing a commitment to representing human experience, the disciplines of anthropology and journalism have a tenuous relationship. While anthropologists tend to be skeptical of journalist’s objectivity claims, lack of reflection, and market pressure, journalists often dismiss anthropology as obscure, slow, and excessively literary. When anthropologists and journalists collaborate, it is usually to apply the immersive methods and contextual analysis of ethnography to journalistic endeavors, or what has been called ethnographic journalism. And yet, journalistic writing tends to be more effective at reaching popular audiences–the goal of public anthropology. In this presentation, I would like to propose the possibility of a “journalistic ethnography” to explore what anthropologists might learn from journalism. Building on my own collaboration with a journalist, I reflect on the benefits and challenges of combining our respective approaches to research and writing. Then, I will analyze several examples of journalism, in English and Spanish, that I think best exemplify models for making ethnographic writing more accessible without sacrificing theoretical rigor. The presentation will conclude by calling for more collaboration between anthropologists and journalists.

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