domains / families / science / amanthro-theory-building

amanthro-theory-building

separate

Use when building the conceptual/theoretical argument of an American Anthropologist (AA) manuscript into a four-field contribution — whether the work is ethnographic, archaeological, biological, or linguistic. AA rewards a portable concept and reflexive argument over a bare finding or thick description alone. Structures the argument; it does not run analyses or write fieldnotes.

When to use

• building conceptual argument
• structuring theoretical contribution
• defining key analytic concepts
• stating mechanisms and interpretive logics
• explicitly stating positionality
• defining scope conditions and portability
• translating findings into anthropological claims

When not to use

• running analyses
• writing fieldnotes
• bare findings without argument
• thick description alone

Skill page

Source