Want to Contribute to the Blog?

To contribute to our BLOG, please adhere to the Style Guide below and email your proposed blog post, along with a short bio, to: submissions@thefamiliarstrange.com.

Content

  • Every post should, at some level, be about making something strange more familiar, or about making something familiar, strange
  • Can  – but doesn’t have to – fit in with one or more of the following ‘types’ of blogs: fieldwork reflections; methods; ethnographic writing experiments; everyday anthropology; hot takes; single shots; or book reviews.
  • Aim to make a SINGLE point (even if just exploring a single idea)
  • Begin with a hook: an evocative scenario, quote, question or news story
  • Can conclude by posing a question (be unfinished) and requesting a response/further debate
  • Personalise it: be you and make it relatable; don’t use a “we” to refer to “us anthropologists”; stay personal: I like x, I don’t like y, I struggle with z.
  • A little humor/snark can be useful
  • Use imagery if applicable
  • Blog posts may also speak to previous blogs or particular podcast episodes –  check out our fortnightly PODCASTS, where you can listen and build on or challenge ideas

Format & Style

  • 500 – 2000 words (excluding chunky quotes IF they are needed)
  • Use short sentences and paragraphs
  • avoid academic jargon where possible (or explain it)
  • link to article URLs in your text – this helps to build community and also drives readers to the blog using Google’s search engine optimization tools
  • Must have a title and sub-titles if appropriate – try to keep these simple
  • Don’t include a reference list (but you provide a ‘further reading’ list if you can’t link to online resources in your text)

We reserve editing rights. Feel free to contact us (submissions@thefamiliarstrange.com) if you have any questions. 

[Image by Julia Brown]