The last thing I did at AAA on Saturday (besides buying tons of books) was to see Anthropology off the Shelf: Speaking Truth to Power With Books. This special session featured Paul Farmer, Howard Zinn, and Andrew Barnes.

Paul Farmer spoke first, trying to talk to the session’s theme. However, he noted that he didn’t think his books had had that much impact or that books were the best method for action in some cases. He made two comments about writing and research with respect to his work that really hit the nail on the head. He said that in talking with his patients and informants over the years, “No one has ever asked me to write about their suffering” and “No one asked me to do research.” I really took those two comments to heart, in the vein that we should not just sit back and write about injustice. The poor already know their situation. Get out there and act, dammit, and act now! Scholars must do activism, not just with their graduate students but with all their students, and with the general public. Farmer noted that he wrote his book Uses of Haiti to influence U.S. policy on that country. He said it was one of the few books that he’s written that had that direct aim when he started out. This book was never meant for his anthropological or medical colleagues. Sadly, he noted that “it’s had very little impact.”

Howard Zinn rambled on for quite a bit (about 15-20 minutes over his alloted 15 minute presentation). But, he was an affable gentleman, who had lots of interesting stories to tell. He talked about how books can change consciousness, via throwing out new ideas the reader might never have thought about or showing that not all people see things the same way. Ironically, while I think he’s right, his comments (cheered on by many of the listeners) implied that once people hear new, and correct facts, will shock people into changing their world view. A lot of my work, especially with our US in the World framework tool has shown that people are more likely to throw out facts rather than the frameworks that guide their thinking. So, Zinn’s got good ideas but how he communicates them might need some fine tuning. One of Zinn’s coolest comments was when he quoted Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut, when asked why he wrote, said, “I write so you won’t feel alone.” Paraphrasing another Vonnegut quote: he writes so that you know know there are others like you in the world.

The final panelist was Andrew Barnes, who works for the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and also served on the Pulitzer Prize Board from 1996 through 2005. He’s an historian by education and a journalist and writer by profession. He talked about the Pulitzer Prize process, as an insight into speaking truth to power via books. Regarding writing, he stressed that the topic must resonate with the general public to have an impact. He agreed that it was sad that this was the case, but it was true. An interesting quote from Mr. Barnes was one that I swear I told some work folks about 9 months ago. He said “if you try to speak truth to power and power doesn’t want to hear it, it will shut the book.” An important take away comment from him was that “if you wish to be widely read, you’ve got to focus on your writing. It’s very hard work.”

Sadly, many people at this session took little note of Farmer’s comments. They were shocked, literally, that he said that books might not have as much impact as they thought. They took it the other way and cried out that books are critical and important. Farmer responded later, during the discussion period, by noting that research and writing are indeed crucial. But, they should pair that with action. Most people still missed the point. My take is that books don’t change the world, action does. Writer later, act now!