The relationship between anthropology and literature has attracted renewed theoretical energy in recent years (Brandel 2020; Debaene 2014; Fassin 2014; Reed 2018; Wulff 2016), developing and deepening connections with, for example, anthropological theories of art (Reed 2011), religion (Furani 2012), subjectivity (Olszewska 2015), and ethics (Bush 2017), as well as with allied fields and traditions, including postcolonial theory (Sadana 2012), Bourdieuan sociology (Dalsgård 2021), media theory (Rosen 2022), and ordinary language philosophy (Brandel 2023). Among the most fruitful trends in current research has been a revitalized emphasis on the possibilities for collaboration between writers and anthropologists, which has generated critical debate on the ethical and political limits of conventional methodologies (Schielke & Shehata 2021). The following set of conversations reflect and refract these trends in different ways, while proposing further openings for future work, particularly around questions of translation, creativity, care, and particularity. Each of these dialogues took place between anthropologists and writers with long-standing relationships, as members of collaborative research teams, co-authors, companions, mentors, and fieldwork interlocutors. Their differences in form reflect their range of commitments and approaches to the study of creative language practices. Participants were provided with an initial set of orienting questions and provocations, including about what brought the groups together, about the basis for the comparisons they draw between their work, and a reflection on whom they write for and why. They were edited and assembled with the help of one of the editors, Adam Reed.

近年来，人类学与文学之间的关系吸引了新的理论能量（Brandel 2020；Debaene 2014；Fassin 2014；Reed 2018；Wulff 2016），发展并加深了与艺术人类学理论（Reed 2011）、宗教等的联系。 （Furani 2012）、主观性（Olszewska 2015）和伦理学（Bush 2017），以及相关领域和传统，包括后殖民理论（Sadana 2012）、布尔迪安社会学（Dalsgård 2021）、媒体理论（Rosen 2022）和普通语言哲学（Brandel 2023）。当前研究中最富有成效的趋势之一是重新强调作家和人类学家之间合作的可能性，这引发了关于传统方法论的伦理和政治限制的批判性辩论（Schielke＆Shehata 2021 ）。下面的对话以不同的方式反映和折射了这些趋势，同时为未来的工作提出了进一步的开放，特别是围绕翻译、创造力、关怀和特殊性问题。每一次对话都发生在有着长期关系的人类学家和作家之间，他们是合作研究团队的成员、合著者、同伴、导师和田野调查对话者。他们在形式上的差异反映了他们对创造性语言实践研究的承诺和方法的范围。参与者收到了一系列初步的定向问题和启发，包括是什么让这些小组聚集在一起，他们对自己的作品进行比较的基础，以及对他们为谁写作以及为什么写作的反思。它们是在其中一位编辑亚当·里德 (Adam Reed) 的帮助下进行编辑和组装的。