From: glevy@PRATT.EDU
Date: Fri Oct 05 2007 - 08:23:16 EDT
Via Joe Smith and Globolist. / In solidarity, Jerry ============================================================= Here are some useful resources on new plans to embed anthropologists in military units. [1] <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/world/asia/05afghan.html?hp> "Army Enlists Anthropology in War Zones" By David Rhode NY Times, Oct. 5, 2007 SHABAK VALLEY, Afghanistan — In this isolated Taliban stronghold in eastern Afghanistan, American paratroopers are fielding what they consider a crucial new weapon in counterinsurgency operations here: a soft-spoken civilian anthropologist named Tracy. Tracy, who asked that her surname not be used for security reasons, is a member of the first Human Terrain Team, an experimental Pentagon program that assigns anthropologists and other social scientists to American combat units in Afghanistan and Iraq. Her team's ability to understand subtle points of tribal relations — in one case spotting a land dispute that allowed the Taliban to bully parts of a major tribe — has won the praise of officers who say they are seeing concrete results... [2] <http://www.counterpunch.org/gonzalez09272007.html> Pledging to Boycott the "War on Terror" When Anthropologists Become Counter-Insurgents By ROBERTO J. GONZÁLEZ and DAVID H. PRICE Counterpunch, Sept 28, 2007 When anthropologists work overseas, they typically arrive with an array of equipment including notebooks, trowels, tape recorders, and cameras. But in the new context of the Bush Administration's "war on terror," a growing number of anthropologists are arriving in foreign countries wearing camouflage, body armor, and guns. As General Petraeus and his staff push to enact new strategies in Iraq, the value of culture is taking on a greater role in military and intelligence circles, as new military doctrines increasingly rely on the means, methods and knowledge of anthropology to provide the basis of counterinsurgency practices. The Department of Defense, intelligence agencies, and military contractors are aggressively recruiting anthropologists for work related to counter-insurgency operations. These institutions seek to incorporate cultural knowledge and ethnographic intelligence in direct support of US-led interventions in the Middle East and Central Asia. [3] <http://concerned.anthropologists.googlepages.com/home> Network of Concerned Anthropologists: Pledge of Non-Participation in Counterinsurgency We, the undersigned, believe that anthropologists should not engage in research and other activities that contribute to counter- insurgency operations in Iraq or in related theaters in the "war on terror." Furthermore, we believe that anthropologists should refrain from directly assisting the US military in combat, be it through torture, interrogation, or tactical advice. US military and intelligence agencies and military contractors have identified "cultural knowledge," "ethnographic intelligence," and "human terrain mapping" as essential to US-led military intervention in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. Consequently, these agencies have mounted a drive to recruit professional anthropologists as employees and consultants. While often presented by its proponents as work that builds a more secure world, protects US soldiers on the battlefield, or promotes cross- cultural understanding, at base it contributes instead to a brutal war of occupation which has entailed massive casualties... [4] David Price's Publications on Anthropology's Interactions with Military & Intelligence Agencies <http://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/dprice/page3.html>
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