Conference Details: Anthropology and Global Counter-Insurgency

I’ve just posted information at Savage Minds about the conference I will be presenting at later this month. Rather than repost the whole post, I’m going to direct you there to have a look. Update: The website for the Anthropology and Global Counterinsurgency conference is now live, with a schedule, attendee listing, and abstracts of both the panels and the papers to be presented. [Continue reading]

First Review of “Anthropology at the Dawn of the Cold War”

The UK-based Socialist Review has just posted their review of Anthropology at the Dawn of the Cold War: The Influence of Foundations, McCarthyism and the CIA. [Continue reading]

The Construction of Anthopological Non-Knowledge

There’s a reason I’m up at 2:30 in the morning. I’m trying to wrap my head around a concept I came across in my research for the paper I’m presenting at the Chicago conference on anthropology and counter-insurgency. Here’s the quote that’s got me all worked up:

One of the most useful contributions of native anthropology could be the “decontamination” of settler youth by building the analysis of the formidable role of non-knowledge in settler culture into their training for the profession [or anthropology]. (Gwaltney, John L. “On Going Home Again — Some Reflections of a Native Anthropologist”. Phylon 37:3. 1976/ Pp. 241-2.)

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Upcoming Conference on Anthropology and Counter-Insurgency

I’ve been invited to speak at a conference next month of anthropology and counter-insurgency. Details are still sketchy; all I know so far is that the conference will be held at the University of Chicago on April 25-26. That means I have just over a month to write something new and meaningful. I’m thinking of surveying the history of anthropological involvement with the military, and closing with a list of fundamental incompatibilities between military practice and anthropological practice. More info to come… [Continue reading]

“Anthropology at the Dawn of the Cold War” Now Available in the US

book cover smallAnthropology at the Dawn of the Cold War: The Influence of Foundations, McCarthyism and the CIA went on sale a couple of days ago. As far as I can tell, it’s now available worldwide, wherever fine books are sold. Order your copy today! [Continue reading]

Further Reading on Anthropology, the Cold War, and the Military

During the several years I spent researching and editing Anthropology at the Dawn of the Cold War, I wrote several pieces on the themes covered in the book (or closely related issues) at Savage Minds. For your convenience, here is a quick guide to related information at Savage Minds.

  1. Anthropologists as Counter-Insurgents: My first look at the work of Montgomery McFate (a lead author of the Army’s counter-insurgency handbook and a strong advocate of anthropology as a military tool).
  2. [Continue reading]

Indiana Jones and the Quest for Tenure

One of my colleagues at Savage Minds posted the trailer for the upcoming Indiana Jones movie, drawing special attention to the last line. For all the part-time teachers out there, this one’s for you! [Continue reading]

A Quick Speed Up Vista Tip

I have a cheap laptop with Vista Home Basic (VHB) on it. VHB doesn’t include the fancy interface, Aero Glass, that is the hallmark of the Vista OS. Which is fine, I don’t need that — I think I’m more comfortable with the way I’ve been using Widows since ’97, anyway. [Continue reading]

Uptown/Downtown: The Settlement Movement and Jewish Immigrants

This paper tells the story of a colonial encounter. Between 1880 and 1915, some 3 million East European Jews migrated to the United States, fleeing from the violent pogroms and repressive policies of Czarist Russia under Alexander III. For these immigrants, America represented an uneasy mixture of di goldene medine (the Golden Land) and di treyfe medine (the Non-kosher Land), a country in which freedom of religion was a guaranteed right, if not always a practiced one. Already poor in the Old Country, for the most part they arrived in America penniless and made their new homes in the growing tenements of America�s major cities–Chicago, Boston, Denver, Philadelphia, and especially New York City, where over one-and-a-half million Jews settled over those 35 years. [Continue reading]

Anthropology at the Dawn of the Cold War Now Available in UK

book cover smallI just heard from my publisher that my book, Anthropology at the Dawn of the Cold War: The Influence of Foundations, McCarthyism and the CIA, has just arrived from the printer and is ready for release! They’re mailing me my copies tomorrow. [Continue reading]