Practicing military anthropology : beyond expectations and traditional boundaries / edited by Robert A. Rubinstein, Kerry Fosher, and Clementine Fujimura.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Rubinstein, Robert A., 1951-

Fosher, Kerry B.

Fujimura, Clementine K., 1965-

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

War and society.

Anthropological ethics.

Applied anthropology.

Military ethics.

Physical Description:

xi, 153 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Sterling, Va. : Kumarian Press, [2013]

Summary:

The relationship between anthropologists and the US military has commanded a lot of attention, especially in regard to the controversial Human Terrain System (HTS) that embeds anthropologists in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Conversations at professional meetings, in the pages of disciplinary journals, and in books have been heated and often harshly polemical with some participants branding military anthropologists as war criminals.

In this book, a number of anthropologists who have either worked with the US armed forces or who teach at military service academies reflect on what they do and teach in their military anthropologist personae. Through their personal accounts they show that the practice of military anthropology is much more than HTS and that they are more than mere "technicians of the state." Revealed here are thoughtful and moving essays that deal with issues of ethics, morality, and professional decorum. Whether one agrees with these accounts or not, they do show that the linkage of anthropology with the military is a complex and multifaceted relationship, which demands a frank and open exchange of ideas within the wider discipline.

Practicing Military Anthropology is essential reading for those considering anthropology as a career, those concerned about the relationship of the academy to the military, and those seeking to fathom transformations in our lives following 9/11 and the ongoing "war against terror." Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction: exploring military anthropology / Robert A. Rubinstein, Kerry Fosher, and Clementine Fujimura

1. Archaeological ethics and working for the military / Laurie W. Rush

2. "Living the dream": one military anthropologist's initiation / Clementine Fujimura

3. A day in the life of the Marine Corps professor of operational culture / Paula Holmes-Eber

4. The road Turnley took / Jessica Glicken Turnley

5. Pebbles in the headwaters: working within military intelligence / Kerry Fosher

6. Ethnicity and shifting identity: the importance of cultural specialists in US military operations / Christopher Varhola

7. Master narratives, retrospective attribution, and ritual pollution in anthropology's engagements with the military / Robert A. Rubinstein.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 135-139) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

9781565495487

1565495489

9781565495494

1565495497

9781565495500

1565495500

9781565495517

1565495519

OCLC:

791680262