Threatening anthropology : Mccarthyism and the FBI's surveillance of activist anthropologists / David H. Price.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Price, David H., 1960-

Series:

e-Duke books scholarly collection.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

McCarthy, Joseph, 1908-1957--Relations with anthropologists.

McCarthy, Joseph.

United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation--History--Sources.

United States.

Anthropology--United States--History--20th century--Sources.

Anthropology.

Anthropologists--United States--Political activity.

Anthropologists.

Marxist anthropology--United States--History--20th century.

Marxist anthropology.

Blacklisting of anthropologists--United States--History--20th century.

Blacklisting of anthropologists.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (447 p.)

Place of Publication:

Durham : Duke University Press, 2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Publisher's description: A vital reminder of the importance of academic freedom, Threatening anthropology offers a meticulously detailed account of how U.S. Cold War surveillance damaged the field of anthropology. David H. Price reveals how dozens of activist anthropologists were publicly and privately persecuted during the Red Scares of the 1940s and 1950s. He shows that it was not Communist Party membership or Marxist beliefs that attracted the most intense scrutiny from the FBI and congressional committees but rather social activism, particularly for racial justice. Demonstrating that the FBI's focus on anthropologists lessened as activist work and Marxist analysis in the field tapered off, Price argues that the impact of McCarthyism on anthropology extended far beyond the lives of those who lost their jobs. Its messages of fear and censorship had a pervasive chilling effect on anthropological investigation. As critiques that might attract government attention were abandoned, scholarship was curtailed.

Contents:

A running start at the Cold War: time, place, and outcomes

Melville Jacobs, Albert Canwell, The University of Washington Regents: a message sent

Syncopated incompetence: the AAA's reluctance to protect academic freedom

Hoover's informer

Lessons learned: Jacobs' fallout and Swadesh's troubles

Public show trials: Gene Weltfish and a conspiracy of silence

Bernhard Stern: "A sense of atrophy among those who fear"

Persecuting equality: the travails of Jack Harris and Mary Shepardson

Examining the FBI's means and methods

Known shades of Red: Marxist anthropologists who escaped public show trials

Red diaper babies, suspect agnates, cognates and afines

Culture, equality, poverty & paranoia: the FBI, Oscar Lewis & Margaret Mead

Crusading liberals advocating for racial justice: Philleo Nash & Ashley Montagu

The suspicions of internationalists

A glimpse of post McCarthyism: FBI surveillance and consequences for activism

The Cold War's impact on free inquiry.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [383]-403) and index.

ISBN:

9786612921209

9781282921207

1282921207

9780822385684

0822385686

OCLC:

191855652