Erkan's field diary

Aimé Césaire RIP

Aimé Césaire has passed away—you can read more in the New York Times obit.

Anthropology in Public

By Strong on Public Anthropology

In connection with this debate at SM, I noticed these observations at Open Anthropology:

I wonder if much of what we as anthropologists engaged in blogging are in fact engaging in is public anthropology, or simply anthropology in public. I will not be naming names, and take the charge that I am criticizing a “straw man”, to avoid any unnecessary skirmishes (I have enough battles on my hands already)–from what I have seen, most anthropology bloggers are in fact writing for an audience of anthropologists online, and the discussions, even when vibrant, retain a private quality...........

Public Anthropology or Anthropology in Public?

By Maximilian Forte

NO DIVIDE

Owen Wiltshire has a very thought provoking blog at nodivide.wordpress.com that shares his research project on anthropological collaboration through new media, anthropological blogging, and the decolonization of anthropological practice. It is a very unique and innovative research project that is essentially an anthropological study of anthropology itself. The guiding principle of his work is reflected in the blog title and URL: no divide.

Owen’s writing has provoked a number of thoughts.

Anthropology and Global Counterinsurgency: Paper Abstracts

By Maximilian Forte

Anthropology and Global Counterinsurgency is the title of a very interesting conference that is about to take place at the University of Chicago. It will be extremely disappointing if the conference organizers and/or participants decide not to make their papers available on the Web, given both the timeliness of the conference and the fact that papers published in locked down (closed access) sources will likely have a marginal impact on what has become a very public debate. This conference comes on the heels of a recent prominent speech by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates inviting and applauding the role of anthropology in counterinsurgency, as discussed in a previous post, The Military-Academic Complex in the U.S.: “The Minerva Consortia”.

In the short term, knowing how some sites can expire, and in keeping with the scrapbooking function of this blog, I am copying and pasting some of the paper abstracts that I think are the most directly relevant to current debates on anthropological embedding in American counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan.

HTS in Newsweek

By Strong on In the Press

Announcing the Minerva Consortium initiative, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says:

The Human Terrain program… is still in its infancy and has attendant growing pains. But early results indicate that it is leading to alternative thinking – coming up with job-training programs for widows, or inviting local powerbrokers to bless a mosque restored with coalition funds. These kinds of actions are the key to long-term success, but they are not always intuitive in a military establishment that has long put a premium on firepower and technology.