Photo Contest Deadline Extended

Due to popular demand, the deadline for submitting photos to the 2009 AAA Photo Contest has been extended to October 15. Use the online submission form to enter today.

@ haha.nu

U.S. Congress and the Human Terrain System

To supplement the report by John Stanton, ?US Congress Requests Assessment of Army?s Human Terrain System: Independent Assessment Due from SECDEF by March 2010,? one should note the following background documents to which the request for the assessment refers.

Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street

Financial Times
Before I became a journalist, I did a PhD in social anthropology, a branch of social science that endeavours to understand the cultural dynamics of

Ardipithecus ramidus Replaces ?Lucy? as Earliest Hominid

At 4.4 million years old, Ardipithecus ramidus, uncovered in 1992, is nearly 1.2 million years older than the famous Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis).  This finding, among many others, will finally be published in full in today?s edition of Science magazine.  The materials will be available for FREE to everyone (non-subscribers must register).

EPIC Podcasts

The Brand Show recently posted three podcasts featuring anthropologists involved in the Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference.  Give them a listen:

• The Past, Present and Future of Ethnography in Business (feat. Martha Cotton)
• The Rise of Ethnographic Insight in Enterprise (feat. Ken Anderson)
• A New Perspective on Consumer Research May Give a Leg Up to Brands (feat. Gillian Tett)

John Stanton: U.S. Congress to Assess Human Terrain System

This is John Stanton?s 19th article on the Human Terrain System, with his previous ones available here at: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18.

Once again, this article was sent in by John and is gratefully reproduced here with his permission.

I am also happy to advertise the fact that John has published a book of his work on the Human Terrain System: General David Petraeus? Favorite Mushroom.

Correction: “Army-Anthropologists don’t call Afghans “Savages”

My most recent post Army-Anthropologists call Afghans ?Savages? received a lot attention, so it might be necessary to write a new post after the debates in the comment field and via email.

It seems that the Sydney Morning Herald reporter misunderstood. The part about the The Zadran who are called ?utter savages? and ?great robbers? who live in a country that was ?a refuge for bad characters? is not written by contemporary Human Terrain Team (HTT) army anthropologists. The quote is 90 years old!