Additional Information

Course Number

ANTH468P/466

Course Description

This course will examine interactions between anthropologists and military and intelligence agencies, with attention to three particular periods in U.S. history. The course will look first at World War II, when more than half of the nation’s anthropologists were utilizing their professional skills in some capacity to advance the war effort—gathering military intelligence, writing training documents, and working for government agencies. The course will then look at the Cold War, during which time, American anthropologists again worked closely with the U.S. government, sometimes resulting in troubled relationships, including incidences of FBI monitoring of U.S. anthropologists, CIA funding of anthropological research (sometimes without the scholars’ knowledge), and realignment of the discipline’s research agenda to serve U.S. national security objectives. Finally, the course will look at global events of the early twenty-first century and the manners in which they have created new relationships between anthropologists and national security personnel. In the face of prolonged insurgencies, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, segments of the U.S. military have taken renewed interest in anthropology, evidenced in part by the Pentagon’s Counterinsurgency Field Manual which called for the mobilization of anthropologists to conduct field research that would serve the needs of military strategy. In addition to these historical moments, the course will examine the ongoing and evolving ethical debates surrounding anthropologists’ collaborations with the U.S. national security apparatus.

Syllabus Available

No

Taxonomies

RPA Codes & Standards

• Adequate Preparation for Research Projects
• Appropriate Dissemination of Research
• Archaeologist's Responsibility to Colleagues, Employees, and Students
• Archaeologist's Responsibility to Employers and Clients
• Archaeologist's Responsibility to the Public
• Procedures for Field Survey or Excavation

CIfA Codes

• Principle 1: Adherence to ethical and responsible behaviour in archaeological affairs
• Principle 3: Responsibility for acquiring and recording reliable information of the past in archaeological research
• Principle 4: Responsibility for the availability of archaeological results within reasonable dispatch
• Principle 5: Recognition of aspirations of employees, colleagues and helpers in all matters of employment

Keywords & Terms

• Adequate Preparation
• Armed Conflict and Violence
• Avoid, Discourage, and Report Unethical and Illegal Activity
• Impact on Communities - Local, Descendant, etc.
• Ownership
• Preservation of Archaeological Resources
• Workplace Safety Standards

Topics & Issues

• Descendant, Resident, and Stakeholder Communities
• Destruction of Cultural Heritage
• Ethical Case Studies
• Professional Development
• War, Violence, and Conflict