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Category: politics

02/10/09

How can anthropology help us understand Swat and Taliban?

The Swat Pathan have been the subject of classic ethnographies in anthropology for many years. Now they are at the centre of a bigger battle for control and at the center of world attention because of a conflict that forced more than one million people t… more »

Correction (and Update): "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 misunderstoo… more »

28/09/09

Permalink 01:39:37, by Lorenz Email . Categories: politics, Us and Them, Asia, ethics

Army-Anthropologists call Afghans "Savages"?

Do you want to know what anthropologists who work for the US military in Afghanistan write about the people America is at war with? I resist to believe it but according to the Syndney Morning Herald they call some Afghan societies for "utter savages".… more »

10/09/09

The Anthropology of Suicide - World Suicide Prevention Day

It was around four months ago, I received the message of my friend's sudden death. "Nobody knows", I was told, "why she stepped in front of a train". Afterwards I often wondered if her life could have been saved if we all had known and talked more about… more »

07/08/09

Nancy Scheper-Hughes: Public anthropology through collaboration with journalists

How can we make anthropology public? How survive as politically engaged anthropologist in conservative institutions? Nancy Scheper-Hughes answers these questions in the guest editorial in the new issue of Anthropology Today. Public anthropology impli… more »

01/08/09

Why was anthropologist Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez Ávila beaten to death?

One year after anthropologist, author and indigenous rights activist Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez Ávila was beaten to death in Southern Mexico, there has been silence from the Mexican authorities. The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of International PEN as… more »

30/07/09

IUAES-anthropologists "praise" Chinese government's relation to minorities

Chinese authorities continue using the 16th congress by the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES) to spread propaganda. This is the most recent article: Overseas anthropologists: Adventure in Chinese ethnic village "e… more »

24/07/09

Anthropology in China: IUAES-conference boycott due to Uyghur massacre

(UPDATE 27.7.09: Chinese media propaganda at IUAES anthropology conference in Kunming? / UPDATE 30.7: IUAES-anthropologists "praise" Chinese government's relation to minorities ) Last year, the conference was cancelled by the Chinese government for fea… more »

23/07/09

Permalink 19:39:50, by Lorenz Email . Categories: politics, Africa, applied anthropology, ethics

When should anthropologists work for the military?

The debate on anthropology and the military is extremly polarized. Mats Utas, Head of the Africa Programme at the Swedish National Defence College, has written an interesting article where he challenges both sides. Among other things, he shows that there… more »

20/06/09

Militarisation of Research: Meet the Centre for Studies in Islamism and Radicalisation

We have discussed a lot about the strengthening ties between the military and universities in the USA and Britain, but similar things are happening in Scandinavia. And there is no public debate about it here. One example is a research center that was… more »

07/06/09

Fieldwork among homeless heroin and crack users - new book by Philippe Bourgois

"In Search of Respect. Selling Crack in El Barrio" is one of my favorite ethnographies. Now, Philippe Bourgois, is out with a new book. In “Righteous Dopefiend", he looks at the clients of the dealers, the University paper Penn Current reports. The pa… more »

22/04/09

Permalink 01:45:29, by Lorenz Email . Categories: politics, Us and Them, Africa, books

Mahmood Mamdani: "Western concern for Darfur = Neocolonialism"

300 000 people have been killed and 2.5 million been made refugees in the war in Darfur. In his new book, anthropologist Mahmood Mamdani describes the Save Darfur campaign as representing a refracted version of the moral logic of the "War on Terror" with… more »

01/04/09

University Cancels Alternative G20 Summit - Academics Occupy University of East London

Academic freedom and freedom of speech is more and more under threat in the "Western world": First, the University of East London (UEL) suspended anthropology professor Chris Knight, now they cancel the Alternative summit that should take place at the Un… more »

28/03/09

"Intolerant Universities": Anthropology professor Chris Knight suspended over G20-activism

(UPDATE: Alternative Summit cancelled, university occupied) Shortly after The Sunday Telegraph wrote that anthropologist Chris Knight is one of the organizers of a mass demonstration against the G20 summit in London, he was suspended from his job at the… more »

23/03/09

Financial crisis: Anthropologists lead mass demonstration against G20 summit

(Update: Chris Knight suspended over G20-activism) The G20 summit in London next month may be marked by one of the biggest demonstrations since a million people marched against war in Iraq in 2003. According to The Sunday Telegraph, the demonstrations ar… more »

07/03/09

War in Iraq: Why are anthropologists so silent?

Many US-anthropologists protested against the Vietnam war in the 60s. Why have anthropologists been so reluctant to engage with the "immense tragedy" and "waste of resources by our governments" in the Iraq war, Antonius C.G.M. Robben and Marshall Sahlins… more »

06/03/09

Back from Lahore: Terror and Open Access

Shalamar Gardens, Lahore I have been back from Lahore, Pakistan's cultural center and "City of Poets", for a while now. It was one of the most inspiring journeys I've been to. Just a few weeks ago we've been at the same place where - a few days a… more »

27/01/09

Boycott Israel? - More anthropologists on Gaza (II)

(text changed, name removed, see comments below) Four anthropologists are among a long list of scholars who in The Guardian call for a boycott of Israel: We must do what we can to stop Israel from winning its war. Israel must accept that its security… more »

07/01/09

Anthropologists on the war on Gaza (updated)

(See also part II David Graeber: Boycott Israel! - More anthropologists on Gaza) After two weeks war in Gaza, it's time to round up: How have anthropologists contributed to a better understanding of the conflict? According to my overview, they have bee… more »

01/12/08

How anthropologists should react to the financial crisis

Anthropologists have largely left the global effects of economic globalisation to economists. Now in this worldwide financial crisis it is the time for anthropologists to renew an engagement with political economy, Keith Hart and Horacio Ortiz write in… more »

09/11/08

Thesis: The limits of youth activism in Afghanistan

What possiblities have Afghan youth to rebuild their country and to work for a better future? Which constraints do they meet? Anthropologist Elisabet Eikås has been on fieldwork among young people in Kabul from October 2003 to June 2004. The result is… more »

04/11/08

Who has the right to vote? Anthropology News on US-election

If you need anthropological perspectives on the US-election Obama-McCain, you'll find them in the new issue of Anthropology News. One of the articles is about a study on voting, politicial participation and citizenship among individuals with psychiatric… more »

02/11/08

Permalink 00:18:37, by Lorenz Email . Categories: politics, gender, books, youth, Middle East

Researched the sexual revolution in Iran

Girls wear makeup, go with their hair uncovered, drink, have boyfriends and premarital sex: For seven years, anthropologist Pardis Mahdavi has studied the sexual revolution in Iran, the Ventura Country Star reports. Those actions could have brought ha… more »

22/09/08

How the Human Terrain System people think

"They’re natural born killers. They’re good, they’re lethal, they’re fantastic. I love working with them", says Major Robert Holbert. He was part of the first Human Terrain Team in Afghanistan in 2007 and tells his story in a fascinating interview with L… more »

03/08/08

Ethnographic study of anti-corporate globalization movements

"I had never seen anything like it. I knew immediately that I wanted to study this phenomenon", says

 anthropologist Jeffrey S. Juris. In 1999 he participated in the protests against the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. Now he ha… more »

11/07/08

Permalink 01:19:11, by Lorenz Email . Categories: politics, books, history, ethics

"A well-informed critique of wartime anthropology for the military"

Approximately half of all anthropologists in the United States contributed their expertise to the World War II effort. In his new book Anthropological Intelligence: The Deployment and Neglect of American Anthropology in the Second World War, anthropologi… more »

07/06/08

Permalink 11:04:40, by Lorenz Email . Categories: politics, religion cosmology

Anthropologist: Al-Qaeda uses dreams to justify violence

Militant jihadists are inspired by their night dreams according to a study by a social anthropologist Iain Edgar, according to Malaysia Sun. The researcher interviewed individuals in the UK, Pakistan, Northern Cyprus and Turkey to identify the key fea… more »

19/05/08

Lila Abu Lughod: "In Israel and Palestine we have an amazing opportunity"

(via CultureMatters) While Israelis celebrate the 60th anniversary of their state's founding, Palestinians around the world are mourning the "Nakba" - or "catastrophe" - that drove so many into exile. SPIEGEL ONLINE interviewed anthropologist Lila Abu-Lu… more »

30/04/08

Permalink 17:40:51, by Lorenz Email . Categories: politics, religion cosmology, Us and Them, Asia

"Racist" Buddhist monks hope for "ethnically clean" Tibet?

In his post Not only freedom: the dark ethnic side of the Tibetan Buddhist revolt, anthropologist Gabriele Marranci challenges mainstream images of Tibetans as peaceful and writes about Tibetan racism, ethno-nationalistic dreams, and attacks against musl… more »

30/03/08

The last days of cheap oil and what anthropologists can do about it

Oil is vital to our growth economy. Yet, our need for continued access to fossil fuels drives many of today's conflicts. And we are in the last days of cheap oil and need alternatives. In his guest editorial in the new issue of Anthropology Today (subsc… more »

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