First of all, the mockery that you think you see, dear unnamed visitor, was mockery directed at HTS’ propaganda effort. That is not Bhatia’s arm that you see: that is the original arm on an actual movie poster, where only the text has been…

Rafael Fermoselle doesn’t say that they are savages. Which was the whole point of my commenting on the original post saying that “HTS thinks Afghans are savages.” Second, I am fairly sure that Rafael Fermoselle was not writing on your…

Hi, I’ve just come across a short article (http://anthonyclarkarend.com/armedconflict/video-human-terrain-war-becomes-academic/) showing the trailer of the the new movie “Human Terrain” ( http://humanterrainmovie.com/). According to…

Much of the discussion about ISIS/Al Qaeda and terrorism generally revolves around the random and non-military selection of targets. People at a concert in Paris. People in a building in New York. These are not military targets technically, and this is…

Martin Jacques, The Guardian There are many ways of recounting the history of the world - via the rise and fall of civilisations, the fortunes of nation states, socio-economic systems and patterns, the development of technology, or the chronology of w…

"A CIA scheme to sponsor trainee spies secretly through US university courses has caused anger among UK academics, the BBC reports. The Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program pays anthropology students up to $50,000 (£27,500) a year. They are expected…

"The most important information, which we can get out of this study, is how and what kind of action one can take." How much should anthropologists get involved in changing the lives of their informants? Johannes Wilm didn't limit his research to prese…

Anthropologist Anne Irwin has spent years in dangerous places with front line troops to observe how soldiers construct their identities as warriors. She wears the same combat uniform and body armour as the troops when she's in the field. At the moment, s…

Kambiz Kamrani at anthropology.net has made a nice post about national fotballs: How do the different countries represent themselves? Sport is bringing the world closer together, in his opinion. His list of World Cup participants "shows us the color side…

In San Jose, the members of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) approved resolutions condemning the occupation of Iraq and the use of torture. The events of Saturday's meeting do represent a "noteworthy democratic moment in the history of Amer…

"The US is sending troops to the Sahara desert of west Africa to open what it calls a new front in the war on terror", the Guardian reported three years ago. "The ‘official truth’ about the ‘war on terror’ on the Sahara-Sahel is a ‘lie’", anthropologist…

(post in progress) 2005 was the year anthropology finally became visible on the internet. 2006 was the year of a more public, political and open access anthropology? Open Access More and more anthropologists want to make their research available on…

While Iraq is seen as a place with messy politics, the Sudan is seen as a place without history and politics, and the Darfur-conflict as a case of "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide": "Arabs" are trying to eliminate "Africans". Why is the violence in Iraq…

On 15 December 2006 the US Army released a new counterinsurgency manual, FM 3-24. At least one anthropologist played a role in preparing the 282-page document: Montgomery McFate. Anthropological knowledge is even considered as more important than bombs:…

Reading my earlier post “The dangerous militarisation of anthropology” you might get the impression that this is something that only regards the U.S. But the same thing is happening in Britain. A few weeks ago the Association of Social Anthropologists of…

Some weeks ago I wrote a few lines about the book On Suicide Bombing by anthropologist Talal Asad. Among other things, he questions our notions about legitimate violence. On Sunday, the book was reviewed in the New York Times: Asad (...) takes aim…

I've finished reading Talal Asad's new book On Suicide Bombing. It belongs to the category of books I like most: It challenges common assumptions, makes us think (not so important if you agree with him all the time or not). By showing that the world is m…

What holds humanity together? What are the hidden or unacknowledged features of mainstream society? These are the issues that 21st century anthropology should address, Thomas Hylland Eriksen writes in his paper The perilous identity politics of anthropol…

(via Savage Minds) As a response to the growing militarisation of anthropology, a group of anthropologists (incl. David Price, Gustaaf Houtman and Kanhong Lin) has lauched the Network of Concerned Anthropologists: They encourage the development of an eth…

In the newest issue of Anthropology Today (to be published in October), David Price continues discussing how CIA and similar agencies "covertly set our research agendas and selectively harvest the resulting research" and writes that "sometimes we may nee…