Practicing Military Anthropology : Beyond Expectations and Traditional Boundaries

The relationship between anthropologists and the United States military has commanded a lot of attention, especially in regard to the controversial Human Terrain System (HTS) that embeds anthropologists in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Conversations at professional meetings, in the pages of disciplinary journals and in books have been heated and frequently harshly polemical with some participants branding military anthropologists as war criminals.

In this book, a number of anthropologists who have either worked with the US armed forces or who teach at military service academies reflect on what they do and teach in their military anthropologist personae. Through their personal accounts they show that the practice of military anthropology is much more than HTS and that they are more than mere “technicians of the state” as critics allege. Revealed here are thoughtful and moving essays that deal with issues of ethics, morality and professional decorum. Whether one agrees with these accounts or not, they do show that the linkage of anthropology with the military is complex and multi-faceted and the importance of frank and open exchanges of ideas for dealing with the relationship of military anthropology to the wider discipline.

Essential reading for those considering anthropology as a career, those concerned about the relationship of the academy to the military and for those seeking to fathom transformations in our lives following 9/11 and the ongoing “war against terror.”

Robert A. Rubinstein is professor of anthropology and international relations at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, where from 1994-2005 he directed the Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflicts. He earned his Ph.D. in anthropology from the State University of New York at Binghamton, and his Ms.P.H. from the University of Illinois School of Public Health. His research focuses on cultural aspects of dispute settlement, international health, and the anthropological study of peacekeeping. He is a founding member and current Co-Chair of the Commission on Peace and Human Rights of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences. He has published more than 85 journal articles and book chapters and is author or editor of 7 books, most recently Peacekeeping Under Fire: Culture and Intervention.

Kerry Fosher has published and worked as an anthropologist in the areas of homeland security, intelligence, and military education for over 10 years. Through her time with Dartmouth Medical School, the US Air Force, and the US Marine Corps, as well as service as a member of the American Anthropological Association's Commission on the Engagement of Anthropology with the US Security and Intelligence Communities (CEUSSIC), Dr. Fosher has worked to define and navigate the gap between academia and national security organizations.

Clementine Fujimura has been directly involved as a military anthropologist in teaching culture and language to midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy and in helping to raise the level of all graduates of USNA to be cross-culturally competent through yard-wide academic and training activities since 1993. Dr. Fujimura is the only full professor of Anthropology at The United States Naval Academy. In 2006, Dr. Fujimura was the recipient of the Civilian Faculty Teaching Excellence Award at The United States Naval Academy. She was selected as a Stockdale Fellow in 2007-2008 to continue this research for the Navy. Dr. Fujimura has presented her work to the Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group and at a number of conferences, panel discussions and invited lecture series. Her publications have included articles on the subject of diversity in the military and pedagogy of anthropology at the academy level.