Robert Albro, CEAUSSIC Chair
The AAA’s Ad Hoc Commission on Anthropology’s Engagement with the Security and Intelligence Communities (CEAUSSIC) continues its work. Our main activities at present include: 1. the writing of a report to the AAA on the widely and hotly debated Human Terrain System of the U.S. Army (by the fall), 2. The editing of a casebook illustrating the diversity of kinds of practicing anthropology, including associated ethical questions, with a primary emphasis upon the security sector broadly conceived, 3. And providing support for the AAA’s ongoing ethics process. In an effort to keep our work transparent and part of the public and disciplinary discussion of all of the above, CEAUSSIC is also going to be contributing a monthly entry to the AAA’s blog. Each entry, by different CEAUSSIC members, will address topics that have arisen or that we have been thinking about, which we will continue to discuss via the blog, a discussion in which we hope you will also participate.
Anthropologists and Analysts
Posted June 8, 2009 by Robert Albro (American U), Chair of the AAA’s Ad Hoc Commission on Anthropology’s Engagement with the Security and Intelligence Communities.
Of late there have been no new revelations about the Army’s Human Terrain System, and journalistic reportage on the program has ebbed. The debate on HTS among anthropologists has slowed, too, as it either waits for new developments before ramping back up or because most, if not all, of the critical points about HTS have now been made in one or another form. We now have the benefits of the body of work of the Network of Concerned Anthropologists, the investigative reporting of freelancers like John Stanton, internal military critiques from the likes of Ben Connable and others, Roberto González’s informative published pamphlet, the work of bloggers on Savage Minds, Culture Matters, and elsewhere, documentaries such as James Der Derian’s soon-to-be-released “Culture Warriors,” and many dozens of articles written by anthropologists and non-anthropologists, online and in print.
(more…)
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Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) joined Ranking Member Dick Lugar (R-IN) and Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) in 
As an update to our 
CEAUSSIC: Anthropologists and Analysts
Robert Albro, CEAUSSIC Chair
The AAA’s Ad Hoc Commission on Anthropology’s Engagement with the Security and Intelligence Communities (CEAUSSIC) continues its work. Our main activities at present include: 1. the writing of a report to the AAA on the widely and hotly debated Human Terrain System of the U.S. Army (by the fall), 2. The editing of a casebook illustrating the diversity of kinds of practicing anthropology, including associated ethical questions, with a primary emphasis upon the security sector broadly conceived, 3. And providing support for the AAA’s ongoing ethics process. In an effort to keep our work transparent and part of the public and disciplinary discussion of all of the above, CEAUSSIC is also going to be contributing a monthly entry to the AAA’s blog. Each entry, by different CEAUSSIC members, will address topics that have arisen or that we have been thinking about, which we will continue to discuss via the blog, a discussion in which we hope you will also participate.
Anthropologists and Analysts
Posted June 8, 2009 by Robert Albro (American U), Chair of the AAA’s Ad Hoc Commission on Anthropology’s Engagement with the Security and Intelligence Communities.
Of late there have been no new revelations about the Army’s Human Terrain System, and journalistic reportage on the program has ebbed. The debate on HTS among anthropologists has slowed, too, as it either waits for new developments before ramping back up or because most, if not all, of the critical points about HTS have now been made in one or another form. We now have the benefits of the body of work of the Network of Concerned Anthropologists, the investigative reporting of freelancers like John Stanton, internal military critiques from the likes of Ben Connable and others, Roberto González’s informative published pamphlet, the work of bloggers on Savage Minds, Culture Matters, and elsewhere, documentaries such as James Der Derian’s soon-to-be-released “Culture Warriors,” and many dozens of articles written by anthropologists and non-anthropologists, online and in print.
(more…)
Filed under: Commentary, Public Affairs | 3 Comments »