ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

ISSN 2562-9948

by Maximilian C. Forte

Debating the End of the Human Terrain System, Part 2

Part 1 ended with the observation that what might not stand out from the various debate positions on HTS, is the underlying unity that existed between the main lines of debate. As a result, certain opportunities for further developing critical analysis were lost, as I suggested back in 2013. This is what I turn to […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Debating the End of the Human Terrain System, Part 1

The year 2015 finally saw the final public confirmation of the termination of the US Army’s Human Terrain System, which apparently has ceased to be an effective reality since late September 30, 2014 (Vanden Brook, 2015). The “controversial social science program,” as HTS came to be called by the formerly enthusiastic mainstream media, has not […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Bare Feet

Encoding Poverty, Backwardness, and Dependency in US Military Imagery Bare feet. Ever since I was a small child, I have been made aware of how not wearing shoes was symbolically loaded with ideas of poverty, backwardness, primitiveness, or being low class. Images of barefoot people in newspapers and magazines almost always showed villagers in Africa […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Militarization: It’s All the Same, Everywhere. Or Is It?

By what logic, if any, does Zero Anthropology function? If in light of the controversy that erupted with the publication of Sophia Tesfamariam’s outline and condemnation of western anthropologists working to support regime change in her native Eritrea, Zero Anthropology for its part fails to criticize the Eritrean government for its alleged militarization, then what […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Militainment: Militarized Romance that Kills

The following is a series of extracts from Laura Powell’s chapter, “Glorification of the Military in Popular Culture and the Media,” published in Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 167-184: Overview: Laura Powell argues that while our military members are generally perceived as heroes, this romanticized perception of […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Queers of War: Homonationalism, Militarism, and Imperialism

The following are a series of extracts from Hilary King’s chapter, “Queers of War: Normalizing Lesbians and Gays in the US War Machine,” published in Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 89-101: Overview: Hilary King’s chapter is a very welcome addition to the subject of gender, sexuality, and […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Militarization of Humanitarian Aid to Haiti

The following is an extract from Keir Forgie’s chapter, “US Imperialism and Disaster Capitalism in Haiti,” published in Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 57-75: Overview: Keir Forgie details some characteristic actions of the new, that is, US imperialism enforced upon Haiti leading up to and following the […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Weaponizing Anthropology: An Overview

Weaponizing Anthropology: Social Science in Service of the Militarized State. By David H. Price. Published by CounterPunch and AK Press, Petrolia and Oakland, CA, 2011. ISBN-13: 9781849350631. 219 pages. For students already in anthropology and those interested in perhaps becoming anthropology students, for those researching the history and political economy of the social sciences, and […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Surveillance, Dissent, and Imperialism

The Inner-Outer Dialectic of US Imperialism There are many ways that imperial expansion abroad can tie in with the socio-economic conditions and political relations that primarily pertain to the domestic sector of the imperial state. On the other hand, it is not worth overemphasizing the separation of the “domestic” and “foreign,” a fact widely recognized […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Zero Anthropology: Top Articles for 2013 That You Probably Missed and Shouldn’t Have

This was a year of giant losses, especially with the passing of monumental figures such as Hugo Chávez (March 5) and then Nelson Mandela exactly nine months later (December 5). While Chávez’s successor seems to have rebounded successfully, lengthening his electoral lead in what is already the second election victory for Venezuela’s ruling PSUV since […]

by Brendan Stone

Colonial Feminism, Liberal “Progress,” and the Weakness of the Left

[Max Forte: Welcome to Brendan Stone who, along with Donnchadh Mac an Ghoill, joins ZA as a writer.] In view of Quebec’s Charter debate, the resurgence of discussions of the burqa and the niqab, and the continuing stories in the Western press of women’s oppression in Afghanistan, readers may be interested in this update of a paper written in […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

I Died For Our War Crimes

Troops are the new disposable items of a militarized consumer society that devours without care for consequences. There are always consequences. The destruction wrought by the U.S. on other nations, comes back home. This is a consistent fact of all wars, and it is especially true of imperial wars of choice. “Thank you for your […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The “Global War on Terror” Is Not Endless? A Pan-African View

The planned winding down of the global war on terror has major implications for the peace movement internationally and cannot be carried out without vigorous engagement from all. First published as: “War on terror not endless? A pan-Africa view” By Horace G. Campbell Pambazuka, Issue 609, 2012-12-06 INTRODUCTION After September 11, 2001, the President of […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Militarizing Africa and African Studies and the U.S. Africanist Response

By David Wiley [First published as: Wiley, David. (2012). “Militarizing Africa and African Studies and the U.S. Africanist Response.” African Studies Review, 24(2) September, pp. 147-161.] There was an ironic and troubling confluence in the 1958-64 years when simultaneously the majority of African nations won their independence, the Soviet Sputnik went up and shocked Americans […]

by John Allison

John’s Final Epistle to The Anthropologists, Part II: The Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) at the Climax of the Neolithic

The New Intelligent Design of Human Society and Anthropology Nobody in the USA or in the UN has proposed a bill – that I am aware of – for The People to vote on the fundamental topics of our era. We need to discuss such notions as whether we want to be competitive troops in a global, […]