culture – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

Amerika, Hu Akbar! A people of Mammon, or Love in a Land of Fear

Provocaine: “Love and Duty and Charity and Patriotism; That’s what makes America Great.” Barack Obama’s speech, second term election victory, 2012 You see! It all seems to need to be merged into One Human Society, with common language and rules of behavior called “law”, an easily managed Human Capital Unit (HUCU) grouping of occupational and […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Further Militarization of the Academy: Florida International University, SOUTHCOM, and Strategic Culture

Many thanks to Adrienne Pine for this important alert, “An Urgent Message to Academics about SOUTHCOM.” In that she presents us with evidence of a striking deepening of the alliance between U.S. academia and military objectives, in this case revolving around the concept of “strategic culture,” and joining Florida International University with the U.S. Southern Command […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Anthropology? Whatever

The following quotes are from Political Anthropology: An Introduction by Ted C. Lewellen (Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey, 1992. page 5). First, Lewellen begins by saying “Induction, cross-cultural comparison, culture, system, and evolution are not really defining qualities of anthropology so much as various aspects of the anthropological way of looking at the world. Although […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

When I hear the word “culture”…

For more than a hundred years anthropology has been spreading sweetness and light. And now that the results are in—now that even the strangest customs from the remotest places have been recognized as truly human and entirely natural—it is plain that the popular verdict has been an enthusiastic assent. Its ethical understandings are widely regarded […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Oh no! The Kear Bears are Coming! (On the voyage of the intrepid USS Kearsarge in the Caribbean)

While working on my own posts this morning, I was very happy to read a very good piece of research and critique by my comrade, Guanaguanare. My impression is that, thus far, the Trinidadian “blogosphere” has been relatively quiet about the arrival of U.S. Marines in Trinidad, as mentioned here earlier, and here, and here. […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Derek Gregory: The Cultural Turn in Late Modern War and the Rush to the Intimate

Dr. Derek Gregory is a Professor of Geography at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, a graduate of Cambridge, and the recipient of numerous awards. His recent books include: The colonial present: Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq (2004); David Harvey: a critical reader (edited with Noel Castree) (2006); Violent geographies: fear, terror and political violence (edited […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The “Culture” Virus: The Human Terrain System spreads to Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean

The intention of the links and extracts to follow is to show the spread of the U.S. military’s intention to build on the Human Terrain System in penetrating local cultures and intervening in local societies across the planet. Of course anthropology is singled out for “special mention,” now that in the minds of the state […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Leftist Discipline Debates its Right Wing?

Another very interesting debate has been prompted by an article by Hugh Gusterson, that is, the same article in Foreign Policy that was previously discussed on this blog. In my review I noted Gusterson’s contention that anthropology is “the most left-leaning discipline.” My writing on this blog seems to endorse another view, that anthropology contains […]