ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

ISSN 2562-9948

by Maximilian C. Forte

Wikileaks’ Afghan War Diary: Problems to Note, More to Come on Human Terrain Teams

First, in the interest of full disclosure, I am a financial donor to Wikileaks, and another member of this team, John Stanton, has released his own publications to Cryptome, whose founder was also a co-founder of Wikileaks. This is a very big moment in time, endlessly fascinating from any number of angles, and sure to leave a […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Military’s Media Whores: On Ethics, Power, Rapport and Responsibility

First, my thanks to Erik Davis (colleague, long time friend of this blog) for directing my attention to this brilliant piece by Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone: Lara Logan, You Suck, from which I will quote extensively in the extracts that follow. This is a “notes and quotes” feature of this blog, apart from this […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Human Terrain System on War News Radio

The latest media coverage of the U.S. Army’s Human Terrain System (HTS) comes from Kyle Crawford at War News Radio: The Human Terrain. Those interviewed on the program include recently deposed HTS program manager, Steve Fondacaro; Catherine Lutz, Brown University anthropology professor and member of the Network of Concerned Anthropologists; Keith Brown, a colleague of […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

A Major Report of a Minor Exception, or a Minor Report of a Major Problem? The American Anthropological Association’s CEAUSSIC vis-à-vis the Human Terrain System–Part 2

…CONTINUED FROM PART 1 We continue the discussion of the American Anthropological Association’s Commission on the Engagement of Anthropology with the U.S. Security and Intelligence Communities (CEAUSSIC) which released its “Final Report on the Army’s Human Terrain System Proof of Concept Program,” in early December of 2009. Though not a comprehensive summary, nor a thorough […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

A Major Report of a Minor Exception, or a Minor Report of a Major Problem? The American Anthropological Association’s CEAUSSIC vis-à-vis the Human Terrain System–Part 1

When the American Anthropological Association’s Commission on the Engagement of Anthropology with the U.S. Security and Intelligence Communities (CEAUSSIC) released its “Final Report on the Army’s Human Terrain System Proof of Concept Program,” in early December of 2009, there was a fair bit of media coverage that zeroed in on one paragraph in particular: When […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Human Terrain System Video News: John Stanton, and the AGS Bowman Expeditions in Mexico

While still small, the number of YouTube videos that pertain in some way to the U.S. Army’s Human Terrain System (HTS) is growing, and one can find a neatly arranged selection (which for some reason bears the exact title of one of my articles), on the World News Network. I will focus on only two, […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

SCRATs: AFRICOM after the Human Terrain System

For almost two years we have heard little more than passing statements and speculation about the U.S. Army’s Africa Command (AFRICOM) adopting the “human terrain” concept or deploying human terrain teams in Africa, even if individuals in the Human Terrain System seemed relatively confident this would happen (particularly, Montgomery McFate on the Charlie Rose show […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Time Line and FAQ for the Human Terrain System and Responses by the Network of Concerned Anthropologists and the American Anthropological Association

Knee Jerks, and Just Plain Jerks Recently on Savage Minds a number of uninformed assertions have been voiced by some commentators, to the effect that both the Network of Concerned Anthropologists (NCA) and the American Anthropological Association (AAA) instantaneously condemned the Human Terrain System (HTS) in the same month that it was publicly announced, allegedly […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Imperial Instruction: The Human Terrain System’s Academic Trainers, Part 2

…continued from Part 1 HTS’ Other Handlers There are those trainers who are not attached to either UNO or the University of Kansas as faculty. One of these, someone who for a while was a student in my department (before I arrived), is Dr. Liam D. Murphy, an anthropologist at California State University-Sacramento, who by […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Imperial Instruction: The Human Terrain System’s Academic Trainers, Part 1

As part of the series designed to “map the terrain” of war corporatism, beginning with charting the private corporations contracted by the Human Terrain System (HTS), corporations with military, intelligence, and other specializations, then examining the various other human terrain efforts outside of HTS, and then generally considering how anthropologists and other social scientists have […]

by John Stanton

US Army Human Terrain System Oddities: John Stanton

US Army Human Terrain System Oddities: Fired in the Field, Promoted at Headquarters by John Stanton 03 May 2010 The Human Terrain Team (HTT) Leader of AF‐1 was removed from his position after a US Army Brigade Commander expressed his concerns to the Human Terrain System (HTS) Program Manager-Forward- Mike Warren. In a meeting with […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Do professional ethics matter in war? Hugh Gusterson

“The Human Terrain project is fundamentally incompatible with the professional ethics by which we anthropologists live.” From Hugh Gusterson, “Do professional ethics matter in war?” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 04 March 2010: ….In the fall of 2007, the executive board of the American Anthropological Association issued an unusually strongly worded statement condemning the Human […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

David Price: Human Terrain Systems Dissenter Resigns, Tells Inside Story of Training’s Heart of Darkness

Human Terrain Systems Dissenter Resigns, Tells Inside Story of Training’s Heart of Darkness: How U.S. Military Gameplans War on Greens Inside U.S.; “Ethical Concerns” a Bad Joke. By David Price CounterPunch February 15, 2010 I first came into contact with cultural anthropologist John Allison a couple of years ago when he invited me to join […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Where are the Pueblo Clowns?

Dedicated to my colleague and comrade, John Stanton, and to myself. “Isn’t it rich? Are we a pair?” This comes from David H. Price, “Anthropologists as Spies,” The Nation, November 2, 2000: Archeologist Joe Watkins, chairman of the ethics committee, believes that if an anthropologist were caught spying today, “the AAA would not do anything […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Blind Spots: Ethical Research in the Midst of Counterinsurgency

“Rough Terrain,” an article by Vanessa Gezari in the Washington Post (30 Aug. 2009), one of the latest in a series of articles in the mainstream media devoted to the Human Terrain System published over the past two years, introduces us to the figure of “Doc”: Karl Slaikeu, a 64-year-old psychologist and conflict-resolution specialist from […]