history – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

Land, Labour, and Power in a Colonial Catholic Mission in Trinidad

Colonial propaganda that masks “humanitarianism” behind self-interest, and breeds euphemisms that are inversions of reality, constitute the recurring subjects of the critiques produced on Zero Anthropology. Little of what we encounter in the present is either new or “original”: much of the “foreign policy” language of elite geopolitical strategists is in fact derived from much […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Pearls before Swine

Pearls, in the Parish of St. Andrew’s, Grenada, just up the road from the main town of Grenville, is a unique place that sits at the intersection of two of the main themes of my research career: the cultures and histories of Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean, and the political economy of US imperialist interventions. Both […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

America: Imagine an America without Her

What might world history have looked like if there had never been a United States, or if it ceased to exist before the 20th-century? Is “America” an “exceptional” nation, an “idea” even, that stands as a beacon of hope to the rest of the world? Is “America” largely innocent of the crimes of genocide, slavery, […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Exodus Story and Western Conceptions of Progress, Movement, Revolution

Exodus: Movement of the People Thinking still of Gastón Cordillo’s essays on resonance—“Resonance and the Egyptian Revolution” and “The Speed of Revolutionary Resonance,” and others writing about “The Phenomenology of the Resonance-Reverberation Doublet”—I remember writing to Gastón that the concept of resonance reminded me of “agitation,” which raised other associations of political terms that are […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM): Commemorating Columbus Day 2010

Readers will appreciate that a tremendous amount of historical research, and interviews with participants, went into this project to present the true history of the voyages of Christopher Columbus to Afghanistan, a history that thus far has been replete with misconceptions, unsubstantiated rumour, and popular myths. Clearly, Columbus and his brothers are to be celebrated […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Calculating Colonial Injustice: Italy’s “Compensation” to Libya

As discussed previously on this blog, Italy has now finalized an agreement to pay Libya $5 billion (US) in compensation for colonial injustice. In some respects it represents more of a business plan motivated more by Italian strategic calculations than anything else: the hefty dollar figure includes a large portion in investment projects that will […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Minerva Project and Looted Iraqi Documents (2.0)

This struck me the first time that I read the Department of Defense’s “Broad Agency Announcement,” soliciting project proposals for the new Minerva Research Initiative. One of the areas of research for which applications are invited is titled the “Iraqi Perspectives Project.” Part of the description of the background of this research field reads as […]