Margaret Mead – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

Anthropology: The Empire on which the Sun Never Sets (Part 3)

Within the question of the professionalisation of the discipline lies a still largely unexplored area of how Anthropology serves as a western, largely white, middle-class mode of ‘consumption’, specifically the consumption of knowledge about the world that has been ‘appropriately’ filtered, organized, and translated. Of course getting a degree in Anthropology is not just like any other form of consumption, just as it is not merely an expression of curiosity: the process results in formal certification.

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

Fear and Loathing of Margaret Mead

To be perfectly frank, I am no fan of Margaret Mead. Had she been born a while later, she probably would have been the Senior Social Scientist at the Human Terrain System. I once heard a colleague describe her, in supposedly positive terms, as one of anthropology’s “war horses” –which seems all too true on […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Anthropology, Philanthropy, and Empire

Published yesterday in Dissident Voice, Michael Barker‘s article “Foundations and Anthropology in the United States,” could be very useful reading for students, those who may not be too familiar with the role of elites in shaping and founding key pillars of American anthropology, and members of the broader public. Speaking of the latter, this article […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

David Price: Anthropologists as Spies

The following is a selection of passages that I have marked out for special attention from David Price’s 2000 article in The Nation: On December 20, 1919, under the heading “Scientists as Spies,” The Nation published a letter by Franz Boas, the father of academic anthropology in America. Boas charged that four American anthropologists, whom […]