robert gates – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

The “Science” of Global Domination

While it is an odd mix of physics, biology, and geometry that has captured the communications strategy of military planners, the messages themselves are very telling about how such planners go about envisioning US global domination, and the parts to be played by others in assuring that dominance. Some thus speak about the “center of […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

National Security Research and the Geopolitical Context of Knowledge Production

Thinking about Hugh Gusterson’s “The U.S. Military’s Quest to Weaponize Culture” prompted me to consider some current developments, as reported by various news agencies and one think tank, as indications of new conditions of knowledge production and the kinds of pressures and constraints orienting social science research toward specific ends. For some these are “constraints,” […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Hugh Gusterson: “When Professors Go to War”

Apparently this is Minerva Season, as there seems to be a rush of new articles about Minerva. The latest is in Foreign Policy, and thanks to anthropophagous for drawing attention to the piece. The article is by Hugh Gusterson (and I recently noted another of his latest articles), titled “When Professors Go to War.” Those […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

More Minerva News and Discussion (2.1)

David Glenn, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 30, 2008 Minerva Takes Flesh: Pentagon and Science Foundation Sign Social-Science Deal In a memorandum of understanding that was signed today, the Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation agreed to work cooperatively to support social-science research on topics of interest to the Pentagon. As widely expected, […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The U.S. military: weaponizing culture

Publication announcement: The U.S. military’s quest to weaponize culture By Hugh Gusterson | 20 June 2008 The Pentagon seems to have decided that anthropology is to the war on terror what physics was to the Cold War. As an anthropologist, this makes me very nervous. Where former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld believed that the United […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

National Security Research, Imperialist Emergencies and the Minerva Research Initiative: Some Further Consideration (1.1)

For this post I am once more referring to the contents of this document, just released by the U.S. Department of Defense, soliciting proposals for grants under the Minerva Research Initiative (MRI). The following is a series of topics of concern raised by this document. HOW TO MAKE IMPERIAL RESEARCH INSIDIOUS: On page 2 we […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Military-Academic Complex in the U.S.: “The Minerva Consortia”

In “A Pentagon Olive Branch to Academe” in the April 16, 2008, issue of Inside Higher Ed, Scott Jaschik describes a proposal by Robert Gates, US Secretary of “Defense”, for expanded Pentagon research that includes the humanities and social sciences, in what is sure to be another installment of the growing military creep in universities. […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

“Led by the military, war-weary US awakens to ‘soft power'”

Another news article today, that might help to further contextualize the piece appearing below this post: WASHINGTON (AFP) – After six hard years of war, the United States is awakening to the idea that “soft power” is a better way to regain influence and clout in a world bubbling with instability. And nowhere is the […]