fieldwork / methods | antropologi.info

“War on terror”: CIA sponsers anthropologists to gather sensitive information

Published on June 3, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, applied anthropology, ethics, fieldwork / methods, Northern America, politics

“A CIA scheme to sponsor trainee spies secretly through US university courses has caused anger among UK academics, the BBC reports. The Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program pays anthropology students up to $50,000 (£27,500) a year. They are expected to use the techniques of “fieldwork” to gather political and cultural details on other countries. Britain’s Association of Social Anthropologists called the scholarships ethically “dangerous” and divisive.”

“Undergraduates taking part in the scholarship programme must not reveal their funding source and are expected to attend military intelligence summer camps.”

The CIAs activities are defended by an American anthropologist (Felix Moos, University of Kansas). He wrote according the BBC in Anthropology Today: “The United States is at war. Thus, to put it simply, the existing divide between academe and the intelligence community has become a dangerous and very real detriment to our national security at home and abroad.” >> read the whole article (BBC)

Let’s hope anthropologists say NO to the CIA!

This story reminds me on Montgomery McFate’s controversial article Anthropology and Counterinsurgency: The Strange Story of Their Curious Relations where she urges anthropologists to cooperate with the military and Dustin M. Wax’s comments: “a functioning anthropology can never be on the side of U.S. forces”.

UPDATE 2 (6.5.05): More on the return of spies to college campuses in the Kansas City Star

PS: By the way. Check what kind of definition of anthropology the BBC uses on their website: “the study of esp. primitive peoples”…

The CIA’s Campus Spies. Exposing the Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program (Dave H. Price, Counterpunch, 12.3.05)

Anthropologists as Spies (David Price, The Nation, 20.11.00)

"A CIA scheme to sponsor trainee spies secretly through US university courses has caused anger among UK academics, the BBC reports. The Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program pays anthropology students up to $50,000 (£27,500) a year. They are expected to…

Anthropology Matters – New issue out on anthropology of science and technology

Published on May 30, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, applied anthropology, development empowerment, fieldwork / methods, journal articles / papers, technology

New methods in the anthropology of science and technology is the topic of the new issue of the anthropology online journal “Anthropology Matters” that was published these days. The papers developed out of a panel at the Association of Social Anthropologists (ASA) Decennial Conference at the University of Manchester in July 2003. I the introduction we read:

“On the basis of the papers published here, we suggest that not only does ethnographic research prove extremely adaptable to new environments, contexts and conditions, but it also serves to make important contributions to current debates and discussion, particular in the field of science and technology.”

We find articles on dynamics how to study and theorize environmental protest movements in West Bengal (by Amites Mukhopadhyay), the role of computers in Hungarian civil society (Tom Wormald), on the relationship of information technologies to anthropological fieldwork through a consideration of internet-based clinical trials (by Jenny Advocat), on fieldwork in a web design company (Hannah Knox) and on how anthropological fieldwork might rise to the challenge of the bureaucratized, ‘objective’ forms of evaluation that anthropological researchers are increasingly facing (Susanne Langer) >> continue to Anthropology Matters 1/2005

New methods in the anthropology of science and technology is the topic of the new issue of the anthropology online journal "Anthropology Matters" that was published these days. The papers developed out of a panel at the Association of Social…

Rise of armchair anthropology? More and more scientists do online research

Published on May 29, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, fieldwork / methods, internet

Some days ago, anthropologist Kerim Friedman wrote about Armchair Anthropology in the Cyber Age?: “I predict that we will slowly see the return of the “armchair anthropologists” Malinowski so famously dethroned.” The reason: “The web offers a tremendous, and ever growing database of lived experience.”

The newspaper Age (Australia) writes more about the ongoing trend to gather research data online:

“Researchers around the world are tapping into the global reach of the internet as never before, seeking answers to a wide variety of topics, including: humour at the office, drug abuse, religious beliefs, parenting styles, mother-daughter relationships, human mate selection, extramarital affairs, fascination with celebrity and sexual boredom.

Anthropologist Daniel Fessler knows how to spice up the titles for his studies to lure web surfers. Last year, he posted a study on physical attractiveness online with the alluring title Are They Hot or Not? buried among others with titles such as Development of Gender Concepts in Infancy.

Praising online surveys over face-to-face Fessler says: “We don’t need people to engage in a lot of attempts to make a good impression, we need them to provide us with honest responses.”

>> continue

(Fessler’s answer doens’t sound convincing. It’s not that easy. The rules are the same in the online- and the offline-world. Without a good relationship to your informants you can’t write a good ethnography)

Some days ago, anthropologist Kerim Friedman wrote about Armchair Anthropology in the Cyber Age?: "I predict that we will slowly see the return of the “armchair anthropologists” Malinowski so famously dethroned." The reason: "The web offers a tremendous, and ever…

New articles on AnthroGlobe: Western Cybermythology / People of the open sea

Published on May 23, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, culture traditions, cyberanthropology, fieldwork / methods, internet, journal articles / papers, Pacific Oceania

Signs of activity at AnthroGlobe – one of the eldest anthropology web journals. Two new texts and they seem to work with the site layout, it seems:

Carmen Petrosian-Husa: Powerful & Powerless: The Rei Metau on the Outer Islands of Yap

Since 1982 I visited the islands of the rei metau several times. My main focus of research were the “rites de passage”, weaving, structures of authority and medicine. In due course of my research I visited all their islands and atolls and analyzed the differences in the social structures of each single atoll. The way I will describe the rei metau in this paper represents the lives and self-esteem of the people as it can be experienced today. >> continue

Darrell A. Joyce: Modern Folklore: Cybermythology in Western Culture

Throughout the years, humans have used the oral tradition of folklore and legend to share stories, entertain, and to teach moral social lessons. The purpose of this paper is to briefly look at the evolution of urban legends from their “beginnings” in the turn of the 20 th century to present day, with specific attention to contemporary urban legends, and the application of internet/e-mail communications as a medium to further spread this modern form of folklore. Also, this paper attempts to answer the question of whether or not folklore continues to exist and be propagated in today’s society. >> continue

Signs of activity at AnthroGlobe - one of the eldest anthropology web journals. Two new texts and they seem to work with the site layout, it seems:

Carmen Petrosian-Husa: Powerful & Powerless: The Rei Metau on the Outer Islands of Yap

Since…

Culture and Environment – New issue of Pro Ethnologica is online

Published on May 23, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, culture traditions, ecology nature, fieldwork / methods, interdisciplinary, journal articles / papers

Pro Ethnologica (published by the Estonian Eesti Rahva Muuseumi in Tartu) is one of the few anthropology Open Access journals. Their recent volume is dated back in December 2004 but the articles haven’t been onliner until now – probably due to copyright issues as Pille Runnel explained in an email to me. Runnell confirmed: “Pro Ethnologia is still an open access journal”.

From the editorial:

The texts illustrate the fuzzy quality and interdisciplinary nature of the debate in the broad tradition of ecological anthropology. This situation is represented in this volume by the fact that the articles are written by ethnologists, folklorists, and human geographers who share the same concern for human beings relation to the environment although the interpretations are different.

>> continue (pdf)

>> to Pro Ethnologica 18: Culture and Environment