Marc | April 2, 2010
So, what happens when I wake up in the morning? I find that the American Anthropology Association has decided to play phoenix and immolate itself. Really?????? Well, no, but it was a great way to start the day. APG Newswire WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Anthropological Association (AAA) made the announcement today that its Joint [...]
Marc | February 4, 2010
It’s been a busy, but stimulating, week so far. I just got back from a presentations on Canada’s Evolving Mission in Afghanistan, and I’m preparing to head down to Quantico on Sunday for an interesting workshop next week. This week and, to a lessor degree last week, have been quite synergistic in terms of my [...]
Marc | January 22, 2010
Hugh Gusterson has a new piece over at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists entitled An American suicide bomber? It’s worth taking a look at for a number of reasons. I think that the central reason I found it interesting was because Hugh presents a very nice cautionary tale about how forgetful people can be.
Marc | January 10, 2010
NPR just carried a nice story about Dr. Paula Holmes-Eber on teaching culture at the Marine Corps University (hat tip to Kerry Fosher who sent out the link over MilAnthNet). I’ve had several chances to talk with Paula about her teaching there, and I have been quite impressed with both what they are teaching and [...]
Marc | January 7, 2010
A friend and colleague over at the SWC, Beezebubalicious (what a handle!), just posted a link to a BBC story on the rise of human sacrifice in Uganda. What sparked some of my interest was that he said he found this “hard to understand from a cultural (or a relativist) point of view.” Why?
Marc | November 27, 2009
Max Forte has just produced another posting on the historical relation of Anthropology and Science entitled The Social Production of Science and Anthropology as Knowledge for Domination. Don’t let the title put you off, it is well worth reading and, having studied the period under question myself, I can also say that it is, in [...]
Marc | October 23, 2009
I just stumbled across a wonderful blog called Work Matters run by Bob Sutton (hat tip to Mark Huselid and the HRDivNet mailing list). One of the terms Bob uses is “Jargon Monoxide” (originally created by Polly LaBarre). What a wonderful term, and one that I believe should enter the lexicon of those of us [...]
Marc | October 20, 2009
Well, I am writing this post from Oklahoma the night before I give a talk at Oklahoma University. I’ve been sweating this talk, trying to get the right words together to convey what I am seeing about how debates on the “nature” of war are shifting and changing. I’ll probably post the slides from the [...]
Marc | September 29, 2009
Ken MacLeish has a very nuanced examination of the problems faced by a number of US vets and the structural use of the “Crazy Vet” stereotype over at Savage Minds. The post, Wounds of War and the Dilemmas of Stereotypes, is well worth reading not only for its nuance but, also, for its portrayal of [...]
Marc | September 28, 2009
I have been following a series of posts by my friend Max Forte over at Openanthropology on his “relationship” with the Open Anthropology Co-operative (OAC). I won’t go into the details, they are all available on Max’s site, but the most recent one is extremely disturbing. There is, at least from the evidence Max provides, [...]
Marc on Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 1Marc on Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 1
In Harmonium » Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 3 on Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 2
MM on Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 1
Backwards Observer on Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 2