Militarism, Violence, and Culture as a Weapon
Topics covered include:
• Militarism • Counterinsurgency • militarized social sciences • cultural knowledge at the service of foreign occupation
Required Readings:
Sahlins, Marshall, “Preface,” in: Network of Concerned Anthropologists. (2009). The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual: Or, Notes on Demilitarizing American Society. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press.
González, Roberto J.; Gusterson, Hugh; and, Price David, “Introduction: War, Culture, and Counterinsurgency,” pp. 1-22, in: Network of Concerned Anthropologists. (2009). The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual: Or, Notes on Demilitarizing American Society. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press.
Chapter 1, Lutz, Catherine, “The Military Normal,” pp. 23-38, in: Network of Concerned Anthropologists. (2009). The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual: Or, Notes on Demilitarizing American Society. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press.
Chapter 2, Gusterson, Hugh, “Militarizing Knowledge,” pp. 39-55, in: Network of Concerned Anthropologists. (2009). The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual: Or, Notes on Demilitarizing American Society. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press.
Film:
Human Terrain: War Becomes Academic
“Seeking to understand ‘why they hate us’, the US military adopts a new strategy of cultural awareness to win over the hearts and minds of the Iraqi and Afghan people. Controversy erupts when academics embed with combat troops and the war comes home to the university.”
Sunday, March 10, 2013 • Last day for academic withdrawal from two-term and winter-term courses.
Military Colonialism: Empire’s Bases
Optional Readings in the New Imperialism Course Pack on Reserve:
Catherine LUTZ, editor
The Bases of Empire: The Global Struggle Against U.S. Military Posts (New York University Press, 2009) – “Introduction: Bases, Empire, and Global Response” (By Catherine Lutz), 1-44
Chalmers JOHNSON
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (Henry Holt and Company, 2007) – Ch. 4, “U.S. Military Bases in Other People’s Countries,” 137-170
Social and Cultural Militarism
Optional Readings in the New Imperialism Course Pack on Reserve:
Nick TURSE
The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives (Henry Holt and Company, 2008) – “Introduction: A Day in the Life,” 1-18
Chris HEDGES
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (Anchor Books, 2003) – Ch. 1, “The Myth of War,” 19-42
Additional Resources:
- Base Structure Report, 2007: A summary of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Real Property Inventory
- Base Structure Report, 2008: A summary of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Real Property Inventory
- Base Structure Report, 2009: A summary of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Real Property Inventory
- 2005 Commission on Review of Overseas Military Facility Structure of the United States
- 2004 Global Posture Review
