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Anthropology and the Iraq war: An uncomfortable engagement
Author(s) -
Robben Antonius C.G.M.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
anthropology today
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.419
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1467-8322
pISSN - 0268-540X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8322.2009.00638.x
Subject(s) - scope (computer science) , government (linguistics) , iraq war , political science , spanish civil war , public opinion , world war ii , sociology , criminology , politics , law , philosophy , linguistics , computer science , programming language
The Iraq war has preoccupied anthropologists. However, this has not materialized in panels dedicated to independent study of Iraq at annual conferences at our major professional associations. In the US, we have been predominantly preoccupied with the implications of intelligence gathering for our profession. The author considers some of the differences between our dealing with the Iraq war presently, and the successful campaigns against the Vietnam war of the 60s. He concludes that there is scope for anthropologists to learn from the past and to make a renewed concerted effort to, independent from government demands on their skills, inform and change public opinion and ultimately government policy.