How does the military use anthropologists?

How does the military use anthropologists?

In its broadest sense, “military anthropology” covers a variety of distinct activities, including, perhaps most dramatically, “embedding” anthropologists with military troops in combat zones (in Afghanistan, Iraq, East Timor, and other locations), where they assist military personnel on site with advice and …

Does the human terrain team still exist?

By September 2014, all HTS teams and personnel had been withdrawn from Afghanistan. Contract and personnel support to the program ceased at the end of the month, effectively ending the program’s operations as of 1 October 2014.

How is the HTS meant to help the Army?

The HTS, according to the military, is “designed to address cultural awareness shortcomings by giving brigade commanders an organic capability to help understand and deal with ‘human terrain’ – the social, ethnographic, cultural, economic and political elements of the people among whom a force is operating”.

What is the position of the American Anthropological Association on use of the Human Terrain Systems Project during war?

A special initiative launched by the US Military, known as the Human Terrain System (HTS) project, sparked lively debates in the media and the anthropology community at large in fall 2007.

What is the primary ethical obligation of an anthropologist?

Anthropologists share a primary ethical obligation to avoid doing harm to the lives, communities or environments they study or that may be impacted by their work.

What are ethical issues with the human terrain system?

This article discusses three main ethical concerns associated with HTS, namely, the possible usage of knowledge in enhanced interrogation techniques; the issue of clandestine research; and the sources of funding.

Who is considered the father of American linguistic anthropology?

Franz Uri Boas
Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-born American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the “Father of American Anthropology”. His work is associated with the movements known as historical particularism and cultural relativism.

What is human terrain mapping?

Definition. Research and data gathering activities primarily conducted for military or intelligence purposes to understand the “human terrain,”—the social, ethnographic, cultural, and political elements of the people among whom the U.S. Armed Forces are operating and/or in countries prone to political instability.

What does understand the human terrain mean?

Human terrain is defined as: characterising cultural, anthropological, and ethnographic information about the human population and interactions within the joint operations area. 5 Human terrain analysis is the process through which understanding the human terrain is developed.

What are the four subfields of anthropology?

Because the scholarly and research interests of most students are readily identifiable as centering in one of the four conventionally recognized subfields of anthropology – archaeology, linguistic anthropology, physical anthropology, and sociocultural anthropology – the Department formulates guidelines for study within …

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