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cold war anthropology & war on terror articles, conference papers, reviews & interviews

1997 “Review of Colby & Dennett’s Thy Will Be Done-The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil”  Identities 3(3):441-447.

1997 “Anthropological Research and the Freedom of Information Act” CAM: Cultural Anthropology Methods 9(1):12-15. 

1998 “Cold War Anthropology: Collaborators and Victims of the National Security State” Identities  4(3-4): 389-430.  Paper Abstract

1998 “Gregory Bateson and the OSS” Human Organization 57(4):379-384.

1998  “Obituary for Mark Zborowski” Anthropology Newsletter 39(6):31.

2000 “The AAA and the CIA” Anthropology News  41(8): 13-14. November, 2000. 

2000  “Anthropologists as Spies” The Nation Vol. 271, Number 16, 24-27, November 20, 2000.

2001 “Spying on Radical Scholars” Radical History Review 79 (winter 2001):169-172.

2001 "Price Replies to Peace, Carrier & Frank" The Nation 2/12/01:23

2001 [co-authored with William J. Peace] “The Cold War Context of the FBI’s Investigation of Leslie A. White” American Anthropologist 103(1):164-167.

2001 “War Without End: Terror and Indigenous People” CounterPunch Nov. 3 2001:1-3.

2001 “Academia Under Attack: Sketches For A New Blacklist” CounterPunch Nov. 21, 2001.

2001 “Fear and Loathing in the Soviet Union: Roy Barton and the NKVD” HAN  XXVIII(2):3-8.

2001 “’The Shameful Business’: Leslie Spier on the Censure of Franz Boas” HAN  XXVIII(2):9-12.

2002  “Present Dangers, Past Wars and Past Anthropologies” Anthropology Today 18(1):3-5.

2002  “Reply to Noam Chomsky and Jeffrey Sluka” Anthropology Today 18(2):23.

 2002  “Review of Thomas Patterson’s A Social History of Anthropology in the United States” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

 2002  “Lessons From Second World War Anthropology: Peripheral, Persuasive and Ignored Contributions" Anthropology Today 18(3):14-20.

 2002 "Reply to Jan van Bremen, Igor Kopytoff and Margaret Hardiman" Anthropology Today 18(4):22.

2002 Here is a piece discussing the likelihood that an American military invasion of Iraq could lead to political instability in Egypt. I wrote this after a trip to Egypt in September 2002, and had much of the second of half of it published in the print version of CounterPunch as: "Cops As Robbers" CounterPunch October 1-15, 2002:4. "Unleashing Blood Meridian: Bush’s War Threatens Egyptian Stability" 

2002 “Interlopers and Invited Guests: On Anthropology’s Witting and Unwitting Links to Intelligence Agencies" Anthropology Today 18(6):16-21.  

2003  "Review of Charles Harris & Louis Sadler's The Archaeologist Was A Spy: Sylvanus G. Morley and the Office of Naval Intelligence"  Archaeology May / June 2003, p 56.

2003 [co-authored with William J. Peace] "Un-American Anthropological Thought: The Opler / Meggers Exchange" Journal of Anthropological Research 59(2):183-203.

2003 "Subtle Means and Enticing Carrots: The Impact of Funding on American Cold War Anthropology." Critique of Anthropology  23(4):373-401.  

2003  “Anthropology Sub Rosa: The AAA, the CIA and the Ethical Problems Inherent in Secret Research" In Ethics and the Profession of Anthropology: Dialogue for Ethically Conscious Practice, Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban ed. 29-49.  Second Edition. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. 

2003 "Prostrate Before The Patriot Act: Librarians As FBI Extension Agents" CounterPunch March 5, 2003.

2003 “Cloak and Trowel: Should Archaeologists Double As Spies?“ Archaeology  September/October 2003, pp. 30-35. [citations for this article]

2003  “The Spies Who Came in from the Dig,” republished excerpt from “Cloak and Trowel” The Guardian September 4, 2003.

2003 “Reply to Lloyd Pierson” Archaeology November/December 2003. pp 9.

2003  “Outcome-Based Tyranny: Teaching Compliance While Testing Like A State“ Anthropological Quarterly 76 (4): 715-730.

2003 “Teaching Suspicions: The Unintended Consequences of Police Investigations of Parent Volunteers.” CounterPunch 23(4):373-401.

2003 "Subtle Means and Enticing Carrots: The Impact of Funding on American Cold War Anthropology" Critique of Anthropology 23(4):373-401.

2004  “’Like Slaves’: Anthropological Notes on Occupation” CounterPunch January 6, 2004. 

2004   Threatening Anthropology: The FBI’s Surveillance and Repression of Activist Anthropologists.  Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.

2004  “Tribal Communism Under Fire: Archie Phinney and the FBI” Journal of Northwest Anthropology (Special Issue: Remembering Archie Phinney, A Nes Perce Scholar) 38(1):21-32. 

2004  “Standing Up For Academic Freedom: The Case of Irving Goldman” Anthropology Today 20(4):16-21.

 2004   “In the Shadow of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Cultural Conditions of Unconditional Surrender” CounterPunch August 6, 2004.  [Translation into Italian as, All’ombra di Hiroshima e Nagasaki: le condizioni culturali di una resa senza condizioni republished at Nuovini Mondi Media August 12, 2004]

2004  “Theoretical Dangers: Notes on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Investigations of Science & Society” Science and Society 68(4):475-482.

2004  "Relying on Phonies: What if the Problem with Phone Polls is that they are Phone Polls?" CounterPunch September 20, 2004.

2004  "Review of Pamela R. Harrell and Margaret C. Frese's Anthropology and the United States Military: Coming of Age in the Twentieth Century." American Anthropologist 106(4):758-759. 

2004  "Social Security Pump and Dump: Driving by FDR's Peaks and Valleys' of Capitalism" CounterPunch December 23, 2004.

2005  "The CIA's University Spies" CounterPunch Volume 12, No. 1. January 1-15, pp 1-6. (reprinted on CounterPunch online, March 12-13, 2005) [Translated into Spanish by Cecilia Paterno, as: “Los espías de la CIA en los campus universitarios”]

2005  "From PRISP to ICSP: Skullduggery Among the Acronyms" CounterPunch Vol. 12, No. 5. March 1-15. pp 3-4. (reprinted on CounterPunch online May 22-23, 2005)

2005 "The Shallowness of Deep Throat: Selective Links from Corruption Central" CounterPunch June 2, 2005.

2005     [co-authored with William J. Peace] “Bernhard Stern and Leslie A. White on the Church and Religion,” In Regna Darnell & Frederic W. Gleach eds., Histories of Anthropology Annual, Volume 1.  pp 114-131, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

2005   “How U.S. Anthropologists Planned ‘Race-Specific’ Weapons against the Japanese”  CounterPunch June 1-15, 2005, 12(11):1-3.  [Translated into Spanish by Germán Leyens as, "Antropólogos de EE.UU. planearon armas “específicas a la raza” contra los japoneses" at Rebelión November 28, 2005; Translated into Italian by Francesco Scurci as, "Armi Razziali Degli USA Contro i Giapponesi" at Come Don Chisciotte ]

 2005  [co-authored with Hugh Gusterson] “Spies in our Midst” Anthropology News 46(6):39-40.

 2005   “Review of Gretchen Schafft’s, From Racism to Genocide: Anthropology in the Third Reich .’”  Anthropological Quarterly 78(4):1109-1113.

 2005  “America the Ambivalent: Quietly Selling Anthropology to the CIA” Anthropology Today 21(5):1-2.

 2005  [co-authored with William J. Peace] “Bernhard Stern and Leslie A. White on the Church and Religion,” In Regna Darnell & Frederic W. Gleach eds., Histories of Anthropology Annual, Volume 1.  pp 114-131. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.  

2005 "How the FBI Spied on Edward Said," CounterPunch December 1-5, 2005. vol. 12, No. 21, pp1, 4-5. (later reposted on CounterPunch website on January 13, 2006)

2005  “El FBI y las ciencias sociales” Historia anthropología y Fuentes Orales 34(3):29-46.

2005  “Anthropology and Total Warfare: The OSS’s 1943 ‘Preliminary Report on Japanese Anthropology.”  Anthropology in Action 12(3):12-20. .

2005    [co-authored with Eric B. Ross] “Introduction to Special Issue on 'Friends and Foes: Anthropologists and the Making of the Enemy.''"  Anthropology in Action 12(3):vii-ix.

2006  “Reply to Neil Sebag-Montefiori” Anthropology Today 22(1):21.

2006 "Shouting Down Nazis in Olympia." CounterPunch July 5, 2006.

2006  "American Anthropologists Stand Up Against Torture and Occupation of Iraq." CounterPunch November 20, 2006.

2007  "Anthropology and the Wages of Secrecy." Anthropology News 48(3):6-7.

2007  "Earle Reynolds: Scientist, Citizen and Cold War Dissident." In ed., Barbara Rose Johnston, Half-Lives and Half-Truths: Confronting the Radioactive Legacies of the Cold War. pp 55-76. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press.

2007 "The Long Lost War: This Occupation Shall Remain Nameless" CounterPunch April 25, 2007.

2007 "Buying a Piece of Anthropology, Part One: Human Ecology and Unwitting Anthropological Research for the CIA." Anthropology Today (in press).

2007 "Buying a Piece of Anthropology, Part Two: Our Tortured Past." Anthropology Today (in press).

2007 [co-authored with Hugh Gusterson] "Reconsidering Why Dr. Johnny Won't Fight." Small Wars (in press).

2007 "McCarthyism." In International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Second Edition. Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference (in press).

n.d. "On the Ambivalence of Orthodoxy in American Anthropology." Reviews in Anthropology (in press).

n.d. Anthropological Intelligence: The Deployment and Neglect of American Anthropology in the Second World War. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. [should be in print winter 2007-2008].

 

presentations, papers, interviews and such

“Cold War Anthropology: Collaborators and Victims of the National Security State” Paper presented in an Invited Session on “Anthropology and the National Security State” at the Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association, Nov. 1995, Washington, D.C. Session Abstract and Paper Titles

 “The Wartime Roots of Applied Anthropology in America” Paper presented at a session on “The Uses of Anthropological Research” at the annual meetings of the Society for Applied Anthropology, March 8, 1997, Seattle, Washington.  Paper Abstract

 “Anthropologists on Trial: The Lessons of McCarthyism” Paper presented in session on the intersection of anthropology and politics, at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C., November, 1997.

 “DARE to Inform on Your Parents: The Classroom as the Police State’s Foyer“ Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Studies Association, Seattle, Washington, November 19, 1998.  Paper Abstract

CIA Pillow Talk: The Uses of Populations, Undeclared Agendas and Development Anthropology” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Philadelphia, PA, December, 1998.

“Using the Cold War Research to Teach the History of Anthropology” Faculty Focus Colloquium, St. Martin’s College, Lacey WA, October 26, 1999.

“The FBI and Oscar Lewis: Political Surveillance and the Culture of Poverty” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago, Illinois, November, 18 1999.  Paper Abstract

“Our Private Lives: Hoover’s FBI and the War on Descent.”  Invited lecture for Panorama City’s Minds on the Millennium Lecture Series.  May 11, 2000.

“A Private Face of Anthropology: The CIA, the AAA and the Comprehensive Roster of 1952”  Paper presented at special Presidential Panel at the annual business meeting of the American Anthropological Association, San Francisco, CA, November 16, 2000.

“The Requirements of Freedom of Information Act Research in a Functioning Democracy“ University of Washington School of Library Science, April 19, 2001.  

Interviewed and featured on British Broadcast Corporation, Radio Four broadcast examining anthropologists and espionage entitled “Professional Strangers” Broadcast BBC Radio Four, October 11^th, 2001.  

Interview featured in “I Spy With My Science Eye” Times Higher Education Supplement, by Chris Bunting, April 12, 2002.

Background interview for National Public Radio story on Anthropology and Warfare by Renee Montagne.  Morning Edition, August 14, 2002.

“Cold War Echoes in the ‘Post-Cold War’ Era.” Paper presented in session on “Rethinking the ‘Post-Cold War’ Era,” paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 20, 2002.

“The FBI, McCarthyism, Infrastructure and Patterns of Racism in America.” Invited Session: Culture, People and Nature: The Role of Marvin Harris in Anthropological Theory and Praxis. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 21, 2002.

“Secrecy, Betrayal and Past, Present & Future Uses of Anthropology” Discussant Remarks on issues raised in the papers of Felix Moos, Robert Rubinstein & Hugh Gusterson.  Invited Session: “Defending the Nation? Ethics and Anthropology After 9/11” paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 23, 2002.

 "Applied Anthropologist as Cold War Dissident: Earle Reynolds, An Informed Protester of Conscience" Paper presented at Invited Session on “Legacies of the Cold War: Anthropological Efforts to Document Abuse and Seek Meaningful Remedy,” at the annual meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology, Portland, Oregon, March 2003.

Interview featured in “Spies in the Stacks: Is Uncle Sam Watching What You Read? We’re Not Allowed To Tell.” Fort Worth Weekly April 17, 2003. 

Interview featured in “Nickles, Locke, and the FBI: Security Background Checks on Local Officials Raise Civil Liberties Alarms” Seattle Weekly April 30-May 6, 2003.

Interview with Neal Conan featured on National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation story on “Archaeologist Spies” Wednesday, September 27, 2003. 

“Academic Freedom Downtime” Paper presented in session on “Safeguarding Academic Freedom” at the Second Annual Conference of the Peace and Justice Studies Association, Olympia, Washington, October 10, 2003.

“The Dangers of Promoting Peace During Times of [Cold] War: Gene Weltfish, the FBI, and the 1949 Waldorf Conference for World Peace.” Paper presented at Invited Session on “Anthropologists, Promoters of War or Peace?” at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago, Illinois, November 20, 2003.

“Paul Radin: Dodging McCarthyism One Step Ahead of Hoover” paper presented in session on “Anthropology at the Dawn of the Cold War,” at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago, Illinois, November 22, 2003.  

“The Intersection of Science and Activism: Earle Reynolds as Cold War Dissident” Paper presented in organized session on, “Cold War Legacies and the Anthropology of Trouble” at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Seattle, Washington, February 16, 2004.

Interview featured in “Want to Volunteer in Schools? Be Ready for a Security Check” New York Times, page 1, A20, March 11, 2004, by Tamar Lewin.

Interview: “Author’s Hour: Threatening Anthropology”  TVW.  Broadcast June 20, 2004.

Interview: “McCarthyism and American Anthropology” Weekday KUOW, PBS Interview with Steve Scher, August 10, 2004.

"The FBI's Historic Role in Suppressing American Anthropologists' Academic Freedom." Public lecture presented at Seoul National University, November 12, 2004. Seoul, South Korea. 

"Weaponizing Anthropology: American Anthropologists at the Office of War Information During the Pacific War.” Paper presented at the 3^rd annual East Asian Anthropology and Japanese Colonialism Conference held at Seoul National University,  November 13-14, 2004.  Seoul, South Korea.

“McCarthyism and Academia: Can It Happen Again?” Portland State University Artists and Authors Series, December 4, 2004.  Portland, Oregon.

Interview featured in, “Anthropologists Act to Revoke 1919 Censure of Franz Boas, a Key Figure in the Field” by David Glenn in The Chronicle of Higher Education 12/17/2004.

"Anthropology Under Fire: McCarthyism and the FBI's Assault on Academic Freedom."  University of Washington’s Sociocultural Anthropology Colloquium, Department of Anthropology, January 24, 2005, Seattle, Washington. 

"The FBI's Monitoring of Activist Anthropologists"  Campus talk sponsored by the International Education Department, Pierce College, Tacoma, Washington.  March 11, 2005.

Interview featured in, “Cloak and Classroom,” by David Glenn, in The Chronicle of Higher Education March 25, 2005. A14-15.

Interview with Arthur Kent featured in story on Intelligence Agencies on American Campuses, “Better Spy Agency Panel,” on The Current, CBC Radio One, April 8, 2005. 

Interview with Amy Goodman for story on “CIA Supports ‘Secret’ CIA Scholarships” on Democracy Now, Pacifica Radio, August 3, 2005. 

“Selling Anthropology to the Highest Bidder: An Interview with David Price” By Merrill Singer, Society for Applied Anthropology Newsletter 16(2):5-7, August 2005.

Interview with David Abrams and Hans Bader discussing Hurricane Katrina and the Davis Bacon Act, on High Frequencies Radio, WBNW Radio. Boston, Massachusetts.  September 26, 2005.

“Threatening Academic Freedom Under McCarthyism and the Patriot Act” Distinguished Speaker Series, University of Chicago Alumni Association, Microsoft Campus, Redmond, Washington. October 26, 2005.

“Rethinking Anthropology and Activism: Models of Self-Censorship” Anthropology Department Colloquium, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, November 7, 2005.

“Co-opting Anthropology for Reasons of Empire.” American University Department of Anthropology, Washington, D.C., November 30, 2005.

Discussant for papers presented in organized session on, “Multiculturalism and ‘Intellectual Diversity’? The Hidden Agenda of current calls for Academic Freedom,” Selected by the Council on Anthropology and Education at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C. December 1, 2005.

“Anthropology as Weapon: The Uses and Abuses of Anthropology at the OSS's Research & Analysis Division,” Paper presented in organized session on, "World War Two Anthropology: Reconsidering the War's Past in the Present" at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C. December 2, 2005.

“The Means and Meaning of the FBI’s Surveillance of Edward Said.”  Paper presented at 2006 Evergreen State College Arab Film Festival screening of Selves and Others: A Portrait of Edward Said. February 1, 2006.

“Using the Freedom of Information Act to Understand Government Surveillance and Repression.” Presentation at Arizona State University’s School of Justice and Social Inquiry, Tempe, Arizona.  February 21, 2006. 

“The FBI and David Aberle: The Surveillance of an Embracer of Causes.” Paper presented in SFAA Plenary Session on “Celebrating David Aberle’s Contributions,” at the annual meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  March 30, 2006.

“Learning Self-Censorship: How Past and Present National Security Crises Damage American Social Science.” Public Lecture Whitman University, Walla Walla, Washington, October 30, 2006.

Interview featured in David E. Kaplan’s article “Hey, let’s play ball: the Insular World of Intelligence Reaches out for a Few New Ideas.” U.S. News & World Report November 6, 2006:52-57.

“Critiquing Silence: On the Ethical Impropriety of Secret Research and Covert Ties to Intelligence Agencies.”  Paper presented in AAA presidential invited session on, "Debating Anthropological Practice and National Security:  Past, Present and Across Borders " at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, San Jose, California. November 17, 2006. 

Discussant in session on invited session organized by Les Sponsel on, “Ethical Anthropology: Past, Present, and Future” at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, San Jose, California. November 18, 2006. 

Interview featured in Richard Willing’s article, “Intelligence Agencies Invest in College Education” USA Today November 28, 2006.

Participant in SAR seminar on: “The Anthropology of Military and National Security Organizations.” School for American Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico.  February 26-27, 2007.

“Anthropology, the Second World War, and Strategies of Professional Denial.” Paper presented to the New York Academy of Sciences, New York City.  March 26, 2007.