brianhole.com

Opposing the Human Terrain System

brian — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:50:17 +0000

The Network of Concerned Anthropologists is seeking signatures to a letter to the US government expressing strong opposition to the Pentagon’s Human Terrain System (HTS) programme. This opposition is based on the following points:

There is no evidence that HTS is effective
HTS is dangerous and reckless.
HTS wastes taxpayer money.
HTS is unethical for anthropologists and other social scientists.

A copy of the body of the letter is available here.

To add your name to the statement, please EMAIL your NAME, TITLE, and AFFILIATION to NOHUMANTERRAIN@GMAIL.COM. Include the subject line “Anthropologists’ Statement.” Please encourage other professional anthropologists to sign as well.

While on the subject, the journal Papers from the Institute of Archaeology (newly open access http://pia-journal.co.uk) is planning to publish a forum section on the Human Terrain System in the next volume (No. 20, due out in the Autumn). If anyone is especially interested in this, they should contact the editor at pia.journal@ucl.ac.uk. This follows the forum in the current volume that has attracted a large amount of attention, on relations between archaeologists and the military in Iraq.

Predicting intercultural conflict

brian — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:27:04 +0000

Identities are expressed and conflict at many geospatial and political levels – personal, regional, national, international. It is fascinating how each of these is interrelated, and three papers that have come out in recent weeks look at aspects of this. Ornit Shani asks the question of how “India’s nationhood holds together” in Modern Asian Studies. Focusing on Muslims as a widely excluded minority in India, she finds that despite this exclusion they still have strong national identity and participation. This she attributes to the fact that India allows different groups to inhabit a range of citizenship roles, allowing social conflicts to be absorbed. She describes four main kinds of citizenship: liberal, republican, ethno-nationalist and non-statist. Based around the views of Gandhi, non-statist citizenship contains the “… notion of membership of the state in the society, or a desire for a minimal interaction with the state, in order to protect individuals and groups”. Shani’s contention is that the ability of the State over time to allow all of these kinds of citizenship to exist to some extent has been a significant factor in how India has ‘held its nationhood together’.

Gitika Commuri takes the interplay of different identities up to the next level and looks at how they have influenced Indian foreign policy in regard to Pakistan, in the Journal of South Asian Development. She compares the secular National Front, Congress and United Front governments of 1990-1997 with the ethno-nationalist, BJP from 1998 to 2003, to see whether there was any difference in India’s security and foreign policy regarding Pakistan. While one might have expected the Hindu chauvinist, pro-communal conflict BJP to have increased the level of conflict with Pakistan, Commuri finds that this is not what occurred, and that while there was an increase in the aggressiveness of interaction, there was also an increase of efforts to cooperate at many levels. It is an interesting paper that highlights the fact that the behaviour of a particular group is not always linked to it’s most outward expression of identity, and that both may change while it pursues its most essential interests. This is one reason that I intend to read a lot of De Mesquita soon.

In the third paper, this time in International Affairs, Barry Buzan asks how important a shared identity is at the highest level, such that international society itself is able to function relatively stably. Where Commuri found that cultural/religious identity did not always determine a state’s foreign policy, so Buzan believes that cultural differences do not threaten international stability as long as there is a socio-political structure in place that allows states to pursue their essential interests, such as security and trade. All very interesting stuff.

Identities thick & thin

brian — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:48:39 +0000

A useful paper in the latest volume of the journal Studies in Ethnicity an Nationalism discusses the concept of “thick” and “thin” regional identities. This is something that I’m trying to assess in India in relation to heritage, and the article provides a neat framework within which to discuss the concepts. “Thick” identities are defined as traditional, rooted in heritage and shared cultural characteristics, while “thin” are those that involve bonds that are less locally connected and more individual, fluid and network-based.

The article shows how identities in different European regions have responded to challenges such as globalization by becoming thinner over time, forming a hybrid of thick and thin, or remaining thick. The conclusion is that the hybrid identities, which combine elements of regional heritage with thinner networks on an interregional scale, are stronger and more successful.

In my research it will be interesting to assess areas of India that are currently more rural than global, to see to what degree identity may be thinning, and how this affects people’s position in relation to heritage.

Exposing Unethical Vedanta

brian — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:42:34 +0000

Joanna Lumley has now taken up the cause of the Kondhs of Orissa against scumbag English mining company Vedanta, with an excellent short documentary from Survival International. The UK should go beyond tough words and prosecute Vedanta for its unacceptable contempt for tribal people.

US army to continue using HTS?

brian — Sun, 17 May 2009 20:55:35 +0000

A worrying article in truthout is predicting that the US army my expand its use of anthropologists and other social scientists under the Obama administration. It is already a bad sign that although very few scientists who specialise in Iraq or Afghanistan will join, the army has been able to recruit plenty from other areas (including many cash-strapped graduates) who are willing to compromise their ethics. This policy not only increases the perceived legitimacy of neo-colonialist wars, but means that the scientists themselves become responsible for helping to make the army a more efficient killing machine.

Bad linguistics: the Indus script

brian — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 22:06:57 +0000

A recent article in Science aims to prove that the undeciphered Indus script is in fact a written language, rather than a simple-series of signs as is the common consensus. This is part of an ongoing battle between Hindu nationalist academics, for whom proof of written language would be a major status-boost, and other researchers in the field. As with other attempts to prove this case in the past (e.g. a claim in 2000 to have deciphered the script based on faked imagery), this case is also appears to be based on deliberate misuse of data. A full refutation of the paper can be found here, but it basically boils down to the comparative data being used in the study being completely inappropriate and designed to get the desired result. It is worrying that a journal such as Science has accepted an article of this quality, though less surprising that news agencies around the world have parroted its findings as gospel.

Vedanta protests continue

brian — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:18:43 +0000

Members of the Majhi Kondh and Dongria Kondh tribes continue to protest against British mining company Vedanta’s activities in Orissa (Survival International). In accordance with its plans to mine tribal land, the company has displaced hundreds of families for an aluminium refinery, that it now wants to expand at further cost and no benefit whatsoever to local communities. Vedanta seems to believe that they can behave as they wish in undeveloped communities, an unpleasant throwback to a nasty colonial past.

Petition for academic/artistic freedom

brian — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:17:04 +0000

Please consider signing this petition (link), asking the UK government to reconsider legislation that is restricting freedom of travel for international artists and academics wishing to visit the country. The right of academics to meet freely and discuss and disseminate ideas must be actively protected.

India to improve heritage management

brian — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:49:47 +0000

The Indian government is to set up a National Commission for Heritage Sites, which will maintain a national register of heritage sites based on the UK model (article in The Hindu). This will be a positive step towards better preservation of the countless buildings and sites of historical importance in the country, many of which are under constant threat of damage or demolition.

BJP returns to Ayodhya

brian — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:42:55 +0000

The BJP party is once again seeking to leverage the Ayodhya issue ahead of elections in India by promising to build a temple to Rama there if they gain a majority (Times of India story). The Babri Mosque was destroyed at the site in 1992 by Hindu nationalists, in which the BJP played a central role, causing widespread communal violence in which over 2,000 people were killed. The Archaeological Survey of India became controversially involved and reported that a probable Hindu temple had been found a levels below those of the mosque, strengthening the nationalists’ position. If the BJP continues to revive this issue it may awaken old and bitter tensions within Indian archaeology.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/BJP_invokes_Ram_temple_issue_ahead_of_LS_polls/rssarticleshow/msid-4092070,curpg-1.cms