The Anthropology of War

The Anthropology of War PDF Author: Keith F. Otterbein
Publisher: Waveland Press
ISBN: 1478609885
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 151

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Book Description
Keith Otterbein, a long-time authority on anthropological studies of warfare, provides a rich synthesis of theory, literature, and findings developed by anthropologists and scholars from other disciplines. This in-depthyet conciselook at warfare opens with two well-known ethnographic examples of warring peoples: the Dani and the Yanomam. The origins and evolution of war, types of warfare, weapons and tactics, military organizations, and the social bases of war structure discussions within the text. Analyses of historical events and case studies inform readers of different perspectives about why people go to war, how societies can be identified as having war, the elements necessary for war, and how war might be avoided. Otterbein concludes the text by presenting the concept of Positive Peacepromoting peace as a goal of human existenceas a way for humans to eliminate the fatal consequences of war.

The Anthropology of War

The Anthropology of War PDF Author: Keith F. Otterbein
Publisher: Waveland Press
ISBN: 1478609885
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 151

Get Book

Book Description
Keith Otterbein, a long-time authority on anthropological studies of warfare, provides a rich synthesis of theory, literature, and findings developed by anthropologists and scholars from other disciplines. This in-depthyet conciselook at warfare opens with two well-known ethnographic examples of warring peoples: the Dani and the Yanomam. The origins and evolution of war, types of warfare, weapons and tactics, military organizations, and the social bases of war structure discussions within the text. Analyses of historical events and case studies inform readers of different perspectives about why people go to war, how societies can be identified as having war, the elements necessary for war, and how war might be avoided. Otterbein concludes the text by presenting the concept of Positive Peacepromoting peace as a goal of human existenceas a way for humans to eliminate the fatal consequences of war.

Anthropologists in the Public Sphere

Anthropologists in the Public Sphere PDF Author: Roberto J. González
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 9780292701694
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Anthropologists have a long tradition of prescient diagnoses of world events. Possessing a knowledge of culture, society, and history not always shared by the media's talking heads, anthropologists have played a crucial role in educating the general reader on the public debates from World War I to the second Gulf War. This anthology collects over fifty commentaries by noted anthropologists such as Margaret Mead, Franz Boas, and Marshall Sahlins who seek to understand and explain the profound repercussions of U.S. involvement in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Frequently drawing on their own fieldwork, the anthropologists go beyond the headlines to draw connections between indigenous cultures, corporate globalization, and contemporary political and economic crises. Venues range from the op-ed pages of internationally renowned newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post to magazine articles and television interviews. Special sections entitled "Prelude to September 11" and "Anthropological Interpretations of September 11" include articles that provided many Americans with their first substantial introduction to the history of Islam, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Each article includes a brief introduction contextualizing the commentary.

War, Peace, and Human Nature

War, Peace, and Human Nature PDF Author: Douglas P. Fry
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190232463
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 583

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Book Description
"The chapters in this book [posit] that humans clearly have the capacity to make war, but since war is absent in some cultures, it cannot be viewed as a human universal. And counter to frequent presumption, the actual archaeological record reveals the recent emergence of war. It does not typify the ancestral type of human society, the nomadic forager band, and contrary to widespread assumptions, there is little support for the idea that war is ancient or an evolved adaptation. Views of human nature as inherently warlike stem not from the facts but from cultural views embedded in Western thinking"--Amazon.com.

Beyond War

Beyond War PDF Author: Douglas P. Fry
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199725055
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
A profoundly heartening view of human nature, Beyond War offers a hopeful prognosis for a future without war. Douglas P. Fry convincingly argues that our ancient ancestors were not innately warlike--and neither are we. He points out that, for perhaps ninety-nine percent of our history, for well over a million years, humans lived in nomadic hunter-and-gatherer groups, egalitarian bands where warfare was a rarity. Drawing on archaeology and fascinating recent fieldwork on hunter-gatherer bands from around the world, Fry debunks the idea that war is ancient and inevitable. For instance, among Aboriginal Australians, warfare was an extreme anomaly. Fry also points out that even today, when war seems ever present, the vast majority of us live peaceful, nonviolent lives. We are not as warlike as we think, and if we can learn from our ancestors, we may be able to move beyond war to provide real justice and security for the world.

An Anthropology of War

An Anthropology of War PDF Author: Alisse Waterston
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 184545622X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
The contributers reflect on their ethnographic work at the frontlines and recount not only what they have seen and heard in war zones but also what is being read, studied, analyzed and remembered in such diverse locations as Colombia and Guatemala, Israel and Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Haiti. They reflect on the important issue of "accountability" and offer explanations to discern causes, patterns, and practices of war.

Shadows of War

Shadows of War PDF Author: Carolyn Nordstrom
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520239777
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Annotation This book captures the human face of the frontlines, revealing both the visible and the hidden realities of contemporary war, power, and international profiteering in the 21st century.

Peace and War

Peace and War PDF Author: Mary LeCron Foster
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000678547
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Is war necessary? In Peace and War prominent anthropologists and other social scientists explore the cultural and social factors leading to war. They analyze the covert causes of war from a cross-cultural perspective: ideologies that dispose people to war; underlying patterns of social relationships that help institutionalize war; and the cultural systems of military establishments. Overt causes of war—environmental factors like the control of scarce resources, advantageous territories, and technologies, or promoting the welfare of people “like” oneself—are also considered. The authors examine anthropologists’ role in policy formation—how their theories on the nature of culture and society help those who deal with global problems on a day-to-day basis. They argue that both covert and overt mechanisms are pushing the world closer to a devastating war and offer strategies to weaken the effects of these mechanisms. This anthropological and historical analysis of the causes of war is a valuable resource for those studying war and those trying to understand the place of social science in framing pacific options.

The Human Potential for Peace

The Human Potential for Peace PDF Author: Douglas P. Fry
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Intergroup relations
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
The author shows how anthropology--with its expansive time frame and comparative orientation--can provide unique insights into the nature of war and the potential for peace. Challenging the traditional view that humans are by nature primarily violent and warlike, he argues that along with the capacity for aggression humans also possess a strong ability to prevent, limit, and resolve conflicts without violence. Raising philosophy of science issues, the author shows that cultural beliefs asserting the inevitability of violence and war can bias our interpretations, affect our views of ourselves, and may even blind us to the possibility of achieving security without war. He constructs a biosocial argument that challenges a host of commonly held assumptions. The book includes ethnographic examples from around the globe, findings from his research among the Zapotec of Mexico, and results of cross-cultural studies on warfare. In showing that conflict resolution exists across cultures and by documenting the existence of numerous peaceful societies, it demonstrates that dealing with conflict without violence is not merely a utopian dream. The book also explores several highly publicized and interesting controversies, including his critique of Margaret Mead's writings on Samoan warfare; Napoleon Chagnon's claims about the Yanomamö; and ongoing evolutionary debates about whether "hunter-gatherers" are peaceful or warlike.

The Palgrave Handbook of Disciplinary and Regional Approaches to Peace

The Palgrave Handbook of Disciplinary and Regional Approaches to Peace PDF Author: Oliver Richmond
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137407611
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 568

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Book Description
In this handbook, a diverse range of leading scholars consider the social, cultural, economic, political, and developmental underpinnings of peace. This handbook is a much-needed response to the failures of contemporary peacebuilding missions and narrow disciplinary debates, both of which have outlined the need for more interdisciplinary work in International Relations and Peace and Conflict studies. Scholars, students, and policymakers are often disillusioned with universalist and northern-dominated approaches, and a better understanding of the variations of peace and its building blocks, across different regions, is required. Collectively, these chapters promote a more differentiated notion of peace, employing comparative analysis to explain how peace is debated and contested.

The Anthropology of War & Peace

The Anthropology of War & Peace PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780897891431
Category : Armes nucléaires et désarmement
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Drawing parallels between tribal behavior and international relations to demonstrate that societies are not inherently aggressive but are led into conflict when pride or in-group pressures push people to fight, this profound look at the chilling reality of cold war and its arsenal of nuclear destruction offers valuable new insights into how prejudices and sterotypes contribute to what may seel like an inexorable drift to war. Yet the authors conclude that war is not inevitable, as they offer suggestions for an end to the arms race in the nuclear age.