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Anthropology and Global Counterinsurgency

A Conference at the University of Chicago




Department of Anthropology



Conference Schedule:

Note: all conference events will be held in Haskell Hall on the University of Chicago's Hyde Park campus.




Friday, April 25th, 2008

18:00-18:30

Opening Reception

Haskell Hall Mezzanine

18:30-19:45

Keynote Address

Haskell Hall 315

Bad Weather: On Planetary Crisis
Joseph Masco
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago



Saturday, April 26th, 2008


08:30-09:00

Light Breakfast

Haskell Hall Mezzanine

09:00-11:30

Session I: Categories of Conflict and Coercion: 

The Blue, the Green, and the Other

Haskell Hall 315
Introduction: Beatrice Jauregui


The Blue-in-Green: Countering Insurgency by Civil-izing Security
Beatrice Jauregui
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago


Blue Helmets, Black Masks: Policing and Provisionality in Haiti, 2004-2006
Greg Beckett
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago


The Categorization of People as Targets of Violence:
A Perspective on the Colombian Armed Conflict

Paola Castaño
Department of Sociology, University of Chicago

Small Wars and Counterinsurgency
James L. Hevia
Director, International Studies, University of Chicago

The Moral Economy of War: Galula Fetishism and its Consequences for Pax Americana
John D. Kelly
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago

11:30-11:45

Break


11:45-13:45

Session II: Ethnographic Experiences of American Power in the Age of the “War on Terror”

Haskell Hall 315
Introduction: Jeremy Walton

Paranoid Styles of Nationalism After the Cold War: Notes from an Invasion of the Amazon
Sean T. Mitchell
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago


Inclement Storms, Hungry Wolves: Consuming the War on Terror in Contemporary Turkey
Jeremy Walton
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago


The Cold War Present: The Logic of Defense Time in Southern California
Mihir Pandya
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago


Passports, News, & Weapons:
The Intimacy of U.S. Power in the Occupied Palestinian West Bank
Amahl Bishara
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago

13:45-14:45

Lunch

Haskell Hall Mezzanine

14:45-15:45 

Plenary Address

Haskell Hall 315

Soft Power, Hard Power and the Anthropological “Leveraging” of Cultural “Assets”:
Distilling the Theory, Politics and Ethics of Anthropological Counterinsurgency
David Price
Department of Anthropology, Saint Martin's University

15:45-16:00

Break


16:00-18:30

Session III (Part 1): Destructions and Constructions of Conscience:
Counterinsurgency and the Study of Culture 

Haskell Hall 315
Introduction: John D. Kelly

Anthropology for the (Military) Masses: Observations of an Intellectual Insurgent
Brian R. Selmeski
Air Force Culture & Language Center / Air University

Cultural Sensitivity in a Military Occupation: US Military in Iraq
Rochelle Davis
Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University

No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy
Christopher T. Nelson
Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The Destruction of Conscience and the Winter Soldier 

Kevin Caffrey
Ph.D., University of Chicago

Yes, Both, Absolutely: A Commentary on Engagements With the Military
Kerry Fosher
Command Social Scientist, Marine Corps Intelligence Activity




Sunday, April 27th

08:30-09:00

Light Breakfast

Haskell Hall Mezzanine

09:00-12:00

Session III (Part 2): Destructions and Constructions of Conscience:
Counterinsurgency and the Study of Culture 

Haskell Hall 315
Chair: Marshall Sahlins

Repetition Compulsion?: Counterinsurgency Bravado in Iraq and Vietnam
Kurt Jacobsen
Department of Political Science, University of Chicago

The Cultural Turn in the War on Terror
Hugh Gusterson
Department of Anthropology and Sociology, George Mason University

"Human Terrain" and Indirect Rule: Theoretical, Practical, and Ethical Concerns
Roberto J. Gonzalez
Department of Anthropology, San Jose State University

The 'Bad' Kill or Another Predictable Tragedy in Iraq?
Jeff Bennett
Department of Anthropology and Religious Studies, University of Missouri, Kansas City

The Uses of Anthropology in the Insurgent Age
Dustin M. Wax
Department of Women's Studies, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

12:00-12:15

Break


12:15-13:00

Final Session (with lunch): Anthropology and Global Counterinsurgency:

an Open Discussion

Haskell Hall 315
Moderator: Sean T. Mitchell



For more information, contact: seantmitch at gmail dot com