Military and civilian organizations in the past have attempted to understand culture and the cultural environment of conflict zones through anthropology. While there is a small and growing number of studies examining the use of anthropology for counterinsurgency, no studies have compared the Anglo-Saxon ABCA Armies' approaches to understanding cultural factors for counterinsurgency and civil–military operations.
Crisis of Cultural Intelligence: The Anthropology of civil–military Operations thus represents a timely investigation into a number of issues regarding the past and present relationship between militarized anthropology, settler colonialism, and Indigenous militancy and the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which has internationalized the claim of encapsulated nations for equal rights. Covering issues such as the use of militarized anthropology in the Vietnam War and the controversial Human Terrain System (HTS) program used in Afghanistan, this book addresses the need for constructive and informed discussions about the nature and function of cultural data collection and analysis for counterinsurgency, peace-building, and conflict prevention operations.
Crisis of Cultural Intelligence: The Anthropology of civil–military Operations is particularly important today, as cultural values and heritage continue to inform civil–military interventions of intrastate armed conflict amongst the people. Following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, this book will provide some insights into how militaries will now need to look ahead and consider the types of conflicts they may become involved in.
Sample Chapter(s)
Chapter 1: Cultural Research in ABCA Armies Civil-Military Operations
Contents:
- Cultural Research in ABCA Armies Civil–Military Operations
- 19th Century Evolutionary Anthropology as Colonial Intelligence
- Early 20th Century Ethnography as Colonial Instrument for Government Planning
- Militarized Anthropological Intelligence in the Second World War
- The Cold War and the Demise of Colonial Empire
- Socio-political Status of Anthropology and Indigenous Resistance
- Civil–Military Intervention in Armed Conflict Among the People
- Cultural Intelligence in the ABCA Armies
- Case Studies
- Conclusion
Readership: Students and professionals interested in the anthropology of military operations, security and intelligence.
"Crisis in Cultural Intelligence: The Anthropology of Civil–Military Operations is an important book that conducts an exposé through rigorous study on the role played by academics — and particularly anthropologists — in the conduct of state-sponsored counterinsurgencies. Analysis is grounded in real life experience as the authors engage the interstate alliance, ABCA — America, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand Armies. Insights in the book reveal a potent discussion concerning academics who sell their knowledge about indigenous peoples considered by some states as obstacles to their strategic interests. The book identifies more realistic and less harmful alternatives for the role of cultural intelligence in arranging peaceful settlement of indigenous nation/state conflicts. By virtue of exploding conflicts in Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, and Syria, and in China, India, Burma, Russia, Turkey, and scores of other countries, the book provides a timely guide to academics, state, and indigenous nations' policymakers who must rely on ethical scholarship and sensible collaboration between states and indigenous nations. This book is required reading for anyone working with indigenous nations and states' governments."
Dr Rudolph C Ryser
Chair of the Board of Directors, Executive Director
Center for World Indigenous Studies
For 30 years from 1972–2002, Dr David Hyndman was an academic anthropologist and Associate Professor with the University of Queensland, where he was a scholar actively engaged in teaching, research, and publishing in the area of political ecology, and conflict between nations and states over self-determination and natural resource management in the Asia-Pacific region. He moved to the Canberra district and established a vineyard wine business from 2002–2009 and continued consultant work as an anthropologist. He was an anthropologist with the Bureau of Rural Studies from 2003–2007, where he managed the National Landcare Program Monitoring and Evaluation Project. He was Contractor to the Commonwealth in the Australian Civil Military Centre from 2010–2011, where he was the Tertiary Education and Publications Manager. Together with Dr Scott Flower, Senior Researcher, and he received a research grant in 2012–2013 for their project titled "Anthropology, Counterinsurgency and civil–military Relations for Stabilisation, Peace-building and Conflict Prevention" from the Australian civil–military Centre, and during the grant support period from 2012–2013, Dr David Hyndman was Visiting Associate Professor with the University of New South Wales, Canberra. In 2015, he was a Visiting Associate Professor with the University of Canberra, where he taught Indigenous Perceptions of Landscape.
Dr Scott Flower is a Fellow at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne. He holds a PhD in Public Policy and a Master of Arts in Strategic Studies from the Australian National University, (ANU). He has published in leading peer-reviewed academic journals including the Journal of Islamic Studies, Novo Religio, the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, the Journal of Pacific Affairs, Journal of Pacific History, and the Australian Journal of International Affairs.
Scott has been awarded a number of prestigious national and international research grants for his research. He was funded by the Australian civil–military Centre to lead the project (with Dr David Hyndman) to deliver this book, which investigates the use of the social sciences by Western militaries to develop socio-cultural analytical capabilities for support civil–military Stabilisation, Peace-Building, and Conflict Prevention operations. Some of his other grant funded research projects in the US and Canada were sponsored by the US Department of Defence and Public Safety Canada respectively, and investigate conversion to Islam in each country and the radicalisation of converts there. Scott also has ongoing consulting and research interests in the Pacific region, particularly Papua New Guinea, where he has worked as a consultant in security and resettlement advisory roles for Exxon Mobil, BHP Billiton, and Xstrata.
