Wired magazine has just reported that the Pentagon has kicked off ‘Minerva’, its project to include social scientists and other academics into the “War on Terror”. The article also mentions the debate that has been going on in anthropology over the US military’s new-found enthusiasm for culture and social science methods.
Wired also has covered this issue in surprising detail, and there is a good archive of related stories at the bottom of their article.
Thanks to ANU PhD student Bree Blakeman who posted this link on the AAS mailing list, AASNet.
21 June, 2008 at 12:48 am
[...] doctors for themselves and their friends, and terrible taste in music. Also, they really stink. The Pentagon has officially launched Project Minerva, the already crumbling facade of respectability of which makes clear that it has nothing to do with [...]
24 June, 2008 at 12:32 am
Readers might consider looking at one breakdown of the document soliciting project proposals for grants, which is available here. and which is highly revealing and I would argue of far greater concern than anything the Human Terrain System entailed. I have added a few notes at this other link as well. Given the international reach of Minerva, I am glad to say that I have prompted early discussion in the Canadian Anthropology Society concerning the implications of Minerva. You should expect to see more from CASCA in the weeks and months to come.
24 June, 2008 at 12:33 am
My apologies for the spam, the first link above does not work for some reason. Let me simply paste it in here:
http://tinyurl.com/6l68hz
Thanks and best wishes.
5 August, 2008 at 12:20 pm
[...] Setha Low recently held a conference call with media reps to discuss the AAA’s position on Minerva developments. The major development is the recently announced partnership between the U.S. [...]