AAA Executive Board Resolution on HTS
I didn’t see that anyone had posted this yet, and though people might be interested in the AAA Executive Board’s resolution against the involvement of anthropology in HTS. From the conclusion:
In the context of a war that is widely recognized as a denial of human rights and based on faulty intelligence and undemocratic principles, the Executive Board sees the HTS project as a problematic application of anthropological expertise, most specifically on ethical grounds. We have grave concerns about the involvement of anthropological knowledge and skill in the HTS project. The Executive Board views the HTS project as an unacceptable application of anthropological expertise.
The Executive Board affirms that anthropology can and in fact is obliged to help improve U.S. government policies through the widest possible circulation of anthropological understanding in the public sphere, so as to contribute to a transparent and informed development and implementation of U.S. policy by robustly democratic processes of fact-finding, debate, dialogue, and deliberation. It is in this way, the Executive Board affirms, that anthropology can legitimately and effectively help guide U.S. policy to serve the humane causes of global peace and social justice.
Update: This seems to be the official link.
This is great thing. I’m so glad to see the AAA stand up for something and make such a clear statement against human terrain systems. The reasons listed in the statement are based on solid anthropological principles.
I suppose these programs will all go underground now, but at least the AAA has said they don’t want any part of this sort of anthropology.
Have any of the human terrain anthropologists made any comments on this?
Bravo to the AAA for this statement.
At the risk of taking attention away from the main (and very important) point, many of us have been very interested in the technology and social organization of AAA communication (see the Wiley-Brown discussions). The URL for the HTS resolution (linked by Oneman) includes the element /blog/ which, as a regularly user of the AAA website, appears to be new to me. More immediately, I cannot find the HTS announcement linked to, or given as such, on the AAA homepage, thus I wonder (1) how is it (the link/the content) circulating to whom and (2) what to make of the /blog/ element?
A Google News search shows that Wired’s blog is running much of the notice and that it was posted eight hours ago. See:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/11/anthropology-as.html
It must have gone to the media. Did it also go out to various AAA officers? Am I missing it somewhere on the website?
For myself, I am pleased with the board’s action, especially in a year when my faith in the possibility of an effective AAA has significantly ebbed.
Jason,
I got it from someone who said it was posted to the AAA’s “membernews” list (that name from memory, as my email isn’t in front of me at the moment).
a notice was emailed to all aaa dues paying members in good standing (with listed emails).
this is a great move by the aaa.
Thanks to Oneman and to Pat. Looking around a bit more, I have found the (a) new AAA blog, which opens with this topic. It is a blogger site to which (as of a few moments ago) 14 people have commented in discussion of the HTS statement. See:
http://aaanewsinfo.blogspot.com/
I was led to the blog (which I will probably find discussed in that recent AAA email…) via anthropology.net’s post on (against) the HTS statement. The anthropology.net author even brings AAA OA policy into his or her critique.
Yes, I noticed that the following quote seems to imply support of OA, even though we know that the AAA in fact opposed OA:
So while I share their sentiments, I wish their actions matched their rhetoric.
Heh, I literally “didn’t get the memo” from the AAA, although I’m a dues-paying member. Perhaps my spam filter knows something about them that I don’t…?
I don’t think I received it either.
I’m pretty sure they didn’t send it out to members.
A moment ago I received a brief mass email from AAA signed by Alan Goodman announcing the HTS statement and directing members to the AAA blog for details and discussion.
My dues are paid up, but I didn’t get the message directly, but through a list serv. Not important how I got it, but great that the AAA “gets it”.