The Minerva Consortium

[SteveMetz]

I'm thinking this through. If I'm going to go out and do field research among academic anthropologists for an ethnographic analysis, I'll need to fit in enough to not alarm them. I'll go for birkenstock's with socks, and a Che Guevara tee shirt. That should work.

[marct]

I'm thinking this through. If I'm going to go out and do field research among academic anthropologists for an ethnographic analysis, I'll need to fit in enough to not alarm them. I'll go for birkenstock's with socks, and a Che Guevara tee shirt. That should work.

Well, in California, maybe . Up here in Canada, sandals and socks are fairly normal from, oh, March to December . If you really want to fit in in terms of clothes, don't wear a suit - toss on jeans and an old shirt w/ a sweater. Oh yeah, if you want to fit in with the real Anthropologists, etter practice up on drinking . If you want a friendly field run, come on up to Ottawa for CASCA next month.

[SteveMetz]

So anthropologists aren't like NGO types who never wear anything except black on black on black? You can go into a packed auditorium in DC and pick out the NGO folks by that uniform.

But, in fairness, other tribes have their uniforms. Military guys in civilian clothes will have a navy blazer, khakis, and a J.C. Penny tie that is knotted about three inches too short. Cheap digital watch set to beep every fifteen minutes required. One of those green, cloth covered notebooks a plus. My own tribe--the primal wonks--is more in the Brooks Brothers or Joseph Banks suits with french cuff shirts, a fountain pen (Visconti in my case--Mont Blanc is too "look at me--I just passed the bar exam"!), and a mechanical movement Swiss watch (mine is Oris).

[marct]

So anthropologists aren't like NGO types who never wear anything except black on black on black? You can go into a packed auditorium in DC and pick out the NGO folks by that uniform.

Nah - just look for the worst dressed men and the women with the biggest jewelry . And what's wrong with black on black?!? I like the way I look in a tux (or riding cape for that matter; more importantly, s does my wife ).

[marct]

But, in fairness, other tribes have their uniforms. Military guys in civilian clothes will have a navy blazer, khakis, and a J.C. Penny tie that is knotted about three inches too shrt. My own tribe--the primal wonks--is more in the Brooks Brothers or Joseph Banks suits with french cuff shirts.

I used to play "guess the sub-discipline" at American Sociology Association meetings - too simple a game . Yeah, clothing and other forms of appearance (hair styles and length, jewelry, body stance, etc.) are all tribal markers.

[Stan]

Anthropological Perspectives on Clothing, Fashion, and Culture

These links should clear up any confusion between Africans in trousers, and NGOs in conferences with Anthropologists

Abstract Clothing research has attracted renewed interest in anthropology

An Anthropologist's Dress Code: Some brief comments

Steve, sounds like the military are still attending "Dress for Success" (Typical DIA classes back in the early 80s). I bought my shirts from Land's End however

[Umar Al-Mokhtār]

Military guys in civilian clothes will have a navy blazer, khakis, and a J.C. Penny tie that is knotted about three inches too short. Cheap digital watch set to beep every fifteen minutes required. One of those green, cloth covered notebooks a plus.

Which is exactly why I lean heavily towards board shorts, t-shirts, and Vans!

One way out of jury duty is to let them know you are in favor of the death penalty, even for misdemeanors, and carried out publicly.

Isn’t some sort of muted English tweed jacket with leather elbow patches, a silk cravat topped of with a meerschaum de rigueur for the staid, solemn scions of academe?

[SteveMetz]

Which is exactly why I lean heavily towards board shorts, t-shirts, and Vans!

One way out of jury duty is to let them know you are in favor of the death penalty, even for misdemeanors, and carried out publicly.

Isn’t some sort of muted English tweed jacket with leather elbow patches, a silk cravat topped of with a meerschaum de rigueur for the staid, solemn scions of academe?

OK, I plead guilty to the tweed jacket (bought in Edinborough) and the meerschaum pipe. But I ain't got no cravat. I did break down and drop like $700 on academic regalia about five years ago. Have worn it exactly once. I figure I'll amortize it by getting buried in it. The upside is that no matter how fat I get, I'm not going to outgrow it.

I think there's a generational divide, though. We old fart academics wanted to look like we were one of those wrong-side-of-the-road driving English types. Hence the tweed and pipes. The younger ones want to pretend they're living in Berkeley during the Summer of Love.

[selil]

Which is exactly why I lean heavily towards board shorts, t-shirts, and Vans!

Blue Jeans, shirts with computer logo's on them, and Teva's.

Once criticized by a senior faculty member for not wearing a tie I pointed out an AS400 and said pick that up. He didn't want to get dirty of course. So I told him you can't teach in my lab then. He agreed and told others to leave me alone. I thought because he agreed. Awhile back he said the reason he supported me was he thought anybody who could possibly pick up an AS400 was to scary to argue with.

[Randy Brown]

Sharon Weinberger at Wired.com's "Danger Room" has just posted a link excerpting an open letter by the Network of Concerned Anthropologists, responding to SECDEF's Minerva Consortium proposal.

Personally, I find most of the concerns reasonable, if a little breathlessly stated. I take exception to one, however, which fails to come to terms with its own philosophical underpinnings: "The University becomes an instrument rather than a critic of war-making, and spaces for critical discussion of militarism within the university shrink."

The apparent assumption being that the academy is ideally and inherently a might-is-never-right enterprise, rather than an environment in which the lessons of history (or any other discipline) may be fairly explored--and perhaps even applied.

In other words, the role of the university should be to apply criticism to all comers, rather than just "war-making," as the organization so inelegantly calls it. At least, thus sez this citizen-soldier-scholar-brewer-patriot ...

See "Pentagon's Project Minerva Sparks New Anthro Concerns" at:http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/0...erva.html#more

[marct]

From Savage Minds

AAA issues statement on Minerva
Posted by Strong under AAA , Anthropology at war


Below I append a statement issued today by AAA President Setha Low in response to the defense department’s Project Minerva. AAA is making the rather clever suggestion that projects funded through Minerva be subjected to peer review through established federal channels and agencies, such as NSF, NEH, and NIH. Low writes: “Lacking the kind of of infrastructure for evaluating anthropological research that one finds at these other agencies, we are concerned that the Department of Defense would turn for assistance in developing a selection process to those who are not intimately familiar with the rigorous standards of our discipline.” This statement in particular appears to voice one worry or criticism that many have articulated about the ‘culturing-up’ of the US security apparatus: that it is being done in a shoddy way. It further raises the issue of formal procedures concerning ethical oversight, since, presumably, NSF, NEH, and NIH all require strict adherence to common rule guidelines. (Though we know that DoD also requires this.)

Full text of the letter at SM and at the AAAs site.

[Randy Brown]

Offered here for the good of the cause, Sharon Weinberger at Wired's "Danger Room" updates her Minverva Consortium coverage with news that a Broad Agency Announcement has been released, detailing:

A. What types of proposals could be funded:
(1) Chinese Military and Technology Research and Archive Programs
(2) Studies of the Strategic Impact of Religious and Cultural Changes within the Islamic World
(3) Iraqi Perspectives Project
(4) Studies of Terrorist Organization and Ideologies
(5) New Approaches to Understanding Dimensions of National Security, Conflict, and Cooperation

B. Available funding levels under the program (total funding $50 million U.S., with typical awards anticipated to range from $1 million to $1.5 million per year).

C. The who-and-how of white-paper review.

Enjoy!