Hi Janice,
I was interviewed by that committee as well - it was an "interesting" experience all around
. On the actual debate between the military and Anthropology, I've been following it for some time now and written one article (
here) on it and I'm in the process of writing another that is trying to get at the underlying mechanisms of why the debate has gone the way it has.
My original ethical concern about the program goes back to the original proposal to build local databases and then turn them over to the host government. To me, that was a) a clear violation of confidentiality and b) a really bad precedent since I fully suspect that such databases would be used to target non-government supporters. On general interaction and finding ways to reduce harm on both sides, I certainly had no problems
.
The perils of living in a democracy <sigh>.
Well, if you can use a symbolic Anthropologist on SME-net, just drop me a line. I suspect that, in time, you will have to either a) relax the citizenship requirements for field teams or b) get other nations to form them (I believe that we [Canada] have one Anthropologist in the field in Afghanistan right now). It may be an idea to consider reworking it so a NATO TS clearance would be enough.
Thank you! If you don't mind, I may just try and put together a list of specific concerns (and, maybe, possible solutions to them) and shoot it off to you before that meeting.
Marc
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