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.