The Crisis of Cultural Intelligence

The Anthropology of CivilMilitary Operations

Military and civilian organizations in the past have attempted to understand culture and the cultural environment of conflict zones through anthropology. While there is a small and growing number of studies examining the use of anthropology for counterinsurgency, no studies have compared the Anglo-Saxon ABCA Armies' approaches to understanding cultural factors for counterinsurgency and civil–military operations.

Crisis of Cultural Intelligence: The Anthropology of civil–military Operations thus represents a timely investigation into a number of issues regarding the past and present relationship between militarized anthropology, settler colonialism, and Indigenous militancy and the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which has internationalized the claim of encapsulated nations for equal rights. Covering issues such as the use of militarized anthropology in the Vietnam War and the controversial Human Terrain System (HTS) program used in Afghanistan, this book addresses the need for constructive and informed discussions about the nature and function of cultural data collection and analysis for counterinsurgency, peace-building, and conflict prevention operations.

Crisis of Cultural Intelligence: The Anthropology of civil–military Operations is particularly important today, as cultural values and heritage continue to inform civil–military interventions of intrastate armed conflict amongst the people. Following the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, this book will provide some insights into how militaries will now need to look ahead and consider the types of conflicts they may become involved in.

Contents:

• Cultural Research in ABCA Armies Civil–Military Operations
• 19th Century Evolutionary Anthropology as Colonial Intelligence
• Early 20th Century Ethnography as Colonial Instrument for Government Planning
• Militarized Anthropological Intelligence in the Second World War
• The Cold War and the Demise of Colonial Empire
• Socio-political Status of Anthropology and Indigenous Resistance
• Civil–Military Intervention in Armed Conflict Among the People
• Cultural Intelligence in the ABCA Armies
• Case Studies
• Conclusion

Readership: Students and professionals interested in the anthropology of military operations, security and intelligence.
Key Features:

• It is the first extensive and systematic ethnographic research drawing on serving military personnel to investigate how these militaries have attempted to collect, analyze, and use cultural knowledge for counterinsurgency and civil–military operations over the last decade
• It is the first cross-country comparative study that examines the nature of knowledge flows on cultural factors for military operations between these five closely allied countries, demonstrating how cultural affinities and shared histories of the five countries have shaped how each country's army conceptualizes and considers cultural factors for military operations
• It is the first time that the evolution of anthropology as a discipline has been explored across two centuries and five 'Anglo' countries. In so doing, the important interrelationships between the development of anthropology and the military in each country over time are highlighted