Anthropology and the United States Military: Coming of Age in the Twenty-First Century

Anthropology and the United States Military: Coming of Age in the Twenty-First Century. Pamela R. Frese and Margaret C. Harrell, eds. New York: Palgrave, 2003. 162 pp.

One of anthropology's strengths is its ability to nonjudgmentally represent internal cultural views in their own terms, regardless of how counterfactual such insider views appear when compared with external measures. The edited volume, Anthropology and the United States Military, carries on this central anthropological tradition, but instead of portraying traits such as the internal meaning of sorcery or kinship systems, the authors present internal views of U.S. military culture. Each chapter uses anthropological perspectives to study military cultures or to report on anthropological contributions to military training.

The volume's strength is found in the authors' articulation of military cultures' ethos and pathos. This is interesting and valuable data and helps us understand how the military-intelligence-advisor community views itself. For example, Rand Corporation anthropologist-analyst Margaret Harrell expresses the insider view that members of the U.S. military are an "oppressed" population-oppressed because they are subordinate to the orders of others. Although this view stands in stark contrast with the military's status as the most powerful and potentially deadly military force in human history, Harrell well illuminates the internal cultural logic at Rand.

Harell's chapter on "Gender- and Class-Based Role...