Anthropology of War

Alisse Waterston is Professor of Anthropology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY. Her work focuses on the human consequences of structural and systemic violence and inequality. Her publications include Love, Sorrow and Rage: Destitute Women in a Manhattan Residence, and Anthropology off the Shelf: Anthropologists on Writing, co-edited with Maria D. Vesperi.

“The methodologies vary, the approaches are both positivist and interpretive, with empirics drawing from public opinion polls, interviews, archives, and visual and textual analysis. The resulting collection offers a rich and insightful picture of Georgian women’s experiences over the last century…, a delightful example of scholarly explorations of identity and gender in a tumultuous political environment.” • Gender & Society“This is the best book on the anthropology of war I have ever read… [The papers] are both pithy and theoretically informed. That, combined with the collection’s obvious contemporary political relevance and the exemplariness of the chapters as examples of the contemporary anthropology of war, makes it ideal for both university courses and even the public at large. If you want to read a book on the anthropology of war, or use one in your teaching, this is the one you should.” • Ethos“…a little book with big ambitions... Each chapter shows in poignant and powerful ways how anthropologists can marshal evidence against war and related conflict.” • American Ethnologist“It is sobering, but also provocative to look at war from the viewpoint of anthropologists, especially those who have had the unique experience of being in zones of war. These essays bring special insights, but also a passion missing in the usual journalistic accounts or scholarly reflections. The writers in this volume not only enlarge our perspective but move us emotionally - a rare and admirable combination.” • Howard Zinn

• Prelude: An Accountability, Written in the Year 2108Carolyn NordstromIntroduction: On War and AccountabilityAlisse WaterstonChapter 1. Ten Points on WarR. Brian FergusonChapter 2. Global Warring Today: “Maybe Somebody Needs to Explain”Stephen ReynaChapter 3. Global FracturesCarolyn NordstromChapter 4. Seeing Green: Visual Technology, Virtual Reality, and the Experience of WarJose N. VasquezChapter 5. Military Occupation as Carceral Society: Prisons, Checkpoints, and Walls in the Israeli-Palestinian StruggleAvram BornsteinChapter 6. War and Peace in ColombiaLesley GillChapter 7. The Continuum of Violence in Post-war GuatemalaBeatriz ManzChapter 8. Mother Courage and the Future of WarPaul E. FarmerNotes on contributorsBibliographyIndex