Running Head: CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS OF ANTHROPOLOGISTS ENGAGED

IN WAR ZONES
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Challenges and benefits of anthropologists engaged in war zones

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CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS OF ANTHROPOLOGISTS ENGAGED IN WAR ZONES

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Challenges and benefits of anthropologists engaged in war zones
The most prominent contribution of anthropologists in war zones is in the fact that
wars are associated with disasters and anthropology, with its unique comprehensive format,
can help understand disasters by understanding the circumstances of their origin and the
impact on human life. As Hoffman (2011) states, identity formation is important in
understanding war, and anthropology can understand this association as a social science.
Moreover, providing disaster relief and reconstruction is not easy and anthropological
presence in war zones aid these processes. s Packer (2006) states in The Lesson of Tal Afar,
that the American military presence in Iraq during the war was able to consider the civilians
and their needs one the military learned to listen to the locals and understand their worldview
from the perspective of people that had lived in a dictatorship. However, the fact remains that
the basic ethical foundation of anthropology is that the study of people and cultures should be
such that the study does not negatively affect the people or culture. Since war inevitably
harms people, it works against this anthropological ethic.
Clearly, anthropology benefits from being in war zones, since it gains insight into
human behavior in disaster and war. The civilians potentially benefit from being spared from
the disasters of war as much as possible by the distance kept between them and the militarys
offensive and defensive counterinsurgency (Parker, 2006). The military also benefits because
it is able to isolate the insurgents and provide the non-insurgents with security, thus reducing
combat and enabling political and economic development. However, anthropology and the
local people suffer losses during wars. Anthropology loses its focus as a social science
enabling the understanding of people and culture to bring them greater empathy and the local
people lose lives and property and undergo trauma because of war.

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References
Hoffman, D. (2011). The war machines: Young men and violence in Sierra Leone and
Liberia. Durham: Duke University Press.
Parker, G. (April 10, 2006). The Lesson of Tal Afar, The New York Times. Referenced on
July 10, 2015 from http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/04/10/the-lesson-oftal-afar.

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