Human Terrain System Summary

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Chapter 36 (Mead) mentions that anthropology was used to explore social problems and now we have to solve another problem of a world on the verge of self-consciousness and a new period is history. Mead states that no one is able to attain the degree of detachment for their own society while remaining a participant member of the society. Additionally, the author mentions that anthropologists’ sees a society or community differently than a traveler. The anthropologists is trained to see complex details through different perspectives. Mead mentions that the British had a special use for anthropologists as advisers to the government. In addition, governments trained anthropologists to find answers to various questions in cultural terms. The anthropologists …show more content…
One difficultly that anthropologists face is related to translating and writing from native ideas into English. Mead mentions that English words do not accurately convey the meaning of native words. I find this a very interesting idea, translating words from one language to another looses its true meaning. Therefore, I believe anthropologists have to skillfully and accurately have the ability to translate from a native unfamiliar language to English. Chapter 38 (Gonzalez) discusses the past, present and future history of the Human Terrain System. In July 2005 and August 2006 the US Army created this counterinsurgency programme known as the Human Terrain System. It involved five people who were assigned to brigade combat headquarters in Iraq and Afghanistan including social scientists who were armed. The author mentions hat there is no evidence that the HTT have saved lives. HTT can be used as a method to rally public support for unpopular war and/or to collect intelligence to help a failing profession. In addition, the Network of Concerned …show more content…
The ship was going to said towards the Gaza Strip. The steering committee of the ‘Ship to Gaza Greece’ initiative invited Kosmatopoulos to participate in the flotilla and conduct fieldwork during the journey. He mentions that he conducted semi-structured interviews with the members of the teams and attended open meetings of the coordinating committee. The author mentions that he saw the ship not only as his ‘field’ but also his ‘home’. His questions and notes revolved around three spaces; the ship, Gaza strip and Israeli prison. On May 30th his ship received orders from the Israeli navy to be stopped. He mentions that a ship in close proximity begins getting attacked. The captain and leader of the mission mention that they are on a Greek ship on humanitarian mission and sailing on international waters therefore they don’t obey orders from any foreign government only the Greek government. They are then captured and imprisoned, all of Kosmatopoulos field notes along with audio-recording are taken away. Many of the humanitarian workers were beaten and abused by the IDF forces. They are put into prison and cut off form the outside world. Finally, embassy staff arrive and inform the prisoners that there is a global outcry against what some consider to be an Israeli act of state terrorism. After three full days they are finally brought back to

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