War Ethnography

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Anthropologists have brought to bear significant perspectives on war and political violence. Detailed ethnographies have furthered our understandings of the root causes and consequences on communities living with political upheaval and social unrest. The sustained ethnographic investigations of the unique experiences of individuals and communities living under the shadow of political violence and mass atrocities have been central to the powerful analysis of state and society. "Have humans always fought and killed each other, or did they peacefully coexist until organized states developed?" asks anthropologist Keith F. Otterbein in his compelling research on the causes of war. This fundamental question had help frame important debates on the very nature of human society. The main objective of this course is to explore the anthropology of war and peacemaking drawing on a wide variety of ethnographic examples to contextualize the major forces pertaining to the eruption of war. Topics ranging from local contexts, ethnicity, power, territorial partition, justice, domestic and international politics, collective security, justice and mediation will be examined. The course will employ major anthropological theoretical and methodological approaches grounded in cultural and political anthropology to unravel the patterns and processes through which individuals and communities begin to cope with war, and how they move on to rebuild their fractured lives. Ethnographic perspectives on violence, borders and refugees will be covered.