March 23, 2007

Patriotic, or Unethical? Anthropologists Debate Whether to Help U.S. Security Agencies

By DAVID GLENN

American military and intelligence agencies have increasingly been turning to anthropologists and other social scientists for "cultural knowledge" about actual and potential adversaries. But many anthropologists are deeply anxious about offering such assistance, fearing, among other things, that their insights might be used simply to help torture and kill people more effectively.

At a panel discussion at Brown University last week, several members of a temporary committee of the

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