By the time the United States officially entered World War II, more than half of American anthropologists were using their professional knowledge and skills to advance the war effort. The range of their war-related work was extraordinary. They helped gather military intelligence, pinpointed possible social weaknesses in enemy nations, and contributed to the army’s regional Pocket Guide booklets. They worked for dozens of government agencies, including the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the Office of War Information. At a moment when social scientists are once again being asked to assist in military and intelligence work, David H. Price examines anthropologists’ little-known contributions to the Second World War. Anthropological Intelligence is based on interviews with anthropologists as well as extensive archival research involving many Freedom of Information Act requests. Price looks at the role played by the two primary U.S. anthropological organizations, the American Anthropological Association and the Society for Applied Anthropology (which was formed in 1941), in facilitating the application of anthropological methods to the problems of war. He chronicles specific projects undertaken on behalf of government agencies, including an analysis of the social effects of postwar migration, the design and implementation of OSS counterinsurgency campaigns, and the study of Japanese social structures to help tailor American propaganda efforts. Price discusses anthropologists’ work in internment camps, their collection of intelligence in Central and South America for the FBI’s Special Intelligence Service, and their help forming foreign language programs to assist soldiers and intelligence agents. Evaluating the ethical implications of anthropological contributions to World War II, Price suggests that by the time the Cold War began, the profession had set a dangerous precedent regarding what it would be willing to do on behalf of the U.S. government.
Author(s): David H. Price
Publisher: Duke University Press
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 395
Tags: American Anthropology, Second World War, Intelligence
Contents......Page 10
Preface......Page 12
Abbreviations......Page 22
One - American Anthropology and the War to End All Wars......Page 24
Two - Professional Associations and the Scope of American Anthropology’s Wartime Applications......Page 41
Three - Allied and Axis Anthropologies......Page 76
Four - The War on Campus......Page 97
Five - American Anthropologists Join the Wartime Brain Trust......Page 114
Six - Anthropologists and White House War Projects......Page 140
Seven - Internment Fieldwork: Anthropologists and the War Relocation Authority......Page 166
Eight - Anthropology and Nihonjinron at the Office of War Information......Page 194
Nine - Archaeology and J. Edgar Hoover’s Special Intelligence Service......Page 223
Ten - Culture at War: Weaponizing Anthropology at the OSS......Page 243
Eleven - Postwar Ambiguities: Looking Back at the War......Page 285
Notes......Page 306
Bibliography......Page 340
Index......Page 376
