This book breaks new ground in the history of anthropology, opening up an explicit examination of anthropology in the Cold War era. With historical distance, Cold War anthropology has begun to emerge as a distinct field within the discipline. This book brings a number of different approaches to bear on the questions raised by anthropology's Cold War history. The contributors show how anthropologists became both tools and victims of the Cold War state during the rise of the United States in the post-War period. Examining the intersection between science and power, this book is a compelling read for anthropologists, historians, sociologists, and anyone interested in the way in which colonial and neo-colonial knowledge is produced and constructed.
Author(s): Dustin M. Wax
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 192
CONTENTS......Page 6
Acknowledgements......Page 7
Introduction: Anthropology at the Dawn of the Cold War......Page 8
1 Ashley’s Ghost: McCarthyism, Science, and Human Nature......Page 24
2 Materialism’s Free Pass: Karl Wittfogel, McCarthyism,and the “Bureaucratization of Guilt”......Page 44
3 American Colonialism at the Dawn of the Cold War......Page 69
4 In the Name of Science: The Cold War and the Direction of Scientific Pursuits......Page 96
5 Peasants on Our Minds: Anthropology, the Cold War, and the Myth of Peasant Conservatism......Page 115
6 Organizing Anthropology: Sol Tax and the Professionalization of Anthropology......Page 140
7 Columbia University and the Mundial Upheaval Society: A Study in Academic Networking......Page 150
8 Afterword: Reconceptualizing Anthropology’s Historiography......Page 173
Contributors......Page 186
Index......Page 189
