Essay Sample on Ethics of Embedded Anthropology

Introduction

Traditionally, anthropologists have gained a wonkish title for how much time their spend on their books and also their desire to gain more knowledge of how society operates by looking at the present and comparing it with the past. Most of them will be found in college classrooms, or the field is interviewing some elders. However, when the US Army in collaboration with their Canadian counterpart went after terrorist groups in Afghanistan and Iraq, anthropologists found themselves in the battlefield as an unfamiliar situation and one that raised a lot of questions. In a bid to improve its Army's cultural IQ, the U.S. military embedded various social scientist, and anthropologists in the military troops. Thousands were employed either by the Human Terrain System (HTS) in the U.S. or by the White Situational Awareness Team (WSAT) in Canada, and their primary purpose was to provide information that could help the military commanders make proper judgment and probably win the war (Shay). While the idea of embedding anthropologists in Afghanistan and Iraq war was initiated from a pure heart of helping it was a bad idea since broke their code of ethics and were not as effective as they would have wished to be.

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The embedment of the anthropologist in the military was a violation of their code of ethics. Every major professional have a specific code of ethics that must be followed, and failure to so can create more problems. Anthropologist code of ethics is similar to the one Hippocratic Oath doctors take where they promise not to harm (Shay). According to the American Anthropological Association (AAA), the HTS in the U.S. did not abide by the principles of anthropology and the anthropologists involved "can no longer be considered a legitimate professional exercise of anthropology." (Shay). The AAA, in this case, is right since when an individual decides to become a professional anthropologist, he or she must abide by what the profession demand and there is nowhere it says they can be involved in military actions or activities.

Moreover, the AAA also noted that the military could misuse the information given by social scientists putting more innocent lives in danger (Shay). According to shay, "some anthropologists who were involved in the report said the information was already misused." The way the military is trained and operates is different from how anthropologist does their things. The military is more concerned about winning battles, and in some cases, they will care less if the innocent are hurt or if the society is disturbed. They care about their mission. This is opposite to what anthropologist code of ethics calls for which is never to harm anyone (Shay). The social scientist had no control of the information they gave out, and the truth is it ended up being used in a manner they would now regret.

Additionally, anthropologists must realize that they have an essential responsibility to society and humanity in any part of the universe. According to Fenton, "If academics align themselves with the national security state, they diminish the relevance and credibility of their work, and potentially endanger the reputations and lives of all other academics." Jamail also notes that it's apparent for the anthropologists joining the army that there are letting their knowledge be used as a weapon to kill many people which is opposite to their beliefs. Therefore, anthropologists should have paid more attention to the consequences that might arise due to their actions.

As much as social scientist helped in some cases the military to conduct their attack better, their effectiveness on the war zone could still be debated. Most of this scientist spend the majority of their time studying and being on the battlefield was a whole different experience. Most of them had never heard loud military gunshots or even being shot at, and this affected their performance (Kassel). Kassel also notes that most military commanders cared less about the Human Terrain System (HTS) from the U.S. or the White Situational Awareness Team in Canada and even wondered what to do with them. Some military leaders were also not interested in the input given by the anthropologists and saw them as only some added baggage that they had to move with during the battle "Nobody had tasked them with anything for the whole year, so they were just running around doing their own thing" (Kassel). Most commanders would prefer local collaborators who would give them essential hints and information on where to attack and not some scientist who have only theories that are sometimes not accurate (Jamail). Additionally, the fallout or lack of understanding between the military leaders and the anthropologist only aggravated things. It is also possible that after joining the military and seeing how their information was used to harm others, the social scientists could have ended up quitting regretting if they should have joined in the first place.

Conclusion

All in all, the embedment of anthropology in the Afghanistan and Iraq war created a lot of ethical dilemma for professionals who were willing to join. Although the creation of HTS and WSAT was in good intention, the idea for a social scientist to join them was a bad one because they broke their code of ethics and were not as effective as they would have wished to be.

Works Cited

Fenton, Cameron. "The Ethnography Of An Air-Strike: Canada'S Military Academics In The Afghan War And At Home | The Dominion". Dominionpaper.Ca, 2010, http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3295.

Jamail, Dahr. "Anthropological Intelligence Supports Military Occupation: Engineering "Trust Of The Indigenous Population" - Global Research". Global Research, 2009, https://www.globalresearch.ca/anthropological-intelligence-supports-military-occupation-engineering-trust-of-the-indigenous-population/13643.

Kassel, Whitney. "The Army Needs Anthropologists". Foreign Policy, 2015, https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/07/28/the-army-needs-anthropologists-iraq-afghanistan-human-terrain/

Shay, Christopher. "Should Anthropologists Go to War?." Time, December 13 (2009). http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1947095,00.html