About Those Good Intentions
The following, the final in our series of extracts, comes from my chapter, “Imperial Abduction Lore and Humanitarian Seduction,” which serves as the introduction to Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 1-34. This section was primarily addressed to students as readers, and any constructive feedback would be appreciated. […]
Realism or Iconography? The Pentagon’s Implicit Theory of Visual Representation
October 10, 2014
by Maximilian Forte
The following is an extract from my chapter, “A Flickr of Militarization: Photographic Regulation, Symbolic Consecration, and the Strategic Communication of ‘Good Intentions’,” published in Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 185-279: US military documents make it quite clear that, for the military, a photograph is a straightforward, […]
Road to Victory: Syria’s Zenobians Stand to Win International Rugby Tournament
October 2, 2014
by Eva Bartlett
By Eva Bartlett While I don’t follow organized sports, when I got the opportunity to meet the only rugby team in Syria and see them practise, I jumped on it. I found the fact that these men still meet, train and compete–in spite of the many obstacles which should prevent them from doing so–fascinating. What […]
The US Military as Great Chief, Father, Doctor, and Babysitter
October 1, 2014
by Maximilian Forte
The following is an extract from my chapter, “A Flickr of Militarization: Photographic Regulation, Symbolic Consecration, and the Strategic Communication of ‘Good Intentions’,” published in Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 185-279: In 2009 the Department of the Army produced a field manual titled, “Visual Information Operations” (US […]
The Visual Imperium
September 29, 2014
by Maximilian Forte
The following is an extract from my chapter, “A Flickr of Militarization: Photographic Regulation, Symbolic Consecration, and the Strategic Communication of ‘Good Intentions’,” published in Good Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial Humanitarianism (Montreal: Alert Press, 2014), pp. 185-279: One of the possibly more fruitful areas of inquiry to come out of studies of contemporary […]
Pentagon Photography and Visual Anthropology
September 26, 2014
by Maximilian Forte
Could it be any more obvious how the Pentagon has learned to mimic certain styles of anthropological photography as shown in the instance above? Resembling any of a vast number of photographs of or by anthropologists, such as famous ones of Bronislaw Malinowski and Margaret Mead “in the field,” this one also features the note-taking […]
Scotland Needs a Cultural Revolution
September 21, 2014
by Donnchadh Mac an Ghoill
The Queen of England has welcomed the Scottish referendum results from her castle in Balmoral, and Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, has resigned. Violent clashes have already occured on the streets between Unionists and Nationalists. London media organs, such as the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Daily Express have been refused entry to […]
Pamphleteer Anthropology and the Production of Knowledge about Afghanistan
September 21, 2014
by M. Jamil Hanifi
The military occupation of Afghanistan by the United States and its partners has spawned floods of popular and academic writings and visual effects about the culture, history and politics of the country. A leading contributor to these stores of information about Afghanistan is Thomas Jefferson Barfield, currently professor of anthropology at Boston University and president […]
ZA NETWORK
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
October 11, 2014
by Maximilian Forte
5