Consorcio Minerva

foto tomada de newsweek

La relación entre ciencias sociales y gobiernos (fuerzas armadas, servicio de inteligencia, etcétera) ya es bastante conocida y se remonta hasta el punto de partida de varias disciplinas como la antropología. Últimamente, para variar, se sigue discutiendo esto. Y no es que solamente el gobierno de estados unidos utilice estudiantes becados en países del “tercer mundo” (otra horrible palabra) para averiguar si hay venezolanos o cubanos por el campo o la participación de antropólogos en Irak o del uso del conocimiento producido por las ciencias sociales para ser utilizada en técnicas de tortura e interrogación (es decir, de la militarizacion de la antropologia). (Ver el Documento del programa Human Terrain System)

Bueno, ahora (via Savage Minds) veo un discurso del secretario de defensa de usa Robert Gates, quien plantea una nueva (¿?) alianza entre la academia y el sector defensa la cual denomina “Minerva Consortia” (ver el discurso completo). Y no se queda en explicitar la importancia de esta alianza, sino que propone cuatro lineas de trabajo:

• Chinese military and technology studies. Gates noted that China publishes much information about its own military in a way that it is available, but only in China. He would like to see the creation of “a real — or virtual — archive of documents” created by universities and their researchers.
• Iraqi and terrorist perspectives. Gates said that there is much research to be done on materials captured in recent years. He said that he believes many documents “contain strategic, ideological, and practical considerations — and day-to-day debate — that I think would be of great interest to scholars.”
• Religious studies. “There is little doubt that eventual success in the conflict against jihadist extremism will depend less on the results of individual military engagements and more on the overall ideological climate within the world of Islam. Understanding how this climate is likely to evolve over time, and what factors — including U.S. actions — will affect it thus becomes one of the most significant intellectual challenge we face. It has been a long time since religious issues have had to be addressed in a strategic context. A research program along these lines could be an important contribution to the intellectual foundation on which we base a national strategy in coming years and decades,” Gates said.
• New disciplines. Gates noted that game theory and Kremlinology came out of Cold War research and suggested that other fields may need to be created now. “In the last few years, we have learned that the challenges facing the world require a much broader conception and application of national power than just military prowess,” Gates said. “The government and the Department of Defense need to engage additional intellectual disciplines – such as history, anthropology, sociology, and evolutionary psychology.

Y esto no se aleja mucho de nuestra situación (claro, con muchas diferencias), en donde habría que preguntar sobre los "científicos sociales" que trabajan para el servicio de inteligencia. ¿dime para quien trabajas y te diré quien eres? no creo. pero en esos casos, ¿quien es el investigador y quien el "nativo"?