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"?

Homo politicus: etnografiando Potomac Land

Al mejor estilo narrativo de la etnografía clasica (utilizada con bastante ironia), Dana Milbank publico: "Homo politicus: The strange and scary tribes that run our government, 2007". El libro trata sobre los hombres de Potomac (lease Potomac Land : Washinghton) de sus rituales, luchas por mantener el control de la tribu, etc etc. O como mejor lo dice en la introduccion:

"(...)

I came to live in political Washington – Potomac Land, if you will – 12 years ago. For most of that time, I have lived among the natives as if I were one of them: working, eating, dressing and socializing as they do and wearing the same government-issued ID cards and BlackBerry devices. As I gained their trust over time, they allowed me to join them in their homes, war rooms and tribal councils. Seeing them that way, I felt like a Spanish explorer witnessing an Aztec human sacrifice for the first time. In his natural state, Homo Politicus was so defined by tribalism that he placed tribe, or party, above even family and nation-state. Though equipped with the tools of modern civilization, his work proved to be less efficient – and his rituals more bizarre – than even the most primitive of cultures.

(...)

To understand such behavior, I followed Potomac Man through his daily rituals: the morning “Gaggle” at the White House, the lunchtime reading of the “Hotline,” the afternoon viewing of Wolf Blitzer, and the evening fundraiser. I learned of his weekly rhythms: the Sunday morning shows that are more popular than church, the lawmakers’ Thursday afternoon rush to National Airport, and the administration’s Friday evening “dump” of bad news. I observed his seasonal festivals at each stage of the biennial electoral cycle: the winter budget battle, the summer recess and the fall campaign. And I explored the Potomac rites of passage: election, the accumulation of seniority, and, finally, the ascent to lobbyist.

Admittedly, even intensive research cannot thoroughly explain why a senior White House official would shoplift from Target, why a member of Congress would stash bribe money in food containers in his freezer or strike a police officer with her cell phone. Neither can such study adequately account for the senator who calls man-made global warming the “greatest hoax ever perpetrated” or the Senate candidate who explained a low turnout at an airport rally by making up a story about a tree falling on a hangar. Such Potomac Land mysteries may never be solved. But they are well worth contemplating over a kosher ham sandwich."

(partes del libro se pueden consutar en la pagina web de la autora)

Me viene a la mente el texto de Horace Miner "Body ritual among the Nacirema (1956)", quien describia:

"El ritual corporal diario que todos realizan comprende un rito bucal. A pesar de que esta gente es muy cuidadosa en el aseo bucal, este rito consiste en una práctica que asombra a los no iniciados, por ser repugnante. Me informaron que el ritual consiste en llevarse un puñado de pelos de cerdo a la boca, junto con ciertos polvos mágicos, todo lo cual se mueve en la boca con una serie muy específica de gestos".

Como plantea Rosaldo (1990), mas que parodia esto debe entenderse como un critica a la etnografia clasica y la creencia de la objetividad autoritaria del observador imparcial.

Claro, lo de Milbank va por otro lado, pero no deja de resultar interesante.

En fin, ¿que se podría decir de la tribu politica peruana?

La Corrupción desde la Antropología

Recomiendo la lectura de este texto de Ludwig Huber de Enero del 2007, titulado "Hacia una Interpretación Antropológica de la Corrupción en el Perú", con el auspicio del CIES. Muy bueno, va el link:

Haz clik aqui