The Anthropology of War

This course surveys war and the anthropological theories developed to explain it. The primary focus will be on small-scale warfare often referred to as inter-tribal warfare. The goal in studying this particular type of warfare is to ultimately gain a better understanding of warfare in general regardless of its status size or status.

In doing this a variety of different authors will be examined as well as a variety of different theoretical perspectives. Some of the theoretical perspectives that the student will become familiar with include the sociobiological perspective, the ecological materialist perspective, and the cultural materialist perspective.

Goals and Objectives:

The student will be able to take a variety of different theoretical perspectives and apply them to war. The perspectives should be understood to the degree that the student is capable of applying them to war and conflict in all situations including historical conflicts as well as current ones. This is intended to give the student new criteria for examining the phenomenon of war in the world.

The students library and research skills will be sharpened through learning proper researching skills that are required to complete this course

The student will learn to use Microsoft’s EndNotes as a key research tool.

The students will become familiar with the rules of citation in order to avoid plagiarism, as this is a class based on reading and working with the work others.

The student will form a strong base of research in the case that they wish to continue on in this field of study in the future.

Requirements:

The student shall find and read all the readings on the reading list and retain a copy for themselves.

The student will create a thorough notebook based on notes they take from the their readings.

The student will create an Endnotes library of bibliographic sources on the anthropology of war that they are to gather through their own research. This library should far exceed the titles included on the reading list.

The student will give a brief annotation of all of the literary sources they read, including any that are not on the reading list.

The student will create a final paper that draws all of the knowledge they have gained through their readings in some concise way.

Reading List

1997. “War and Ethnicity. Global Connections and Local Violence in North East

Africa and Former Yugoslavia.” Oxford Development Studies 25(1):77.

Albert, Bruce. 1990. “On Yanomami Warfare: Rejoinder.” Current Anthropology

31(5):558-663.

Balandier, George. 1986. “An Anthropology of Violence and War.” International

Social Sciences Journal 38(4): 499-511.

Barfield, Thomas J. 1994. “The Devil’s Horsemen: Steppe Nomadic Warfare in

Historical Perspective.” In Studying War: Anthropological Perspectives; War

and Society, edited by S. P. Reyna and R.E. Downs, pp. 157-181. Langhorne,

PA: Gordon and Breach.

Beckerman, Stephen. 1991. “The Equations of War.” Current Anthropology

32(5):636-641.

Bodley, John H. 2000. Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States, and the Global System,

3^rd ed. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield; pp. 79-83.

Carneiro, Robert L. 1990. “Chiefdom-Level Warfare as Exemplified in Fiji and the

Cauca Valley.” In The Anthropology of War, edited by Jonathan Haas, pp.

113-126. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Chagnon, Napolean. 1990. “Reproductive and Somatic Conflicts of Interest in the

Genesis of Violence and Warfare Among Tribesmen.” In The Anthropology

of War, edited by Jonathan Haas, pp. 77-104. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Ferguson, R. Brian. 1994. “The General Consequences of War: An Amazonian

Perspective.” In Studying War: Anthropological Perspectives; War and Society,

edited by S. P. Reyna and R.E. Downs, pp. 99-111. Langhorne, PA: Gordon and Breach.

Gibson, Thomas. 1990. “Raiding, Trading, and Tribal Autonomy in Insular

Southeast Asia.” In The Anthropology of War, edited by Jonathan Haas, pp.

125-145. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Keen, David. 1997. “ A Rational Kind of Madness.” Oxford Development Studies

25(1):67-75.

Pospisil, Leopold. 1994. “I am Very Sorry I cannot Kill You Any More”: War and

Peace Among the Kapauka”. In Studying War: Anthropological Perspectives; War and Society, edited by S. P. Reyna and R.E. Downs, pp. 114-126. Langhorne, PA: Gordon and Breach.

Robarchek, Clayton. 1990. “Motivations and Material Causes: On the Explanation

of Conflict and War.” In The Anthropology of War, edited by Jonathan Haas,

pp. 56-76. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Whitehead, Neil L. 1990. “The Snake Warriors - Sons of the Tiger’s Teeth: A

Descriptive Analysis of Carib Warfare, ca. 1500-1820.” In The Anthropology of War, edited by Jonathan Haas, pp. 113-126. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Note: this syllabus and extended bibliography were prepared by the student taking this course in consultation with his professor, Fr. Bucko, S.J.

This page is managed by
Rev. Raymond A. Bucko, S.J.
of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology
at Creighton University.

E-Mail: bucko@creighton.edu

Page Last Updated: May 17, 2002