Abstract
The anthropology of war covers a broad range of topics of high relevance to understand contemporary armed conflicts and humanitarian crises. Looking beyond the immediate facts of the situation and highlighting the social dimension of armed conflicts, it allows grasping the broader context in which humanitarian crises occur. Understanding war as part of the social reality of human beings and lived experiences, anthropology can offer humanitarian actors important insights into the social dimensions of war and peace. With the discipline’s comparative and holistic outlook, anthropology thus offers important insights into causes, dynamics and effects of armed conflict. This chapter provides an overview of some of the key debates and themes in the anthropology of war to contribute to the understanding of armed conflicts and humanitarian crises.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Organisations and research projects use different thresholds to define armed conflict and war and therefore produce divergent assessments of global trends. The Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP), which is linked to the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University, provides one of the most used data sources on armed conflicts. It defines armed conflicts as ‘contested incompatibility, which concerns government and/or territory where the use of armed force between two parties, of which at least one is the government of a state, results in at least 25 battle-related deaths’. Wars, accordingly, are high-intensity armed conflicts with more than 1000 battle-related deaths.
- 2.
- 3.
Malinowski (1941), pp. 521–550.
- 4.
To gain a deeper understanding of this, see Richards (2005).
- 5.
Hobhouse et al. (1915).
- 6.
See Malinowski (1941), pp. 521–550.
- 7.
For more information on this debate, see: Reyna and Downs (1994).
- 8.
- 9.
Robben and Nordstrom (1995).
- 10.
Rao et al. (2011) offers a collection of interesting case studies that examine the ways in which wars are not only products of specific sociocultural contexts, but produce cultural practices.
- 11.
See for instance Ferguson (1984).
- 12.
Gluckman (1956).
- 13.
See for example Malkki (1995).
- 14.
- 15.
Ferguson and Whitehead (2000).
- 16.
Kaldor (1999).
- 17.
- 18.
See Fry (2006).
- 19.
- 20.
See Sponsel (1996), pp. 95–125.
- 21.
Richards (2005). Instead of advancing a sharp dichotomy between war and peace, this edited volume advances the argument that we should think of war and peace as a continuum.
- 22.
- 23.
For details on this controversy, see: Lucas (2009).
- 24.
Wakin (1992).
- 25.
Rubinstein et al. (2012).
- 26.
- 27.
See for instance Scheper-Hughes (1992).
References
Avruch K (1998) Culture and conflict resolution. US Institute of Peace Press, Washington
Daniel E (1996) Charred Lullabies: chapters in an anthropology of violence. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Eller J (1999) From culture to ethnicity to conflict: an anthropological perspective on international ethnic conflict. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor
Ferguson R (1984) Warfare, culture, and environment. Academic Press, Orlando
Ferguson R, Whitehead N (2000) War in the tribal zone: expanding states and indigenous warfare. American Research Press, Santa Fe
Fry D (2006) The human potential for peace. An anthropological challenge to assumptions about war and violence. Oxford University Press, New York
Gluckman M (1956) Custom and conflict in Africa. Blackwell, Oxford
Green L (1994) Fear as a way of life. Cultur Anthropol 9:227–256
Gusterson H (2007) Anthropology and militarism. Annu Rev Anthropol 36:155–175
Hinton A (2002) Annihilating difference: the anthropology of genocide. University of California Press, Berkeley
Hobhouse L, Wheeler G, Ginsberg M (1915) The material culture and social institutions of the simpler peoples: an essay in correlation. Chapman & Hall, Ltd., London
Kaldor M (1999) New & old wars. Organized violence in a global era. Polity Press, Cambridge
Keeley L (1996) War before civilization: the myth of the peaceful savage. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Kelly R (2000) Warless societies and the origin of war. University of Michigan Press, Michigan
Lederach JP (1997) Building peace: sustainable reconciliation in divided societies. United States Institute of Peace Press, Washington
Lucas G (2009) Anthropologists in arms: the ethics of military anthropology. AltaMira Press, Plymouth
Malinowski B (1941) An anthropological analysis of war. Am J Sociol 46:521–550
Malkki L (1995) Purity and exile: violence, memory and national cosmology among hutu refugees in Tanzania. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Otterbein K (1999) A history of research on warfare in anthropology. Am Anthropol 101:794–805
Rao A, Bollig M, Böck M (2011) The practice of war: production, reproduction and communication of armed violence. Berghahn Books, New York
Reyna S, Downs S (1994) Studying war: anthropological perspectives. Gordon and Breach, Philadelphia
Richards P (2005) No peace, no war: an anthropology of contemporary armed conflicts. Ohio University Press, Athens
Robben A, Nordstrom C (1995) Fieldwork under fire: contemporary studies of violence and survival. University of California Press, Berkeley
Robben A, Suarez-Orozco M (2000) Cultures under siege: collective violence and trauma. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Ross F (2002) Bearing witness: women and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Pluto Press, London
Rubinstein R, Fosher K, Fujimura C (2012) Practicing military anthropology: beyond expectations and traditional boundaries. Kumarian Press, Sterling
Scheper-Hughes N (1992) Death without weeping: the violence of everyday life in Northeast Brazil. University of California Press, Berkeley
Schirch L (2005) Ritual and symbol in peacebuilding. Kumarian Press, Bloomfield
Sponsel L (1996) The natural history of peace: a positive view of human nature and its potential. In: Gregor T (ed) A natural history of peace. Nashville
Wakin E (1992) Anthropology goes to war: professional ethics and counterinsurgency in Thailand. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison
Waterston A (2008) An anthropology of war: views from the frontline. Berghahn Books, New York
Further Reading
Otterbein K (1999) A history of research on warfare in anthropology. Am Anthropol 101:794–805
Reyna S, Downs S (1994) Studying war: anthropological perspectives. Gordon and Breach, Australia
Richards P (2005) No peace, no war: an anthropology of contemporary armed conflicts. Ohio University Press, Athens
Robben A, Nordstrom C (1995) Fieldwork under fire: contemporary studies of violence and survival. University of California Press, Berkeley
Waterston A (2008) An anthropology of war: views from the frontline. Berghahn Books, New York
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Roepstorff, K. (2018). Armed Conflicts and Humanitarian Crises: Insights from the Anthropology of War. In: Heintze, HJ., Thielbörger, P. (eds) International Humanitarian Action. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14454-2_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14454-2_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-14453-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-14454-2
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)