ANTHROPOLOGY OF WAR

ANTHROPOLOGY 353

Spring 2008

First Created 12/05/05

Revised 4/3/08

 

Class time: Wednesday, 3:00-5:30, Room 108 Avery

Email: rhames@unl.edu

Office Hours: M&F 8:00-10:00; Tuesday & Thursday. : 3:30-4:00
 

    This course is an overview of human warfare from an anthropological perspective. We will largely focus on small scale societies (bands and tribes) where we have spent nearly all of our evolutionary history.  As a consequence, we will barely cover war in nation states.  The major exception to this will come in the form of an analysis of how traditional ethnic social structure affects the conduct of war in some contemporary situations (Afghanistan, Iraq, Chechnya, & Somalia). Because this course takes a comparative, evolutionary, and historical perspective we will also review the primate literature (especially  chimpanzees) and the archaeological record.  Therefore, the scope is broad and includes the following topics: the behavioral ecology and evolutionary psychology of aggression, dispute settlement, territoriality, demographic impact of war, warfare ideology, tactics and organization, game theoretic models of cooperation and aggression, the adaptive utility of aggression and warfare, and the affects of warfare on social organization, and xenophobia.    Students are expected to come prepared by having read the current week’s readings (both text and web), and to engage in classroom discussion, and attend all class meetings.

 

Required Texts:

Raymond Kelly, Warless Societies and the Origin of War

Mervyn Meggitt, Blood is their Argument (No longer in press from the publisher.  Can be ordered from Amazon
    or AbeBooks)

Lawrence Keeley, War before Civilization

Douglas Fry, The Human Potential for Peace

Required Readings:

All hyperlinked articles in the "Readings" column are required.  They are in a "pdf" format and can be read on-line or downloaded and printed.  

40% of the grade will be derived from two mid-term exams (20% each), 50% will be from a term paper due on May 1st, and 10% from classroom discussion.

Course Schedule

Week

Date

Topic

Readings

1

Jan 16

Introduction to Course

None: Film Chimpanzees Today

2

Jan 23

Primate Aggression: infanticide & dominance contests.  Foragers and the EEA

Fry Chapters 13-14;  Meggitt Chapter 1;
Wrangham “Coalitionary Violence"
Mac video file of chimpanzee killing (very violent). Requires Quicktime Player (free download here)

3

Jan 30

Primate Aggression: coalitionary violence in chimpanzees. Peaceful Societies

Kelly (PNAS); Kelly Introduction and Chapter 1; Meggitt Chapter 2; Fry Chapters 17, 18 

4

Feb 6

History of the Anthropological Study of Warfare

Keeley Chapters 1-2; 11; Fry Chapters 5-7; Meggitt Chapter 3

5

Feb 13

Archaeological and Biological Evidence of Warfare

Keeley Chapter 3; Walker “A bioarchaeological perspective on the history of violence”; Fry Chapter 11

6

Feb 20

Warfare among Foragers

Keeley Chapters 4-5; Kelly Chapter 2: Meggitt Chapters 4-5.  Killer Instincts

7

 Feb 27 1st Exam  

8

March 5

 Costs and Benefits of War

Keeley Chapters 6-7; Fry Chapters 9-11; Meggitt Chapter 6

9

March 12

History of the Anthropological Study of Warfare

Keeley Chapter 8, 9.  Kelly Chapters 3-4 (end); Fry Chapter 8

 

10

March 19


Spring Break

 

11

March 26

Peaceful Societies, Female Aggression, and Women Warriors

Fry, Chapter 1, 5-6
Anthropology and Counter-Insurgency Today: three short articles.

Warfare and Population Density Power Point

12

April 2

Warfare debates I: New Guinea

Fry Chapters 2-4; Keeley Chapter 10.  Guest Speaker, Doug Scott "Guerilla Warfare in the Civil War and the Origins of the Geneva Convention.

13

April 9

Warfare debates II: Amazonia

Fry Chapter 12.  Warriors of the Amazon Power Point

14

April 16

Conciliation & Peacemaking 

Fry Chapters 15; The Anthropology of Tribal Engagement in Iraq

15

April 23

The Fourth World & Warfare and the Evolution of the State.  Term paper rough drafts due.

Fry Chapter 17-20; Keeley Chapter 12; Meggitt Chapters 7-10; Neitschmann "The Fourth World: Nations versus States"

16

April 30

Last day of class

2nd Exam

 

17

Finals Week

Papers Due May 5th

 

 

First Segment Review Questions
Second Segment Review Questions

Honesty: Term Papers and Exams
    Exams: I do not wish to impugn anyone's integrity by raising this issue.  I will not tolerate cheating on exams.   So,  DON'T DO IT! If  you cheat and I discover it, then standard University procedures will be executed to deal with the matter. In the event these procedures find a student guilty of cheating, then in addition to whatever penalties the University exacts, the student will receive a failing grade in the course. Make-up exams will only be given to students who have a medical excuse documented by a note from a doctor or a serious family emergency (e.g., funeral) or some other unavoidable extenuating circumstance (e.g., court date).
    Term Paper: For your research paper plagiarism will be dealt with in the same manner as cheating on an exam. Plagiarism is "the submission of another's work as one's own, without adequate attribution." In scholarly work, it is common practice to describe other people's research. So long as you properly cite their work - in other words, so long as you make it clear that it is their work and not yours - this is not plagiarism. It is also common practice to quote other people's writings directly. So long as you enclose their words in quotation marks and properly cite their work - in other words, so long as you make it clear it is their words and not yours - this, too, is not plagiarism. Note, however, that such quotes should normally run to no more than four to five lines.

Term Papers Details

    Format. Papers should be from 13 to 18 pages in length (at about 300 words per page), double-spaced, and with one inch margins.  All term paper topics must be cleared with me well in advanced of the due date.  I suggest that this be done as soon as possible, or no later than 15 March.  You ought to select a topic in which you have a genuine interest.  I would like you all to write excellent term papers.  To assist you in this endeavor you can submit a complete rough draft by 23 April.  I will give you a preliminary grade and detailed comments on what you can do to improve it.  I will return your manuscript and my comments to you by 26 April.  The final (or only) version of the paper is due 1 May.
    Guidance for writing a term paper can be found in the following link: term paper link
When you arrive at the link, click on "literature review".  It is the best general format for writing a paper for this course.  Ordinarily, the structure should consist of an introduction, the body, and conclusion. Under "Paper Topics" I have listed some possible topics.

    Research.  Nearly all of your references should come from the professional literature (i.e., academic books and periodicals).  Web sources that lack an scholarly institutional backing should be avoided because they are frequently unreliable or of low quality.  Academic or professional sources (e.g., those written by professional, scholarly, or policy organizations) have gatekeepers known as editorial boards who review research to ensure it meets accepted standards of accuracy, logic, originality, and recognition of previous scholarship.  Web sites commonly lack such safeguards unless, of course, they are on-line mirrors of hard-copy publications.  Anyone with web site can set himself or herself up as an authoritative source and blog-on.  If you have doubts about a web source, let's talk about it.

    Google Scholar is an excellent place for research.  Queries normally yield primary scholarly research.  Frequently, query results point to journals requiring subscription to access.  When confronted with this problem use our library's electronic journal finder at http://iris.unl.edu/ to determine whether we electronically subscribe to the journal.  If so, you can download the article you need.  Alternatively, if we don't have an electronic subscription check to see if we have a hard copy in the library by using "Catalog".  In addition, we have other on-line resources such as "E-Resources" or "Electronic Database Trials" that may prove helpful.  Finally, go to http://www.unl.edu/libr/resources/ and click on "Anthropology and Archaeology".  The best single source is "Anthropological Literature".  As far as I know, it is the most comprehensive compendium of anthropological sources in the world.  Its search tools are about as refined as you can hope for.

 

Possible Paper Topics

 

Style Sheet for Term Paper

        In the text of the paper: (Service, 1971)
        In reference section:
           For a book:
              Service, Elman R.
                1971 Primitive Social Organization: An Evolutionary Perspective, Second Edition.  Random House, NY.
           For a journal article:
            Service, Elman, R.
                1971 Prehistoric Warfare in Eastern North America. Journal of Archaeological Research 5:191-220.
           For a chapter in an edited volume:
            Service, Elman, R.
                 1971 An Osteological Perspective on Prehistoric Warfare. In Regional Approaches to Mortuary Analysis , edited by
                 Lois  Beck, pp. 221-244. Plenum, NY. 

Web Sites Related to Warfare and Aggression