Cooperation between Anthropologists and the US Armed Forces in the 20th – Early 21st Centuries

Abstract

The article’s goal is to summarize the interaction between American anthropologists and the US Armed Forces during the 20th – early 21st centuries. I present a review of the stages of this interaction and an analysis of key problems as they stood in the spotlight of various researchers. I argue that the interaction itself can be divided into four distinctive stages, each with specific objectives that anthropologists faced. I further point out that, at each and every one of these stages, ethical problems related to the cooperation between anthropologists and the US Armed Forces arose, so the answer to the question – can the anthropologists and the military reach a compromise – is yet to be found.