Beyond the Human Terrain System: a brief critical history (and a look ahead)

Publication Date

4-2-2020

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Contemporary Social Science

Volume

15

Issue

2

DOI

10.1080/21582041.2018.1457171

First Page

227

Last Page

240

Abstract

This article provides a brief critical history of the Human Terrain System (HTS), a US Army counterinsurgency programme designed to embed anthropologists and other social scientists with combat brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan. It lasted from 2007 to 2015 and at its peak employed more than 500 people. The programme, which was among the most expensive social science programs in history, was controversial for many reasons. Among anthropologists, HTS sparked heated debates about the ethics of professional social science. Soon after its creation, the American Anthropological Association’s executive board described the program as ‘an unacceptable application of anthropological expertise’. The article explores the reasons behind the program’s rapid rise and its subsequent demise, and it also discusses the long-term impacts of the programme–most notably the survival and propagation of the ‘human terrain’ concept within military and intelligence agencies, particularly as applied to techno-scientific methods of counterinsurgency. The article ends by reflecting upon broader questions of anthropological ethics in the post-9/11 world.

Keywords

Anthropology, counterinsurgency, ethics, military

Department

Anthropology

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS