Asian Studies / Anthropology / Politics

 

Anthropology Goes to War
Professional Ethics and Counterinsurgency in Thailand
Eric Wakin

Center for Southeast Asian Studies University of Wisconsin Monograph series


“At a time when the ethics of ethnography are again in question, Eric Wakin’s richly documented account of an earlier moment when the politics of anthropology was under scrutiny is particularly salient.”—Ann Stoler, New School for Social Research

In 1970 a coalition of student activists opposing the Vietnam War circulated documents revealing the involvement of several prominent social scientists in U.S. counterinsurgency activities in Thailand—activities that could cause harm to the people who were the subject of the scholars’ research.

The disclosure of these materials prompted two members of the Ethics Committee of the American Anthropological Association to issue an unauthorized rebuke of the accused. Over the next two years, the AAA agonized over the allegations and the appropriate response to them. Within an academic community already polarized by the war, political and professional acrimony reached unprecedented levels. Although the association ultimately passed a code of ethics, the key issues raised in the process were not fully resolved.

Now back in print, Eric Wakin’s Anthropology Goes to War is a comprehensive study of what became known as the Thailand Controversy—and a timely reminder of a debate whose echoes may be heard in our own time.

Distributed for the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies

Eric Wakin has M.A. degrees in Asian studies and political science. He has traveled extensively in Thailand and is a Ph.D. candidate in U.S. history at Columbia University.


For more information regarding publicity and reviews contact Chris Caldwell, our publicity manager,
phone: (608) 263-0734, email: publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu

The cover of Wakin's book is red, with four black and white photos, of Eric Wolf, a Thai Soldier, a Lao peasnat fleeing US bombing of the Plain of Jars, and of Margaret Mead.

BACK IN PRINT
March 2008
LC: 91-074029 GN
320 pp.   6 x 9
ISBN-13: 978-1-881261-03-2 Paper $29.95 s

 

Accumulate titles in the Shopping Cart by clicking on the bulleted lines below. You can submit your order electronically, paying for it with MasterCard or Visa.
Click here for further explanation of shopping cart feature.




Never ordered from us before?
Read this first.

Home | Books | Journals | Events | Textbooks | Authors | Related | Search | Order | Contact

If you have trouble accessing any page in this web site, contact Kirt Murray, Web manager. E-mail: kdmurray@wisc.edu or by phone at 608-263-0733.

Updated December 12 , 2007

© 2007, The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System