Anthropology, Conflict, and International Relations
The anthropological perspective is neglected in international relations yet illuminates conflict processes through an evolutionary and cross-cultural comparison. Scupin shows how culture—the central concept developed within anthropology—challenges rationa
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Anthropology, Conflict, and International Relations Raymond Scupin
Anthropology, like International Relations (IR), has strong multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary links to many of the other social sciences, but it is grossly underutilized in IR, perhaps because not enough has been done to link sub-systemic variables inherent in the study of anthropology to central questions in IR. This chapter will introduce research developments within the discipline of anthropology that have contributed and can benefit IR, with an emphasis on conflict. I focus attention on the dominant theoretical paradigm within cultural anthropology based on culture and will argue that a better understanding of culture will illuminate the causes of conflict for IR scholars. Relatedly, ethnicity and long-term research programs in the anthropological study of warfare will also be discussed.
R. Scupin () Anthropology and International Studies, Lindenwood University, St. Charles, MO, USA e-mail: [email protected]
© The Author(s) 2017 P. James, S.A. Yetiv (eds.), Advancing Interdisciplinary Approaches to International Relations, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-40823-1_6
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R. SCUPIN
ANTHROPOLOGY: INTERDISCIPLINARY, ENCOMPASSING, AND GLOBAL By its very nature anthropology is an interdisciplinary, encompassing discipline with a global perspective, even if it is committed to studying particulars as well. Anthropology offers relevant data and insights for IR. Most anthropologists within the USA receive some training in what is referred to as the four subfields of the discipline: physical or biological anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural anthropology.1 Physical or biological anthropology is devoted to the study of human evolution, genetic variation in the past and present, and primatology. This subfield provides a scientific understanding of the biological traits that have emerged through the evolutionary process influencing humans around the globe. Archaeology is the subfield that focuses on the study of artifacts, material remnants of the human past, which illuminates the comprehension of prehistoric and historic societies and civilizations. Linguistic anthropology helps discern the different patterns of languages that have developed through time and their influence on cognition, social interaction, and culture. Cultural anthropology is concerned with acquiring knowledge of contemporary societal values, norms, behaviors, and conditions through long-term residence, participation observation, and research strategies used to develop ethnographic studies about various world regions. There are two major goals of anthropology within these four fields: to understand and explain the biological and cultural evolution of humanity in the past and present; and to discover the differences and similarities of humans throughout the world. This four-field character of anthropology serves to commit practitioners to an approach that involves a broad comprehensive analysis of biological, psychological, economic, social, political, r
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