Doing Anthropology in Wartime and War Zones

by Johler, Reinhard; Marchetti, Christian; Scheer, Monique

• ISBN13: 9783837614220
• ISBN10: 3837614220
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-09-30
• Publisher: Transcript Verlag

Summary

World War I marks a well-known turning point in anthropology, and this volume is the first to examine the variety of forms it took in Europe. Distinct national traditions emerged and institutes were founded, partly due to collaborations with the military. Researchers in the cultural sciences used war zones to gain access to informants: prisoner-of-war and refugee camps, occupied territories, even the front lines. Anthropologists tailored their inquiries to aid the war effort, contributed to interpretations of the war as a struggle between races, and assessed the warlike nature of the Balkan region, where the Great War first broke out.Reinhard Johler is a professor of European ethnology at the University of Tuuml;bingen and director of the Institute for Danube Swabian History and Culture.Christian Marchetti is a doctoral candidate in European ethnology at the University of Tuuml;bingen.Monique Scheer is a research scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin.