Anthropology, the Military, and the Risks of Ethical Inertia

This article examines military-related teaching venues that do not fit forms of educational engagement traditionally conceptualized in the anthropological literature to date. The analysis was prompted by commentary from anthropological peers and colleagues regarding a teaching assignment I completed at Fort Hood, Texas. The article examines disciplinary responses to this form of teaching by situating the engagement within a larger narrative of anthropological involvement with the military and attendant ethical considerations, particularly concerns regarding the weaponization of knowledge. The challenges of applying anthropology's ethical guidelines to the teaching of soldiers are highlighted in terms of the appraisal of harm, moral intuition, and absolutism. I suggest that the difficulties of applying anthropology's professional ethical codes and principles, in combination with the charged sociopolitics informing debates within military anthropology, run the risk of fostering ethical inertia through the creation of moral dualism and the unassailability of options therein. I conclude with modest recommendations regarding productive points of inquiry with which to examine the teaching of soldiers, including the ethical challenges posed by non-exclusionary teaching practices involving diverse student populations.