Ethnographies of military systems in a comparative analysis: anthropological perspectives on war

• Grant number: 11/11314-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: March 01, 2012
• End date: February 28, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology - Theory of Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Piero de Camargo Leirner
• Grantee: Piero de Camargo Leirner
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The general scope of this project is the anthropological analysis of military systems and the modern state, especially armies and state agencies that work related (in many different ways) to the military. This is a continuation of previous projects, which sought to consolidate theoretically and conceptually researches on a series of military and government related sectors that have happened in recent years. Centered especially in ethnographies with sectors of the Brazilian Armed Forces, the project intends to bring up discussions on the field, or subfield, of the "anthropology of war", to further problematize concepts related to the theme of war and armies. Secondly, it is also proposed here to resume a series of recent discussions on the anthropology of / the war in other countries, especially in United States, where production has been more relevant since Sept. 11. Faced with several anthropological analysis that seek to think the war problem conceptually through the ethnographic experience, one of the points to be discussed deals with the possibility to treat the phenomena related to contemporary wars with a conceptual repertoire of what is called "primitive warfare". Following such discussion, I intend to observe the conceptual relevance to the anthropology of war in doing ethnography of on modern military institutions. Within this proposal, we intend to reach an expansion of subsidies for both formulations think of alternatives to concepts associated with war, to think about problems related to social processes associated with the formation of the Armed Forces, and in Brazil compared to other places. (AU)