Why America's Top Pundits Are Wrong: Anthropologists Talk Back (California Series in Public Anthropology) (Volume 13)

In this fresh, literate, and biting critique of current thinking on some of today's most important and controversial topics, leading anthropologists take on some of America's top pundits. This absorbing collection of essays subjects such popular commentators as Thomas Friedman, Samuel Huntington, Robert Kaplan, and Dinesh D'Souza to cold, hard scrutiny and finds that their writing is often misleadingly simplistic, culturally ill-informed, and politically dangerous. Mixing critical reflection with insights from their own fieldwork, twelve distinguished anthropologists respond by offering fresh perspectives on globalization, ethnic violence, social justice, and the biological roots of behavior. They take on such topics as the collapse of Yugoslavia, the consumer practices of the American poor, American foreign policy in the Balkans, and contemporary debates over race, welfare, and violence against women. In the clear, vigorous prose of the pundits themselves, these contributors reveal the hollowness of what often passes as prevailing wisdom and passionately demonstrate the need for a humanistically complex and democratic understanding of the contemporary world. Available: November 2004 Pub Date: January 2005. This Absorbing Collection Of Essays Subjects Such Popular Commentators As Thomas Friedman, Samuel Huntington, Robert Kaplan, And Dinesh D'souza To Cold, Hard Scrutiny And Finds That Their Writing Is Often Misleadingly Simplistic, Culturally Ill-informed, And Politically Dangerous. Mixing Critical Reflection With Insights From Their Own Fieldwork, Twelve Distinguished Anthropologists Respond By Offering Fresh Perspectives On Globalization, Ethnic Violence, Social Justice, And The Biological Roots Of Behavior. They Take On Such Topics As The Collapse Of Yugoslavia, The Consumer Practices Of The American Poor, American Foreign Policy In The Balkans, And Contemporary Debates Over Race, Welfare, And Violence Against Women. In The Clear, Vigorous Prose Of The Pundits Themselves, These Contributors Reveal The Hollowness Of What Often Passes As Prevailing Wisdom And Passionately Demonstrate The Need For A Humanistically Complex And Democratic Understanding Of The Contemporary World. The Seven Deadly Sins Of Samuel Huntington / Hugh Gesterson -- Samuel Huntington, Meet The Nuer : Kinship, Local Knowledge, And The Clash Of Civilizations / Keith Brown -- Haunted By The Imaginations Of The Past : Robert Kaplan's Balkan Ghosts / Tone Bringa -- Why I Disagree With Robert Kaplan / Catherine Bestemen -- Globalization And Thomas Friedman / Angelique Haugerud -- On The Lexus And The Olive Tree, By Thomas L. Friedman / Ellen Hertz And Laura Nader -- Extrastate Globalization Of The Illicit / Carolyn Nordstrom -- Class Politics And Scavenger Anthropology In Dinesh D'souza's Virtue Of Prosperity / Kath Weston -- Sex On The Brain : A Natural History Of Rape And The Dubious Doctrines Of Evolutionary Psychology / Stefan Helmreich And Heather Paxson -- Anthropology And The Bell Curve / Jonathan Marks. Edited By Catherine Besteman And Hugh Gusterson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 261-266) And Index. Contents......Page 8 1. Introduction......Page 10 2. The Seven Deadly Sins of Samuel Huntington......Page 33 3. Samuel Huntington, Meet the Nuer: Kinship, Local Knowledge, and the Clash of Civilizations......Page 52 4. Haunted by the Imaginations of the Past: Robert Kaplan's Balkans Ghosts......Page 69 5. Why I Disagree with Robert Kaplan......Page 92 6. Globalization and Thomas Friedman......Page 111 7. On The Lexus and the Olive Tree, by Thomas L. Friedman......Page 130 8. Extrastate Globalization of the Illicit......Page 147 9. Class Politics and Scavenger Anthropology in Dinesh D'Souza's Virtue of Prosperity......Page 163 10. Sex on the Brain: A Natural History of Rape and the Dubious Doctrines of Evolutionary Psychology......Page 189 11. Anthropology and The Bell Curve......Page 215 Notes......Page 238 Suggested Further Reading......Page 270 List of Contributors......Page 276 Acknowledgments......Page 280 Index......Page 282