Look, I am fully aware of that fact that Maureen Dowd is by no means the favorite writer of the conservative crowd. And there are reasons why. In
this article, which was recently written for the New York Times, I think she has struck upon a great idea. The White House should consider hiring anthropologists. Let me tell you why...
It's unfortunate, to me, that Dowd decided to take the path that she did with this particular article, since I think that Conservatives should have been a part of her intended audience. The way that it is written, I highly doubt that any Conservatives will read it, let alone be persuaded by her ideas. The article is written to appeal to Liberals, and that's pretty much it.
You can read the rest of the Dowd article if you want, but it meanders away from the original idea into the land of ranting and soap boxing. It's not a great article, but by all means read it if you wish. Dowd takes her thesis and then commences to attack everything she can think of, and forgets to circle back to her main point. She doesn't even really discuss the role that anthropologists could play in foreign policy. I think she could have made a much better argument, personally, regarding this particularly interesting idea. I'll do my best to make the case here.
First of all, anthropology is a discipline that is based upon the study of culture, which makes it a perfect asset as a foreign policy tool. I know, people today have this idea that anthropologists are all wandering around in Egypt looking for mummies, or lost in South America looking for lost civilizations. But that's really not what anthropology is all about these days...it's about the study of all human cultures, past and present, and understanding them to the greatest extent possible. It's all about understanding perspectives outside of our own.
Second, the job of anthropologists, at least in part, is trying to understand cultures from a different point of view or perspective. I personally think that would be an incredible addition to the White House staff. Basically, an anthropologist would serve as the mediator between the United States and the foreign governments and cultures that it deals with.
Right now I can already feel certain people cringing from ideas of moral relativism, political correctness, and wishy washy academia. But hear me out. I think that hiring an anthropologist could incredibly improve our diplomatic effieciency, and could also reduce potential conflicts between the U.S. and other nations. I really do.
Think about Iraq. We all know that Americans have a wide variety of opinions about what's going on there, and what the right course of action is. Now imagine what things are like in Iraq. Do all of the Iraqi people have a clear idea of who is on their side, and who isn't? Do we even have a clear idea of what their point of view is? Is there even just one point of view, or are there many? I have a feeling that there are large numbers of people in Iraq who are confused as all hell, and whose voice has been obscured in this conflict. Now what if we had cultural anthopologists in there, working with groups of Iraqi people, in order to better understand their thinking? Anthropologists could actually assist us in gaining an understanding of the people that we want on our side, and in fact could help us do our job better. If we know what they want, and how to talk to them, we might be a lot more effiecient in helping them. It's all about communication and understanding.
And here's another good aspect that might appeal to conservatives: this would be a non-military endeavor, and might indeed be able to cut military expenditures by avoiding some unnecessary conflicts. Liberals might be interested in the non-violent aspects of this possibility as well. I'm just sayin...
Applied anthropologists work all over the world, and basically they are problem solvers. They are mediators who look at the differing sides of an issue and attempt to bridge the gap. I would not ever claim that hiring an anthropologist is the cure to all that ails us, but I do think it's a meritable idea, and I do think that our White House would benefit immensely from an anthropological perspective.