FROM GI JOE TO AMERICA’S ARMY: MILITARISM AND CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES Do GI JOE

Resumo

This article analyzes the militarization of culture in the United States.  The author examines the controlling processes and legitimizing mechanisms that encourage the artistic, academic, and cultural embrace of militarism in the US.  By relying upon historical examples of "warrior societies"--ancient Sparta, the Mongolian empire, and Aztec civilization--the author considers how we might compare the contemporary US to these militaristic cultures.  He also questions whether warfare is a part of human nature (as some social scientists have argued in recent years).  In a society where violence is entertainment, torture is an acceptable norm, and academia is merely another means to achieve military ends, the author concludes by challenging his colleagues to consider ways that anthropology might contribute to cultural demilitarization, namely by exploding the myths that surround and perpetuate militarism.