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Hugh Gusterson is an
anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms an ...
at the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top three ...
and George Washington University. His work focuses on nuclear culture,
international security International security, also called global security is a term which refers to the measures taken by states and international organizations, such as the United Nations, European Union, and others, to ensure mutual survival and safety. These meas ...
and the anthropology of science. His articles have appeared in the
LA Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
, the Boston Globe, the
Boston Review ''Boston Review'' is an American quarterly political and literary magazine. It publishes political, social, and historical analysis, literary and cultural criticism, book reviews, fiction, and poetry, both online and in print. Its signature form ...
the
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...
, the
Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals (staff members and administrators). A subscription is required to r ...
,
Foreign Policy A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through ...
, and ''
American Scientist __NOTOC__ ''American Scientist'' (informally abbreviated ''AmSci'') is an American bimonthly science and technology magazine published since 1913 by Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. In the beginning of 2000s the headquarters was in Ne ...
''. He is a regular contributor to the
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists The ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists'' is a nonprofit organization concerning science and global security issues resulting from accelerating technological advances that have negative consequences for humanity. The ''Bulletin'' publishes conte ...
and has a regular column i
Sapiens
an anthropology journal.


Biography

Hugh Gusterson grew up in England. He has a B.A. in history from
Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, a master's degree in anthropology from the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...
(as a Thouron Scholar), and a PhD in anthropology from
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
. He taught at
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of th ...
from 1992-2006 before moving to
George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was orig ...
and
George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presi ...
. Since 2020 he has taught for the anthropology department of the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top three ...
. His early work was on the culture of nuclear weapons scientists and antinuclear activists. In that work he explored weapons scientists' and activists' contending social constructions of weaponry and international peace and security. More recently he has written on teenage use of alcohol. and counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan, arguing that U.S. counterinsurgency campaigns would fail and, in the process, damage U.S. civil society as well as Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2016 he published a book Drone on drone warfare that won the Roy C. Palmer Civil Liberties Prize at the
Chicago-Kent College of Law Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school affiliated with the Illinois Institute of Technology. It is the second oldest law school in the state of Illinois. It is ranked 91st among U.S. law schools, and its trial advocacy program is ranked ...
. A leading critic of attempts to recruit anthropologists for counterinsurgency work, he is one of the founders of the
Network of Concerned Anthropologists The Network of Concerned Anthropologists (NCA) is an independent ad hoc network of anthropologists seeking to promote an ethical anthropology. The network is concerned that the "war on terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on ...
. He is currently researching the polygraph, as well as conducting a research project on nuclear waste disposition in Australia. Gusterson served on the American Association of Anthropology's Executive Board from 2009–12, co-chaired the committee that rewrote the Association's ethics code 2012, and currently serves on the Association's Task Force on Engagement with Israel/Palestine. He was President of the American Ethnological Society from 2016-18. He won the American Anthropological Association's anthropology in media award in 2020. He is married to Allison Macfarlane, former chairman of the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...
(NRC). They have two children.


Works

*
Nuclear Rites: A Weapons Laboratory at the End of the Cold War
', University of California Press, 1998, *
People of the Bomb: Portraits of America's Nuclear Complex
', University of Minnesota Press, 2004,
Drone Remote Control Warfare
MIT Press, 2016,


Editor


''Why America's top pundits are wrong: anthropologists talk back''
editors Catherine Lowe Besteman, Hugh Gusterson, University of California Press, 2005, * ''The insecure American: how we got here and what we should do about it'', editors Hugh Gusterson, Catherine Lowe Besteman, University of California Press, 2009,
''Cultures of Insecurity: States, Communities, and the Production of Danger''
editors Jutta Weldes, Mark Laffey, Hugh Gusterson, and Raymond Duvall, University of Minnesota Press, 1999.
''The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual: Or, Notes on Demilitarizing Anthropology''
edited by Network of Concerned Anthropologists, Prickly Paradigm Press, 2009 *

' Life by Algorithms, University of Chicago Press, 2020


Videos


"Surprising Fact about Political Views of Nuclear Weapons Scientists"
March 1, 2015 talk at the Helen Caldicott Symposium: The Dynamics of Possible Nuclear Extinction
"Who are nuclear weapons scientists?"
July 6, 2016 talk at TedxFoggyBottom at the George Washington University
"Ethical Implications of Drone Warfare,"
February 5, 2019, ''LEAP Initiative Series'' at the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University.
"Democracy, Hypocrisy, First Use"
Harvard University November 4, 2017

American Ethnological Society Presidential address July 10, 2017


Chapters


"Remembering Hiroshima at a Nuclear Weapons Laboratory"
''Living with the bomb: American and Japanese cultural conflicts in the Nuclear Age'', editors Laura Elizabeth Hein, Mark Selden,M.E. Sharpe, 1997,
"Nuclear Weapons Testing"
''Naked science: anthropological inquiry into boundaries, power, and knowledge'', editor Laura Nader, Psychology Press, 1996,
"Becoming a Weapons Scientist"
''Technoscientific imaginaries: conversations, profiles, and memoirs'', editor George E. Marcus, University of Chicago Press, 1995,
"A Pedagogy of Diminishing Returns: Scientific Involution across Three Generations of Nuclear Weapons Science"
''Pedagogy and the practice of science: historical and contemporary perspectives'', editor David Kaiser, MIT Press, 2005,
"Missing the End of the Cold War in International Security"
''Cultures of insecurity: states, communities, and the production of danger'', editor Jutta Weldes, U of Minnesota Press, 1999,


Interviews


"AE Interviews Hugh Gusterson (George Washington University): A conversation on his latest book ''Drone: Remote Control Warfare''"

Conversations in Anthropology@Deakin (Episode #10): Hugh Gusterson


Covid and Culture interview on KNME TV, December 19, 2020


Other scholarly references


Academia.edu


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gusterson, Hugh Living people George Washington University faculty Alumni of the University of Cambridge University of Pennsylvania alumni Stanford University alumni MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences faculty George Mason University faculty 20th-century American anthropologists 21st-century American anthropologists Year of birth missing (living people)