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The Pentagon has announced the first awards for the Minerva initiative, an ambitious effort to tap social science research for the global war on terror.
All told, seven research consortia will receive a total of up to $50 million over five years to conduct studies on a range of strategic issues, from the impact of climate change in Africa to Iraqi perspectives on the U.S. war in the Middle East. A complete list of the recipients is here; tomorrow, I'll take a closer look at some of the researchers and their areas of expertise.
The Department of Defense officially kicked off Minerva back in June. As outlined by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Minerva is supposed to promote research in specific areas, including Chinese military and technology studies; terrorist perspectives; and religious and ideological studies. The department's plans to involve social scientists in defense-related research, however, have drawn fire from some academics, who worry that it may distort research priorities -- or turn social science into an instrument of war. The Network of Concerned Anthropologists, which has already protested the practice (pictured here) of embedding anthropologists and social scientists within deployed Army brigades, is taking aim at Minerva as well.
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