Anthropology of War and Peace
MIT OpenCourseWare offers the materials for this anthropology course examining war in cross-cultural perspective, reorganized to center on the Iraq War as its central case study. Readings and discussion topics address whether war is intrinsic to human nature, what social and material conditions produce it, how different cultures experience combat and its aftermath, and how sustained warfare has reshaped American society and politics. The course draws on ethnographic accounts alongside historical and political material to compare Iraq with earlier conflicts. Site includes a syllabus, weekly reading lists, and assignment prompts as posted by the instructor, free to access with no certificate offered. It suits anyone wanting a structured, discussion-based introduction to how anthropologists study organized violence rather than a purely historical or policy-focused account of the war.