Public Anthropology Clinic
This map was created by members of the Spring 2020 Public Anthropology Clinic working in collaboration with the Costs of War Project and the Investigative Reporting Workshop.
From 2014 to 2024, the American University Public Anthropology Clinic offered graduate and advanced undergraduate students opportunities to use anthropological and related social science skills to assist the work of non-profit organizations working on a range of human rights issues.
In Spring 2020, for example, the Clinic partnered with Brown University’s Costs of War Project to help produce publicly useful scholarship about some of the human damage caused by the United States' Post-9/11 Wars. The Clinic also partnered with American University's Investigative Reporting Workshop to develop graphics (above) and writing to further disseminate research produced for the Costs of War Project. The New York Times and others have reported about our calculation that the U.S. Post-9/11 Wars have displaced at least 38 million people and possibly as many as 60 million since 2001. A 2021 update to our calculations can be found here.
In Spring 2020, for example, the Clinic partnered with Brown University’s Costs of War Project to help produce publicly useful scholarship about some of the human damage caused by the United States' Post-9/11 Wars. The Clinic also partnered with American University's Investigative Reporting Workshop to develop graphics (above) and writing to further disseminate research produced for the Costs of War Project. The New York Times and others have reported about our calculation that the U.S. Post-9/11 Wars have displaced at least 38 million people and possibly as many as 60 million since 2001. A 2021 update to our calculations can be found here.
2021 UPDATE: 38 million people displaced.
Past clinic members have created an online human rights archive, developed educational campaigns for an exiled people, conducted archival research related to military environmental contamination in Guam, and researched the effects of the U.S. Post-9/11 Wars. Previous partner organizations have included Codepink, the Institute for Policy Studies, the Chagos Refugees Group, UNROW Human Rights Impact Litigation legal clinic, Let Us Return USA!, and the Costs of War Project.
Clinic members produced work that remains theoretically informed, deeply self-reflexive, and of the highest possible rigor. Clinic members continually considered how anthropology and social science can be effective tools to help improve the world. Examples of past Clinic work are below.
- David Vine, professor of anthropology (2006-2024) and Director of the American University Public Anthropology Clinic (2014-2024)
Clinic members produced work that remains theoretically informed, deeply self-reflexive, and of the highest possible rigor. Clinic members continually considered how anthropology and social science can be effective tools to help improve the world. Examples of past Clinic work are below.
- David Vine, professor of anthropology (2006-2024) and Director of the American University Public Anthropology Clinic (2014-2024)
The American University Public Anthropology Clinic has worked with the Costs of War Project and other non-profit organizations struggling to make the world more peaceful and less violent.
Costs of War Project Draft Infographic, by Johnny Harris