Roberto J González
Biographic Data
| ID | 79152 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Roberto J González |
| GIVEN NAMES | Roberto J |
| FAMILY NAME | González |
| SIGNATURE | GONZÁLEZ R J |
| AFFILIATIONS | San Jose State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4847-497X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 59 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 220 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 59 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1994 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Reclamation
American technofascism
America's secret police
This guest editorial examines the emergence of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) as a secret police force in the United States, drawing parallels to authoritarian regimes of the past. Through a personal narrative about explaining ICE raids to young children in Oakland, it analyzes how AI‐powered surveillance technologies developed by venture capital‐funded startups enable mass deportation operations. Companies such as Clearview AI, Palant…
Studying California's Deep History
Algorithmic policing
Building on Part 1, Part 2 of this article extends the analysis of algorithmic policing to include acoustic gunshot detection systems and explores the broader political economy of policing in America. It examines the development and deployment of ShotSpotter technology, its effectiveness, and the controversies surrounding its use. The article then synthesizes insights from the various algorithmic policing tools discussed across both parts to anal…
Digital Privacy
This entry summarizes anthropological perspectives on digital privacy and digital surveillance. It begins with a brief history of digital privacy, from electronic eavesdropping in the late 1800s, to wiretapping in the 1900s, to internet hacking in the present era. It then considers how the loss of digital privacy often occurs when users either willingly or unwittingly provide information to tech firms that profit from its commercialization. The e…
Algorithmic policing
This article examines the rise of algorithmic policing in the United States, focusing on predictive policing platforms and facial recognition technologies. Part 1 explores how companies like PredPol, Palantir and Clearview AI have developed data-driven tools to predict and prevent crime and identify suspects. The article analyses the historical context, technological development and implementation of these systems by law enforcement agencies. It …
Death by remote control
This article examines the use of military drones over the past 20 years. It includes the following: (1) a critical review of how drone warfare in the US-led 'war on terror' affected drone crews and those 'living under drones'; (2) an analysis of how drone warfare in Ukraine and Russia differs from previous deployments of the technology; and (3) a careful assessment of what lies ahead, as national governments and technology firms race to develop A…
Homenaje
This flash ethnography, set in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, describes a close, long-term relationship between the author and a campesino and the challenges of maintaining such personal bonds over time and geographical distance. It explores the affective dimensions of ethnographic fieldwork and its emotional impact
War Virtually
War, Technology, Anthropology
Technologies of the allied warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, such as remote-controlled drones and night vision goggles, allow the user to “virtualize” human targets. This coincides with increased civilian casualties and a perpetuation of the very insecurity these technologies are meant to combat. This concise volume of research and reflections from different regions across Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa, observes how anthropology…
Encounters with an Anthropologist
This article explores three elements of Laura Nader’s work through an ethnographic description and analysis of the author’s encounters with her over a thirty-year period. It reflects upon aspects of her ethnographic, political, and ethical commitments, how these elements manifest themselves in her written work, and how they have influenced the projects and careers of her students and colleagues over the past six decades. The piece concludes with …
Building the American Supersoldier
Life under lockdown
This article is a preliminary exploration of the effects of Covid‐19 in Silicon Valley, one of three pandemic ‘hotspots’ on America’s west coast. In particular, it describes how the crisis has deepened and magnified social and economic inequalities in a region where poverty, homelessness and gentrification are rife. Despite the fact that many technology firms are reaping massive profits in the wake of ‘shelter in place’ orders, many Silicon Valle…
War, Culture, and Counterinsurgency
Militarization, Place, and Territory
Militarization and the Body
Militarization
Beyond the Human Terrain System
This article provides a brief critical history of the Human Terrain System (HTS), a US Army counterinsurgency programme designed to embed anthropologists and other social scientists with combat brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan. It lasted from 2007 to 2015 and at its peak employed more than 500 people. The programme, which was among the most expensive social science programs in history, was controversial for many reasons. Among anthropologists, HT…
Perros Prehistóricos en El Este De Uruguay
En este trabajo se presenta información arqueológica sobre cinco perros domésticos (Canis lupus familiaris) recuperados en sitios prehistóricos de las tierras bajas del sudeste uruguayo. La presencia del perro en el registro arqueológico está asociada a la actividad de grupos de cazadores-recolectores especializados, con horticultura, adaptados a las condiciones cambiantes de los ecosistemas inundables durante el Holoceno tardío (ca. 3000 años aP…
Cruel and unusual
From early April to late June 2018, the nearly 2,600 immigrant children - mostly refugees fleeing violence and poverty in Central America - were forcibly taken from their parents at the United States' southern border following implementation of the Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' policy. The policy took effect when the US Justice Department began aggressively prosecuting undocumented immigrants crossing the US-Mexico border. Following a p…
American Counterinsurgency
Politicians, pundits, and Pentagon officials are singing the praises of a kinder, gentler American counterinsurgency. Some claim that counterinsurgency is so sophisticated and effective that it is the 'graduate level of war'. Private military contracting firms have jumped on the bandwagon, and many have begun employing anthropologists, political scientists, psychologists, and sociologists to help meet the Department of Defense's new demand. The $…
We Must Fight the Militarization of Anthropology.
Towers of Ivory and Steel
No Billionaire Left Behind
Fear as a Way of Life
Fear is response to danger, but in Guatemala, rather than being solely a subjective personal experience, it has also penetrated the social memory.' And rather than an acute reaction it is a chronic condition. The effects of fear are pervasive and insidious in Guatemala. Fear destabilizes social relations by driving a wedge of distrust within families, between neighbors, among friends. Fear divides communities through suspicion and apprehension no…
Towards mercenary anthropology? The new US Army counterinsurgency manualFM 3-24and the military-anthropology complex
Human terrain
Between July 2005 and August 2006, the US Army put together an experimental counterinsurgency programme called'Human Terrain System'(HTS). The programme's building blocks are five-person teams ('Human Terrain Teams' or HTTs) assigned to brigade combat team headquarters in Iraq and Afghanistan, comprising regional studies experts and social scientists, some of whom are armed. This article looks at the roots of the human terrain concept, which appe…
Hacking the citizenry
This article examines the reported use of 'big data' analysis by Cambridge Analytica in support of Donald Trump's presidential campaign. It investigates the transformations enveloping the overlapping worlds of politics, technology and social science. In particular, it critically reviews new developments in the field of psychometrics that have enabled researchers to harvest vast quantities of data by accessing social media platforms such as Facebo…
Perros Prehistóricos en El Este De Uruguay
En este trabajo se presenta información arqueológica sobre cinco perros domésticos (Canis lupus familiaris) recuperados en sitios prehistóricos de las tierras bajas del sudeste uruguayo. La presencia del perro en el registro arqueológico está asociada a la actividad de grupos de cazadores-recolectores especializados, con horticultura, adaptados a las condiciones cambiantes de los ecosistemas inundables durante el Holoceno tardío (ca. 3000 años aP…
Going ‘tribal
Few anthropologists today would consider using the term ‘tribe’ as an analytical category, yet it has become a focal point for military commanders and other leaders prosecuting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Specifically, US‐led occupation forces in both countries have begun pursuing ‘tribal’ strategies in which they have attempted to forge alliances with ‘sheiks’ and local power brokers. This article examines the reasons for the rapid rise of…
Anthropology and the covert
This article reflects upon the methodological challenges posed by the study of secretive organizations and programmes. In particular, it examines the question: when participant‐observation is not a feasible option, what techniques can anthropologists use to shed light upon covert military and intelligence agencies and the corporations that they contract? After reviewing anthropological research on secret societies from the late 18th and early 19t…
Seeing into hearts and minds
In this second of his two‐part article, the author analyzes the rise of ‘predictive policing’ and its Pentagon connections, reviews two programmes, and poses these in the context of scientists' concerns over artificial intelligence and long‐term human survival
Patai and Abu Ghraib
Between Two Poles
On "tribes" and bribes
The concept of the "tribe" has captured the imagination of military planners, who have been inspired partly by social scientists. Interest in tribes stems from events in Iraq's al-Anbar province, where the US military has co-opted Sunni "tribal" leaders. Some social scientists have capitalized on these developments by doing contract work for the Pentagon. For example, the "Iraq tribal study"-prepared by a private company consisting of anthropolog…
Standing Up Against Torture and War
Phoenix Reborn
Life under lockdown
This article is a preliminary exploration of the effects of Covid‐19 in Silicon Valley, one of three pandemic ‘hotspots’ on America’s west coast. In particular, it describes how the crisis has deepened and magnified social and economic inequalities in a region where poverty, homelessness and gentrification are rife. Despite the fact that many technology firms are reaping massive profits in the wake of ‘shelter in place’ orders, many Silicon Valle…
Beyond the Human Terrain System
This article provides a brief critical history of the Human Terrain System (HTS), a US Army counterinsurgency programme designed to embed anthropologists and other social scientists with combat brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan. It lasted from 2007 to 2015 and at its peak employed more than 500 people. The programme, which was among the most expensive social science programs in history, was controversial for many reasons. Among anthropologists, HT…
Seeing into hearts and minds
In this two‐part article, explored are the many funded programmes by which security agencies and private companies mine ‘big data’ and attempt to measure the sociocultural and psychological states of whole populations. How is failure or success measured? What kinds of new institutions/practices might these give rise to? Part 1 ‘The Pentagon's quest for a “social radar”’, published in this issue, comes to terms with today's many sociocultural mode…
"Top 10" Anthropology Departments and Underrepresented Minorities
The Framing of Teenage Health Care
War, Technology, Anthropology
Technologies of the allied warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, such as remote-controlled drones and night vision goggles, allow the user to “virtualize” human targets. This coincides with increased civilian casualties and a perpetuation of the very insecurity these technologies are meant to combat. This concise volume of research and reflections from different regions across Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa, observes how anthropology…
Zapotec Science
Fear as a Way of Life
Fear is response to danger, but in Guatemala, rather than being solely a subjective personal experience, it has also penetrated the social memory.' And rather than an acute reaction it is a chronic condition. The effects of fear are pervasive and insidious in Guatemala. Fear destabilizes social relations by driving a wedge of distrust within families, between neighbors, among friends. Fear divides communities through suspicion and apprehension no…
Between Two Poles
Launching Europe
Launching Europe: An Ethnography of European Cooperation in Space Science. Stacia E. Zabusky. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995. xiii. 261 pp., tables, notes, references, index
The Framing of Teenage Health Care
"Top 10" Anthropology Departments and Underrepresented Minorities
Speaking Out on War, Peace and Power
Zapotec Science
From Indigenismo to Zapatismo
This paper reviews the close relationship between theory and practice in Mexican anthropology, comparing and contrasting it to U.S. anthropology. The discipline in Mexico has successfully engaged public policy and politics in different ways, ranging from participation in the construction of nationalist ideologies to development anthropology to cooperation with popular movements. The experience of Mexican anthropology might provide U.S. anthropolo…
Anthropologists in the Public Sphere
This anthology collects over fifty commentaries by noted anthropologists such as Margaret Mead, Franz Boas, and Marshall Sahlins who seek to understand and explain the profound repercussions of U.S. involvement in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Frequently drawing on their own fieldwork, the anthropologists go beyond the headlines to draw connections between indigenous cultures, corporate globalization, and contemporary politica…
Threatening anthropology
Standing Up Against Torture and War
Phoenix Reborn
Patai and Abu Ghraib
Towards mercenary anthropology? The new US Army counterinsurgency manualFM 3-24and the military-anthropology complex
Anthropology in Conflict
Human terrain
Between July 2005 and August 2006, the US Army put together an experimental counterinsurgency programme called'Human Terrain System'(HTS). The programme's building blocks are five-person teams ('Human Terrain Teams' or HTTs) assigned to brigade combat team headquarters in Iraq and Afghanistan, comprising regional studies experts and social scientists, some of whom are armed. This article looks at the roots of the human terrain concept, which appe…
Anthropologists or “Technicians of Power”? Examining the Human Terrain System
Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Roberto González; Anthropologists or "Technicians of Power"? Examining the Human Terrain System. Practicing Anthropology 1 January 2009; 31 (1): 34–37. doi: https://doi.org/10.17730/praa.31.1.n77l8l61n4mj3w35 Download citation file: Ris (…
Going ‘tribal
Few anthropologists today would consider using the term ‘tribe’ as an analytical category, yet it has become a focal point for military commanders and other leaders prosecuting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Specifically, US‐led occupation forces in both countries have begun pursuing ‘tribal’ strategies in which they have attempted to forge alliances with ‘sheiks’ and local power brokers. This article examines the reasons for the rapid rise of…
The counter-counterinsurgency manual
Critiques the Pentagon's Counterinsurgency Field Manual, which offered a blueprint for mobilizing the cultural expertise of anthropologists for the war in Iraq. Explores the ethical and intellectual conflicts of the Pentagon's Human Terrain System, and probes the increasing militarization of academic knowledge
Taking the Next Step
On "tribes" and bribes
The concept of the "tribe" has captured the imagination of military planners, who have been inspired partly by social scientists. Interest in tribes stems from events in Iraq's al-Anbar province, where the US military has co-opted Sunni "tribal" leaders. Some social scientists have capitalized on these developments by doing contract work for the Pentagon. For example, the "Iraq tribal study"-prepared by a private company consisting of anthropolog…
Under Construction
Springing a leak
A Zapotec Natural History
Anthropology and the covert
This article reflects upon the methodological challenges posed by the study of secretive organizations and programmes. In particular, it examines the question: when participant‐observation is not a feasible option, what techniques can anthropologists use to shed light upon covert military and intelligence agencies and the corporations that they contract? After reviewing anthropological research on secret societies from the late 18th and early 19t…
Sociology (38 works) · Political science (36 works) · Law (31 works) · Anthropology: Ethics, History, Culture (26 works) · History (21 works) · Computer Science (19 works) · Politics (18 works) · Law (17 works) · Geography (15 works) · Anthropology (14 works)