ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: SECURITY AND SOCIETY
Volume 9
FEUDING AND WARFARE
FEUDING AND WARFARE
Selected Works of Keith F. Otterbein
Edited by
KEITH F. OTTERBEIN
First published in 1994 by Gordon and Breach
This edition first published in 2021
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1994 by OPA (Amsterdam) B.V. All rights reserved. Published under license by Gordon and Breach Science Publishers S.A.
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ISBN: 978-0-367-56733-0 (Set)
ISBN: 978-1-00-312078-0 (Set) (ebk)
ISBN: 9780367609337 (Volume 9) (hbk)
ISBN: 9781003102588 (Volume 9) (ebk)
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FEUDING AND WARFARE
Selected Works of Keith F. Otterbein
Edited by
Keith F. Otterbein
State University of New York, Buffalo
Foreword by
R. Brian Ferguson
Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersy
Copyright 1994 by OPA (Amsterdam) B.V. All rights reserved. Published under license by Gordon and Breach Science Publishers S.A.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Otterbein, Keith F.
Fueding and warfare : selected works of Keith F. Otterbein / edited by Keith F. Otterbein ; foreword by R. Brian Ferguson.
p. cm. - (War and society, ISSN 1069-8043 ; v. 1) Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 2-88124-620-6 -- ISBN 2-88124-621-4 (pbk.)
1. War. 2. Vendetta-Cross-cultural studies. 3. Violence-Cross -cultural studies. I. Title, II. Series.
GN497.077 1993
303.66--dc20
93-11752
CIP
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.
To My Wife
Contents
THE EVOLUTION OF WAR
FRATERNAL INTEREST GROUP THEORY
OVERVIEWS
The War and Society book series fosters studies of organized violence and its consequences in all forms of society, from deep in the past until the present. It encourages different intellectual traditions from different disciplines. Its goal is to expand theoretical understanding of the causes and effects of war, thereby to provide intellectual tools for constructing a more peaceful world.
Keith Otterbein may not have invented the anthropology of war, but he did name it, in the title of his 1973 review article (). That article was a milestone. Previously, war had been a fringe topic within anthropology, little investigated and not important enough to merit a section in most introductory texts. That began to change in the 1960s, responding to changing theoretical concerns and the reality of war in southeast Asia. Otterbeins survey demonstrated that the anthropology of war was developing into a field of study.
Otterbeins early and sustained interest in this topic is without parallel. The articles included here span a quarter century, and he is still going strong. Even more remarkable than his persistence, however, is his breadth of interests. He is most widely known for cross-cultural statistical investigations of feuding, fraternal interest groups, and the evolution of war, but the reader will find much more than that here. His cross-cultural investigations have been complemented by case studies of Iroquois, Zulu, and Higi, the latter based on his own fieldwork. In these and other works he is concerned with strategy and tactics, an interest which connects him to military studies, and which distinguishes him from many anthropological writers who discuss war as disembodied cultural patterns. Otterbein has continued to review theoretical developments, extended fraternal interest group theory to the study of rape and capital punishment, and commented on the relevance of his findings to the problem of disarmament in the modern world. His latest topic is socialization for war, and we can expect to hear more about that in the future.
Otterbeins interests are not confined to one or a few points, but make up a structure, a house with many rooms. In his preface to this volume, we see the epistemological underpinnings of this broad interest. Most interesting to me is his 1962 Model for Analyzing Intersocietal and Intrasocietal Relations, based in general systems theory. These days systems theory is out of vogue, unless it is to talk about chaos. That is too bad. Otterbeins model shows how useful systems theory can be as a tool for organizing concepts and theorizing about complex phenomena, providing an abstract blueprint showing how to go from topic A to topic Z without getting hopelessly lost. Systems theory also underlies two fundamental elements in Otterbeins general perspective: to look at societies and other social groups in interaction rather than as isolates, with internal and external developments linked; and to see causal relations as reciprocating, with aspects of war being both cause and effect of social transformations.
For the last quarter century, anthropologys interest in war has fluctuated, usually in response to levels of international tensions. Thus, ironically, the Reagan years were good for the anthropology of war. In the second half of the 1980s, new studies began to appear at an accelerated pace, and at present it is almost impossible to keep abreast of anthropological publications on the subject. Sadly, events around the world seem to assure that a better understanding of war will continue to be a pressing need. Much remains to be learned. But given the gravity of the subject matter, it is vital that anthropologists newly come to the study of war have an understanding of what has already been accomplished. For those who wish to come to grips with this curse of humankind, the present volume offers both an introduction to the anthropology of war, and a useful map of the theoretical terrain.
