A. BOOKS
2019. Arima Born: Revealing the History of
Arima and its Mission through the Catholic
Church’s Baptismal Registers, 1820–1916.
Montreal, QC: Alert Press.
2015. Force Multipliers: The
Instrumentalities of Imperialism.
(Edited volume). Montreal, QC: Alert Press.
2014. Good Intentions: Norms and Practices
of Imperial Humanitarianism. (Edited
volume). Montreal, QC: Alert Press.
2013. Emergency as Security: Liberal
Empire at Home and Abroad. (Co-edited
with Kyle McLoughlin). Montreal, QC: Alert
Press.
2013. Who Is An Indian? Race, Place, and
the Politics of Indigeneity in the Americas.
(Edited volume). Toronto, ON: University of
Toronto Press.
2012. Slouching Towards Sirte: NATO’s War
on Libya and Africa. Montreal, QC:
Baraka Books.
2011. Interventionism, Information
Warfare, and the Military-Academic Complex.
(Edited volume). Montreal, QC: Alert Press.
2010. Militarism, Humanism, and Occupation.
(Edited volume). Montreal, QC: Alert Press.
2010. Indigenous Cosmopolitans:
Transnational and Transcultural Indigeneity in
the Twenty-First Century. (Edited
volume). New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
2006. Indigenous Resurgence in the
Contemporary Caribbean: Amerindian Survival and
Revival. (Edited volume). New York:
Peter Lang USA.
2005. Ruins of Absence, Presence of Caribs:
(Post) Colonial Representations of Aboriginality
in Trinidad and Tobago. Gainesville, FL:
University Press of Florida.
1996. Against the Trinity: An Insurgent
Imam Tells His Story (Religion, Politics, and
Rebellion in Trinidad and Tobago).
Binghamton, NY: Ahead Publishing House.
Clicking on an image below will take you to the
publisher’s page for the book, or to a library
catalogue.
Published reviews of select items are included
at the bottom of this page.
B. CHAPTERS IN EDITED VOLUMES
2015. “Force Multipliers: Imperial
Instrumentalism in Theory and Practice.” In
Maximilian C. Forte (Ed.), Force Multipliers:
The Instrumentalities of Imperialism (pp.
1–87). Montreal, QC: Alert Press.
2015. “On Secrecy, Power, and the Imperial
State: Perspectives from WikiLeaks and
Anthropology.” In Maximilian C. Forte (Ed.),
Force Multipliers: The Instrumentalities of
Imperialism (pp. 187–221). Montreal, QC:
Alert Press.
2014. “Introduction: Imperial Abduction Lore and
Humanitarian Seduction.” In Maximilian C. Forte
(Ed.), Good Intentions: Norms and Practices
of Imperial Humanitarianism (pp. 1–34).
Montreal, QC: Alert Press.
2014. “A Flickr of Militarization: Photographic
Regulation, Symbolic Consecration, and the
Strategic Communication of ‘Good Intentions’.”
In Maximilian C. Forte (Ed.), Good
Intentions: Norms and Practices of Imperial
Humanitarianism (pp. 185–279). Montreal, QC:
Alert Press.
2013. “Anthropology against Empire:
Demilitarizing the Discipline in North America”.
In Maximilian C. Forte and Kyle McLoughlin
(Eds.), Emergency as Security: Liberal Empire
at Home and Abroad (pp. 169–189). Montreal,
QC: Alert Press.
2013. with Kyle McLoughlin, “Introduction:
Emergency as Security: The Liberal Empire at
Home and Abroad”. In Maximilian C. Forte and
Kyle McLoughlin (Eds.), Emergency as
Security: Liberal Empire at Home and Abroad
(pp. 1–19). Montreal, QC: Alert Press.
2013. “Introduction: ‘Who Is an Indian?’ The
Cultural Politics of a Bad Question”. In
Maximilian C. Forte (Ed.), Who Is An Indian?
Race, Place, and the Politics of Indigeneity in
the Americas (pp. 3–51). Toronto, ON:
University of Toronto Press.
2013. “Carib Identity, Racial Politics, and the
Problem of Indigenous Recognition in Trinidad
and Tobago”. In Maximilian C. Forte (Ed.),
Who Is An Indian? Race, Place, and the Politics
of Indigeneity in the Americas (pp.
172–193). Toronto, ON: University of Toronto
Press.
2013. “Conclusion: Seeing Beyond the State and
Thinking beyond the State of Sight”. In
Maximilian C. Forte (Ed.), Who Is An Indian?
Race, Place, and the Politics of Indigeneity in
the Americas (pp. 234–241). Toronto, ON:
University of Toronto Press.
2013. “Preface”. In Maximilian C. Forte (Ed.),
Who Is An Indian? Race, Place, and the
Politics of Indigeneity in the Americas (pp.
vii–ix). Toronto, ON: University of Toronto
Press.
2012. “Top Ten Myths in the War on Libya”. In
Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank, (Eds.),
Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of
Illusion (pp. 249–264). Oakland, CA: AK
Press.
2012. إعادة اختراع الويكيليكس المستمرة الإعلام
والسلطة وتبديل شكل الاحتجاج ماآسيمليان فورت
(“The Ongoing Reinvention of Wikileaks: Media,
Power, and Shifting the Shape of Dissent”). In,
WikiLeaks, Media and Politics: Between the
Virtual and the Real. Beirut: Arab Center
for Research and Policy Studies.
2011. “Preface” In Maximilian C. Forte (Ed.),
The New Imperialism, Vol. 2: Interventionism,
Information Warfare, and the Military-Academic
Complex (pp. xi–xii). Montreal, QC: Alert
Press.
2011. “Introduction: Intervention, Information,
Ideologies, and Industry: The New Imperialism
and its Refractions.” In Maximilian C. Forte
(Ed.), The New Imperialism, Vol. 2:
Interventionism, Information Warfare, and the
Military-Academic Complex (pp. 1–14).
Montreal, QC: Alert Press.
2011. “Demons, Angels, and the Messiah: The Top
Ten Myths in the War against Libya” In
Maximilian C. Forte (Ed.), The New
Imperialism, Vol. 2: Interventionism,
Information Warfare, and the Military-Academic
Complex (pp. 145–195). Montreal, QC: Alert
Press.
2010. “Introduction: The 'New' Imperialism of
Militarization, Humanitarianism, and
Occupation.” In Maximilian C. Forte (Ed.),
The New Imperialism, Vol. 1: Militarism,
Humanism, and Occupation (pp. 1–29).
Montreal, QC: Alert Press.
2010. “Introduction: Indigeneities and
Cosmopolitanisms.” In Maximilian C. Forte (Ed.),
Indigenous Cosmopolitans: Transnational and
Transcultural Indigeneity in the Twenty-First
Century (pp. 1–16). New York: Peter Lang
Publishing.
2010. “A Carib Canoe, Circling in the Culture of
the Open Sea: Submarine Currents Connecting
Multiple Indigenous Shores.” In Maximilian C.
Forte (Ed.), Indigenous Cosmopolitans:
Transnational and Transcultural Indigeneity in
the Twenty-First Century (pp. 17–37). New
York: Peter Lang Publishing.
2006. “Amerindian@Caribbean: The Modes and
Meanings of 'Electronic Solidarity' in the
Revival of Carib and Taino Identities." In Kyra
Marie Landzelius (Ed.), Native on the Net:
Indigenous and Diasporic Peoples in the Virtual
Age (pp. 132–151). London: Routledge.
2006. Lead writer, with Ricardo Bharath
Hernandez: “ ‘In This Place Where I Was Chief’:
History and Ritual in the Maintenance and
Retrieval of Traditions in the Santa Rosa Carib
Community of Arima, Trinidad”. In Maximilian C.
Forte (Ed.), Indigenous Resurgence in the
Contemporary Caribbean: Amerindian Survival and
Revival (pp. 107–131). New York: Peter Lang.
2006. “Searching for a Centre in the Digital
Ether: Notes on the Indigenous Caribbean
Resurgence on the Internet”. In Maximilian C.
Forte (Ed.), Indigenous Resurgence in the
Contemporary Caribbean: Amerindian Survival and
Revival (pp. 253–269). New York: Peter Lang.
2006. “Introduction: The Dual Absences of
Extinction and Marginality: What Difference Does
an Indigenous Presence Make?” In Maximilian C.
Forte (Ed.), Indigenous Resurgence in the
Contemporary Caribbean: Amerindian Survival and
Revival (pp. 1–17). New York: Peter Lang.
2005. “Centering the Links: Understanding
Cybernetic Patterns of Co-production,
Circulation and Consumption.” In Christine Hine
(Ed.), Virtual Methods: Issues in Social
Research on the Internet (pp. 93–106).
Oxford: Berg.
2004. “Co-Construction and Field Creation:
Website Development as both an Instrument and
Relationship in Action Research.” In
Elizabeth Buchanan (Ed.), Virtual Research
Ethics: Issues and Controversies (pp.
222–248). Hershey, PA: Idea Group.
C. ARTICLES IN JOURNALS AND ANNUALS
2014. “Anthropology: The Empire on which the Sun
Never Sets”. Anthropological Forum: A Journal
of Social Anthropology and Comparative Sociology,
24(2), 197–218.
2013. “Secret from Whom?” (The Big Question:
What Should Governments Keep Secret?). World
Policy Journal, 30(3), September, 4–5.
2011. “The Human Terrain System and
Anthropology: A Review of Ongoing Public
Debates”. American Anthropologist,
113(1), March, 149–153.
2008. “Interview with St. Croix Artist Roy
Lawaetz on his Modular Triangular System and the
Taino Zemi”. The Caribbean Writer, 22,
195–209
2006. “Report on the Carib Community of Trinidad
and Tobago”. In Sille Stidsen (Ed.), The
Indigenous World (pp. 131–136). Copenhagen:
IWGIA.
2006. “Extinction: Ideologies Against
Indigeneity in the Caribbean”. The Southern
Quarterly, 43 (4), Summer: 46–69.
2006. “The Political Economy of Tradition:
Sponsoring and Incorporating the Caribs of
Trinidad and Tobago”. Research in Economic
Anthropology, 24, 329–358.
2005. “Extinction: The Historical Trope of Anti-Indigeneity
in the Caribbean”. Issues in Caribbean
Amerindian Studies, Vol. 6, Aug. 2004–Aug.
2005.
2004. “Report on the Carib Community of Trinidad
and Tobago”. In Diana Vindig (Ed.), The
Indigenous World (pp. 114–118). Copenhagen:
IWGIA
2004. “Long-Term Field Research in
Anthropology”. Historical Social Research (Historische
Sozialforschung), 29 (2), 133–141.
2003. “Caribbean Aboriginals Online: Digitized
Culture, Networked Representation”.
Indigenous Affairs: Special Issue on Indigenous
Peoples and Information Technology, (2),
32–37.
2003. “Report on the Carib Community of Trinidad
and Tobago: History, Politics, Legislation”. In
Diana Vindig (Ed.), The Indigenous World
(pp. 106–109). Copenhagen: IWGIA.
2002. “‘We are not Extinct’: The Revival of
Carib and Taino Identities, the Internet, and
the Transformation of Offline Indigenes into
Online ‘N-digenes’”. Sincronía: An Electronic
Journal of Cultural Studies (Department of
Letters, University of Guadalajara, Mexico).
Spring.
2002. “ ‘Our Amerindian Ancestors’: The State,
the Nation, and the Revaluing of Indigeneity in
Trinidad and Tobago”. Issues in Caribbean
Amerindian Studies, Vol. 1, Feb. 2001–Feb.
2002.
2000. “The Contemporary Context of Carib
‘Revival’ in Trinidad and Tobago: Creolization,
Developmentalism and the State”. KACIKE:
Journal of Caribbean Amerindian History and
Anthropology, 1 (1): 18–33.
1999. “Reviving Caribs: Recognition, Patronage
and Ceremonial Indigeneity in Trinidad and
Tobago”. Cultural Survival Quarterly, 23
(4), Winter: 35–41.
1999. “From Smoke Ceremonies to Cyberspace:
Globalized Indigeneity, Multi-Sited Research and
the Internet”. Issues in Caribbean Amerindian
Studies, Vol. 1, Sep. 1998 – Sep. 1999.
1998. “Globalization and World-Systems Analysis:
Toward New Paradigms of a Geo-Historical Social
Anthropology (A Research Review)”. Review
(Journal of the Fernand Braudel Center for the
Study of Economies, Historical Systems and
Civilizations), 21 (1), 9–99.
1998. “The International Indigene: Regional and
Global Integration of Amerindian Communities in
the Caribbean”. Issues in Caribbean
Amerindian Studies, Vol. 1, Sep. 1998 – Sep.
1999.
1998. “Renewed Indigeneity in the Local-Global
Continuum and the Political Economy of Tradition
Among Modern West Indian Caribs”. Issues in
Caribbean Amerindian Studies, Vol. 1, Sep.
1998–Sep. 1999.
1995. “The Crisis in Creolization in Trinidad
and Tobago? Globalized Revitalizations, Systemic
Ethno-Politics, and Alter-Nationalisms”. The
International Third World Studies Journal and
Review, 7, October, 41–54.
D. ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES
2018. “Ethnography, multi-sited”. In Hilary
Callan (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of
Anthropology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley &
Sons.
2015. “AFRICOM, NATO and the 2011 War on Libya”.
In Immanuel Ness & Saer Maty Ba (Eds.), The
Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and
Anti-Imperialism (pp. 250–267). New York:
Palgrave Macmillan.
2015. “Gaddafi, Muammar”. In Richard C. Martin
(Ed.), Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim
World, 2nd ed. (pp. 391–392).
Farmington Hills, MI: Cengage Learning/Macmillan
Reference—USA.
2015. “Jama’at al-Muslimeen”. In Richard C.
Martin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Islam and the
Muslim World, 2nd ed. (p. 636).
Farmington Hills, MI: Cengage Learning/Macmillan
Reference—USA.
2015. “Human Terrain System (United States):
Critique”. In James D. Wright (Ed.),
International Encyclopedia of the Social &
Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition, Vol. 11
(pp. 392–399). Oxford: Elsevier.
2011. “Carib Slavery—Spanish Colonial Control
over Caribbean Labor”. In Alexander Mikaberidze,
Dane A. Morrison, Jeffrey M. Diamond, D. Harland
Hagler (Eds.), World History Encyclopedia,
Era 6: The First Global Age, 1450–1770 (pp.
145–146). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
2011. “The Caribbean and Postcolonialism”. In
Andrew J Waskey, Fred R. Nadis (Eds.), World
History Encyclopedia, Era 9: Promises and
Paradoxes, 1945-Present (pp. 354–355). Santa
Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
2011. “Indigenous People of the Caribbean since
1945”. In Andrew J Waskey, Fred R. Nadis (Eds.),
World History Encyclopedia, Era 9: Promises
and Paradoxes, 1945-Present (pp. 389–391).
Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
2007. “Ethnography”. International
Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd ed.
Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference USA,
99–101.
2005. “Website Development as Both an Instrument
and Relationship in Action Research”. In Stewart
Marshall, Wal Taylor, Xinghuo Yu (Eds.), The
Encyclopedia of Developing Regional Communities
with Information and Communication Technology
(pp. 729–734). Hershey, PA: Idea Group
Reference.
E. CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS and WORKING PAPERS
2011. “The
Ongoing Reinvention of Wikileaks: Media, Power,
and Shifting the Shape of Dissent”. Included
as a chapter in the publication in Arabic of a
book, WikiLeaks, Media and Politics: Between
the Virtual and the Real, by the Arab Center
for Research and Policy Studies.
1999. “Renewed
Indigeneity in the Local-Global Continuum and
the Political Economy of Tradition among Modern
West Indian Caribs”. In R.K. Oden (Ed.),
Visioning the 21st Century: Globalization,
Transformation and Opportunity. Proceedings
of the 24th Annual Third World Conference.
Chicago: TWCF/Governors State University.
F. BOOK REVIEWS & REVIEW ESSAYS
2018.
Review of Boomert, Arie. The Indigenous
Peoples of Trinidad and Tobago: From the First
Settlers until Today. Leiden: Sidestone
Press. For the New West Indian Guide, 92
(3/4), 395.
2014.
Review of: Yurumein (Homeland)—Resistance,
Rupture & Repair: The story of the Caribs of St.
Vincent in the Caribbean. For
H-Caribbean.
2007. Review of San Miguel, Pedro L. The
Imagined Island: History, Identity, and Utopia
in Hispaniola. Chapel Hill: University of
North Carolina Press. For the Hispanic
American Historical Review, 87 (3), 2007,
596–598.
2006. Review of Lawrence, Bonita. “Real”
Indians and Others: Mixed-Blood Urban Native
Peoples and Indigenous Nationhood.
Vancouver: UBC Press. For the Canadian Review
of Sociology. July. [online]
2006. Review of Postero, Nancy Grey and Zamosc,
Leon, eds. The Struggle for Indigenous Rights
in Latin America. Brighton and Portland:
Sussex Academic Press, 2005. For the Journal
of Latin American Anthropology, 11 (1),
April, 208–210.
2006. Review of Baker, David P., and Gerald K.
LeTendre, National Differences, Global
Similarities: World Culture and the Future of
Schooling. Palo Alto, California: Stanford
University Press, 2005. For Anthropology and
Education Quarterly, 37(4), March. [online]
2005. Review of Suarez-Orozco, Marcelo M., and
Desiree Baolian Qin-Hilliard, eds.
Globalization: Culture and Education in the New
Millennium. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2004. For Anthropology and
Education Quarterly, 36(4), December.
[online]
2004. Review of De Barros, Juanita. Order and
Place in a Colonial City: Patterns of Struggle
and Resistance in Georgetown, British Guiana,
1889-1924. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s
University Press. 2002. For the Canadian
Review of Sociology. [online]
2004. Review of Avatara, (a “virtual
ethnographic” film). In Visual Studies,
19 (1), 116–118.
2003. Review of Lal Balkaran (2002)
Dictionary of the Guyanese Amerindians and other
South American Native Terms: An A-Z Guide To
Their Anthropology, Cosmology, Culture,
Exploration, History, Geography, Legend,
Folklore and Myth. In Kacike: The Journal
of Caribbean Amerindian History and Anthropology
[Online Journal].
2002.
Is it Real? Problems and Prospects of Research
in “the Real World”. Review Essay: Colin
Robson (2002). Real World Research. A
Resource for Social Scientists and
Practitioner-Researchers. (Second Edition)
[42 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative
Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social
Research [Online Journal], 3(4).
2002. Review of Capturing Globalization,
Edited by James Mittelman and Norani Othman. The
Asia-Pacific Journal of Anthropology,
3(1) April, 148–150.
1999. Review of Taíno Revival: Critical
Perspectives on Puerto Rican Identity and
Cultural Politics, edited by Gabriel
Haslip-Viera. Plantation Society and Culture,
6(2-3) Fall, 327–330.
G. NEWSLETTERS
2008. “Militarizing
Anthropology, Researching for Empire, and the
Implications for Canada”. Culture (CASCA
Newsletter), 2 (2), Fall, 6–10.
2002. “Another Revolution Missed? Anthropology
and Cyberspace”. Anthropology News, 43
(9), December, 20–21
2000. “Anthropology Uncanned”. Anthropology
News, 41 (3), March, 9–10
1999. “Trinidad’s Caribs and the Globalization
of Caribbean Aboriginality”. Boletín
Informativo de la Nación Taína de las Antillas,
7 (2), March-April, 1–3.
H. ONLINE MEDIA ARTICLES
2015. “Democracy
in Cuba and at Home”. CounterPunch,
January 9.
2013. “Thirty
Years After the U.S. Invasion of Grenada, the
First Neoliberal War”. Centre for Global
Research, October 28.
2013. “The
Great Nothingness of Libya, Two Years After
Muammar Gaddafi”. Centre for Global
Research, October 21.
2013. “Syria’s
Chemical Weapons and UN Security Council
Resolution 2118: Reality, Resolutions,
Representations”. Centre for Global
Research, September 30.
2013. “Deflating
Empire: The Syrian Threat to the United States”.
Centre for Global Research, September 10.
2013. “Bradley
Manning and the Meaning of Bravery”.
Centre for Global Research, July 31.
2013. “Getting
It Right: Hugo Chávez and the ‘Arab Spring’”.
Centre for Global Research, April 16.
2013. “Thoughtful,
Respectful, and Progressive? Regarding the
‘Responsibility to Protect’”. Centre for
Global Research, February 25.
2013. “Libya:
The Second Anniversary of a Bloody Coup”.
Centre for Global Research, February 18.
2013. “The
New Libya: The Second Anniversary of What?”
CounterPunch, February 19.
2012. “The
Effects of Diplomacy as Subversion: The State
Department’s ‘Report’ on the Attack in Benghazi”.
CounterPunch, December 20.
2012. “A
War for Human Rights?” The Political
Bouillon, December 8.
2011. “Al
Jazeera and U.S. Foreign Policy: What WikiLeaks’
U.S. Embassy Cables Reveal about U.S. Pressure
and Propaganda”. Monthly Review (MRzine),
September 22.
2011. “The
Top Ten Myths in the War Against Libya”.
CounterPunch, August 31.
2011. “Libya–Lather,
Rinse, Repeat–Syria: Liberal Imperialism and the
Refusal to Learn”. Monthly Review (MRzine),
August 10.
2011. “The
War in Libya: Race, ‘Humanitarianism,’ and the
Media”. Monthly Review (MRzine),
April 11.
2011. “The
Clinton doctrine: US reaction to events
unfolding in the Arab world reveals the
emergence of more insidious approach”. Al
Jazeera English, February 22.
2011.
مصر والإمبراطورية الأميركية (“Egypt and the
American Empire”). Al Jazeera Arabic,
February 16.
2010. “The
WikiLeaks Revolution: Notes from the
Insurrection”. CounterPunch, December
14.
2010.
الهجوم على ويكيليكس.. هل من مخرج (“Attack on
WikiLeaks”). Al Jazeera Arabic, September
17.
2010.
نواقص في تسريبات ويكيليكس (“Problems with
WikiLeaks”). Al Jazeera Arabic, September
8.
2010. “Reason
for Celebration, Cause for Concern: The
Wikileaks Afghan War Diary,” CounterPunch
(reprinted by Alternet as “7
Reasons Why We Should Celebrate Wikileaks, and 8
Reasons It’s Not the Panacea Some Are Calling It”),
August 2.
2010. “Unhinged
at the US State Department and Pentagon: A War
on Wikileaks?” CounterPunch (also
republished in Spain’s Rebelión, “¿Guerra
contra Wikileaks? Desquiciados en el
Departamento de Estado y el Pentágono;” and
the latter became the basis for this article in
the Venezuelan newspaper, Correo del Orinoco,
“EEUU
amenaza a los soldados que busquen consultar los
documentos – El Pentágono pretende callar a
Wikileaks”), August 11.
I. INDEPENDENTLY PUBLISHED REPORTS
2018. “Publicity
or Marginality? On the Question of Academic
‘Silencing’ in Anthropology”.
Academia.edu, December.
2016. “The
New Victorianism”. Academia.edu,
July.
2016. “Canadian
Anthropology and Cultural Imperialism:
Criticisms”. Academia.edu, May.
2016. “The
Shape of Things to Come in Libya”.
Academia.edu, January.
2016. “Canadian
Anthropology or Cultural Imperialism?”
Academia.edu, January.
2003. “How
the Amerindians of Arima Lost Their Lands: Notes
from Primary and Other Historical Sources,
1802-1880”. Submitted to the Santa Rosa
Carib Community, Arima, Trinidad.
Select Reviews of Maximilian Forte’s Books:
On
Slouching Towards Sirte:
Stephen Gowans speaking about Slouching
Towards Sirte, on The Taylor Report:
“Slouching Towards Sirte is a penetrating
critique, not only of the NATO intervention in
Libya, but of the concept of humanitarian
intervention and imperialism in our time. It is
the definitive treatment of NATO’s war on Libya.
It is difficult to imagine it will be
surpassed.” ~ Stephen Gowans, What’s Left (HTML)
(mirror) (PDF) (PDF)
“very powerful and heart-breaking. I think it
will be the definitive work on the subject.” ~
Daniel M. Kovalik
“Maximilian Forte challenges many of the
prevailing notions, both of the left and right,
about Libya and the reasons behind the NATO
intervention there which toppled the government
of Muammar Gaddafi….in these times in which we
live, it is critical to be wary of any claims by
the Western powers, especially the U.S., that
they are going to war to protect human rights,
for it is almost invariably the case that the
war ends up violating more human rights than it
protects. Indeed, human rights have sadly become
the Trojan Horse the U.S. and its allies NGOs
use to justify violent intervention into foreign
lands. So, while the Trojan Horse story led to
the famous maxim, ‘Beware of Greeks bearing
gifts,’ I would counsel the people of the poorer
Global South, to ‘Beware of Westerners bearing
human rights’. Certainly, Forte shows why this
advice should be heeded.” ~ Daniel M. Kovalik,
CounterPunch (HTML) (HTML Español) (PDF)
“…bold and incendiary…Forte doesn’t skimp on
documentary evidence to make his case….A complex
depiction of collusion and wilful ignorance
among NATO nations—and most especially, the
United States—emerges….Forte’s allegations
that NATO’s war was manufactured by liberal
interventionists and ‘iPad imperialists’ whose
agenda to disrupt African independence and
execute regime change under the ‘fig leaf’ of
saving lives are chilling—and persuasive. So too
is the timeline of events between the start of
the protests and the propagandist hysteria
promulgated online….In this provocative and
unabashedly direct book, Forte speaks truth to
power.” ~
Amy O'Loughlin,
ForeWord Reviews
“Forte, a Montreal based activist and
anthropologist, provides a compelling
counter-narrative to mainstream media accounts
of the war on Libya and the overthrow and
assassination of Muammar Gaddafi. Slouching
Towards Sirte has an excellent analysis of the
contradictions and paradoxes of Gaddafi’s pan-Africanism
and Libyan anti-Black racism while arguing
persuasively that regime change in Libya is but
a preview of US strategy in Africa through
AFRICOM.” ~ 10 Books for 2012,
The Public Archive
“an ethnography of U.S. culture and the way it
enabled and contributed to the destruction of
Libya. It is also a meticulously documented
study in hypocrisy: that of the U.S. elite, of
the Gulf ruling classes who have lately welded
their agenda directly onto that of the United
States, and of the liberal bombardiers who
emerged in the crucible of the 'humanitarian'
wars of the 1990s only to reemerge as
cheerleaders for the destruction of another Arab
country in 2011. Finally, it is a study of the
breakdown of the anti-war principles of leftists
in the United States and Europe, so many of
whom, for so long, sustained an infatuation with
confused rebels whose leadership early on had
their hand out to the U.S. empire…” ~
Max Ajl,
The Monthly Review (April 2013, pp. 55-59) [also
available
here]
“Thoroughly researched and impeccably
referenced, it tells the story of the real aims
and real consequences of the war on Libya in its
historical perspective. Its author, Maximilian
Forte, is well placed to do so. A professor of
social anthropology in Montreal, much of his
writing and research in recent years has been
dedicated to the new imperialism, and especially
its ‘humanitarian’ cover. He was amongst the
first to really expose violent racism within the
Libyan insurrection, and its role in
facilitating NATO’s goals in Africa, and has
provided consistently excellent analyses of the
media coverage surrounding the conflict….Forte’s
book is a must-read for anyone seriously
interested in understanding the motives and
consequences of the West’s onslaught against
Libya and African development.” ~
Dan Glazebrook,
Ceasefire Magazine
“The anti-imperialist movement of the 20th
century had Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the
Earth. Today, we have Maximilian Forte’s
Slouching Towards Sirte: NATO’s War on Libya and
Africa.” ~Donnchadh Mac an Ghoill
“In Slouching Towards Sirte, Maximilian Forte
focuses on the terrible consequences of the
U.S.-NATO onslaught in the town of Sirte, a
Qaddafi stronghold which was nearly completely
destroyed. Forte documents the use of
indiscriminate firepower by rebels, the
targeting of civilians and civilian rescuers,
and abuses committed at checkpoints designed to
control population movement…” ~
Jeremy Kuzmarov,
J.P. Walker assistant professor of history,
University of Tulsa, Z Communications (PDF)
“…excellent book….As Forte writes with bitter
irony, the propaganda surrounding the Libyan war
demands ‘vigilance and scepticism in the face of
the heady claims of our own inherent goodness
which can only find its highest expression in
the form of aerial bombardment’. Alas, vigilance
and scepticism are in short supply within the
corporate media.” ~
David Edwards,
Media Lens (PDF)
“But the shine [of NATO’s intervention] was,
from the start, an illusion, as Maximilian Forte
proves in his important new book, Slouching
Towards Sirte. Forte thoroughly chronicles
NATO’s bombing of Libya and the crimes against
humanity for which NATO is
responsible….Self-described humanitarians would
do well to consider how their advocacy of the
Libyan campaign not only caused extensive death
and human rights violations but may prove to
have helped usher in decades of more war in this
continent.” ~
Greg Shupak,
Jacobin (PDF)
“Slouching Towards Sirte is a scholarly and
well-documented account that gives reader the
impression that ‘humanitarian missions’ and the
so-called ‘Responsibility to Protect’ are just
an ideological facade and smokescreen used to
mask the raw imposition of power and punishment
on the nations whose leaders dare to oppose the
‘new world order’ of liberal democracy….
Undoubtedly, the author…by publishing this book
has laid the ground-work for critical
anthropology. On the whole, the book is a
powerful argument against the humanitarian myth
promoted by western powers to mask the
imposition of their dominance on other
societies. Unfortunately, this fact is ignored
by many, who ostrich-like prefer to put their
heads in sand.” ~
Damir Mirkovic, Professor
Emeritus, Brandon University
“The key facts? There was no
‘mass rape’ ordered
by Gadhafi, a claim repeated many times by
Hillary Clinton (and eventually refuted by
Amnesty International, the UN and even the U.S.
Army). There was no bombing of protesters (a
fact admitted to by the CIA’s Robert Gates).
There was no plan for a ‘massacre’ in Benghazi. Gadhafi offered amnesty to any insurgents who
laid down their arms — in contrast the ‘no
mercy’ theme played by the Western powers. All
of these facts are to be found in Slouching
Towards Sirte: NATO’s War on Libya and Africa by
Maximilian Forte.” ~
Murray Dobbin,
CounterPunch (PDF)
“Maximilian Forte’s book on the Libyan war,
Slouching Towards Sirte, is another powerful
(and hence marginalized) study of the imperial
powers in violent action, and with painful
results, but supported by the UN, media, NGOs
and a significant body of liberals and leftists
who had persuaded themselves that this was a
humanitarian enterprise. Forte shows
compellingly that it wasn’t the least little bit
humanitarian, either in the intent of its
principals (the United States, France, and Great
Britain) or in its results. As in the earlier
cases of 'humanitarian intervention\ the Libyan
program rested intellectually and ideologically
on a set of supposedly justifying events and
threats that were fabricated, selective, and/or
otherwise misleading, but which were quickly
institutionalized within the Western propaganda
system.” ~
Edward S. Herman,
The Real News (PDF)
On
Ruins of Absence, Presence of Caribs:
1.
BETH CONKLIN (Vanderbilt University)
2.
JAMES CARRIER (Social Anthropology)
3.
PETER HULME (Journal of the Royal
Anthropological Institute)
4.
NEIL L. WHITEHEAD (New West Indian Guide)
5.
GERARD COLLOMB (Journal of Latin American
Anthropology)
6.
TRACY ASSING (Caribbean Review of Books)
7.
HEATHER A. HORST (Anthropology News)
8.
JACOB CAMPBELL (Transforming Anthropology)
9.
JOSEPH O. PALACIO (Journal of Eastern
Caribbean Studies)
On
Indigenous Resurgence in the Contemporary
Caribbean:
1.
PETER HULME (University of Essex)
2.
HELEN HORNBECK TANNER (D’Arcy McNickle
Center for American Indian History)
On
Indigenous Cosmopolitans:
1.
THOMAS HYLLAND ERIKSEN (University of Oslo)
2.
JEFFREY SISSONS (Victoria University of
Wellington, New Zealand)
On
Who Is An Indian?:
“A significant addition to research, Who
Is an Indian? provides an extended
examination and a clear picture of
Indigenous identity issues in the Americas.
Among the book’s important contributions are
its examination of the site of interface
between the modern state and Indigenous
peoples, as well as its analysis of how
state discourses of identities are
interpolated by Indigenous peoples and come
to be important sites of tension.”–David
Newhouse, Department of Indigenous Studies,
Trent University
“Who Is an Indian? makes a strong and
distinct contribution to the literature on
Indigenous identities. The contributors
examine imposed markers of distinctiveness,
particularly those racial categories that
have often been formulated by experts and
imposed by dominant societies. This is a
topic that is rife with controversy, but it
is handled here with directness and
historical acumen.”–Ronald Niezen,
Department of Anthropology, McGill
University
“This valuable book provides implicated and
nuanced narratives of indigenous peoples
needed to understand how, towards a
particular gain, settler-colonialists
defined and imposed definitions of who is
indigenous, and how the boundaries of
identity are policed and maintained within
different geopolitical context. Conversely,
it tells the story of how indigenous peoples
respond to assert who they are regardless of
state control. This is a Western hemispheric
inquiry into ideas about respective
conceptions of identity, the local and
global conditions that produce them, and the
role these conditions play in how particular
identities become operationalized
locally….This important volume of essays
elucidates the dynamics of erasing and
assimilating indigenous peoples to enact and
accelerate dispossession of their
lands….Ultimately…this is an important book
for understanding political geographies of
power, race, and identity and how the
nation-state has created and ensured the
reproduction of indigenous identities
towards dispossessing indigenous peoples of
territory and culture”.—Laura Harjo,
University of New Mexico; review published
in
American Indian Culture and Research
Journal, 38(4), 2014, 203–206.
