Description
Socio-cultural knowledge of distant ‘others’ was understood to be essential to the military and political success of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Referred to as ‘winning hearts and minds’, knowledge of local populations was sought through the US Army’s Human Terrain System and the military’s female engagement strategy. The paper first locates the Human Terrain System within a wider history of pacification, imperialism and colonial encounter. Second, it explores the extent to which affective relations are integral to forms of military knowledge-production. Focusing attention on the continuities of historical and contemporary acquisition of intimate, social and cultural knowledge of those with whom we are at war reveals a genealogy of affective war-making practices. The paper seeks to conceptualise affective modes of encounter within ‘hearts and minds’ counterinsurgency and argues that they are essential in shaping subjectivities at home and abroad to the military’s purpose. To do so, the paper draws on extensive interview data to explore dimensions of the affective politics of the US Army’s Human Terrain System.
