Gregory Bateson and the OSS: World War II and Bateson's Assessment of Applied Anthropology

Abstract

This article uses documents released from the Central Intelligence Agency under the Freedom of Information Act to examine Gregory Bateson's work for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. The primary document under consideration is a position paper written by Bateson for the OSS in November 1944. In that paper, Bateson outlined a number of methods and strategies that U.S. intelligence agencies might wish to consider using in the post-war period to continue to gather intelligence in India and to help maintain colonial order in India. This 1944 OSS position paper is discussed in order to shed light both on some of the largely undocumented work done by anthropologists during the war and to understand why Bateson returned to his overall negative assessment of applied anthropology in the post-war period.

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