Radical memories: an interview with John H. Moore and documents from a communist anthropologist’s past

Abstract

Though American anthropologists have long engaged in radical political activities, there remains a poorly documented history of American Marxist anthropologists’ engagements with national and global socialist and communist political parties. This article draws on an interview with American anthropologist John Moore, as well as material from Moore’s FBI file, recently released under the Freedom of Information Act, with records from a 1960s Military Intelligence investigation of Moore to document and explore Moore’s involvement in communist and socialist organizations from the 1960s to the 1990s. Moore’s reflections on his political activities highlight a continuity.