"In Advancing SOF Cultural Engagement: The Malinowski Model for a Qualitative Approach, Robert Greene Sands and Darby Arakelian propose a special operations relevant model for engaging populations, illuminating their worldviews and values, appreciating their interests, and translating significant social, cultural, and political information into operational analysis. Their objectives are to introduce the core concepts, the base vocabulary, and the foundational skills in anthropology and sociology necessary for improving the human aspects core competency. While Greene Sands and Arakelian do not expect SOF to become anthropologists, they assert that Malinowski's population-centric research methods are desperately needed to make sense of contemporary human aspects of military operations"--Back cover.

Malinowski : alone and unafraid -- A field-based method for SOF -- The value of a qualitative approach for SOF -- Applied SOF ethnography -- Thinking and bias : the legacy of human cognition -- Notes on the limitations of the Malinowski Model -- Developing a sustainable learning program for qualitative approach and methods -- Conclusion.