Ethics in Anthropology: Public Presentation of Anthropological Material - Revision history

Caseorganic at 23:57, 3 December 2010

2010-12-03T23:57:08Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:57, 3 December 2010
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	Peter van Mensch, in his thesis "Ethics in Museology," lists seven main ethical responsibilities upon which all museum codes of ethics agree. They are as follows:		Peter van Mensch, in his thesis "Ethics in Museology," lists seven main ethical responsibilities upon which all museum codes of ethics agree. They are as follows:

			<blockquote>
	#Responsibility to the maker (and first user) of the object and his or her society.		#Responsibility to the maker (and first user) of the object and his or her society.
	#Responsibility to the preservation of the information value (including the aesthetic and emotional values) of the object and its physical and intellectual accessibility		#Responsibility to the preservation of the information value (including the aesthetic and emotional values) of the object and its physical and intellectual accessibility
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	#Responsibility to the visitors to permanent and temporary exhibitions and to participants in other activities.		#Responsibility to the visitors to permanent and temporary exhibitions and to participants in other activities.
	#Responsibility to the community as a whole, now and in the future. Many of these responsibilities are interrelated we will look at a few and give some examples of how they can be applied (1992: 5).		#Responsibility to the community as a whole, now and in the future. Many of these responsibilities are interrelated we will look at a few and give some examples of how they can be applied (1992: 5).
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	The first ethical responsibility acknowledges that museums need to take into consideration the maker and or the people that the object originated from. Any time an item is obtained or is going to be displayed the museum has an obligation to consult the ethnic group or maker and respect their wishes on its exhibition. At Glensheen museum, a historic mansion in Duluth, the director, William Miller, acknowledges the importance of keeping up a good relationship with the family that lived there. Legally there is no obligation, but ethically he feels that this is important. Before the house was donated to the University of Minnesota in Duluth, the family took all items of sentimental value. Therefore, anything that remained was intended to be displayed. The museum is also careful about issues that are sensitive to the family and chooses not to disclose some of this information on their tours (Personal Communication April 2001).		The first ethical responsibility acknowledges that museums need to take into consideration the maker and or the people that the object originated from. Any time an item is obtained or is going to be displayed the museum has an obligation to consult the ethnic group or maker and respect their wishes on its exhibition. At Glensheen museum, a historic mansion in Duluth, the director, William Miller, acknowledges the importance of keeping up a good relationship with the family that lived there. Legally there is no obligation, but ethically he feels that this is important. Before the house was donated to the University of Minnesota in Duluth, the family took all items of sentimental value. Therefore, anything that remained was intended to be displayed. The museum is also careful about issues that are sensitive to the family and chooses not to disclose some of this information on their tours (Personal Communication April 2001).
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	Anthropologists are also responsible to the public--all presumed consumers of their professional efforts. To them they owe a commitment to candor and to truth in the dissemination of their research results and in the statement of their opinions as students of humanity.		Anthropologists are also responsible to the public--all presumed consumers of their professional efforts. To them they owe a commitment to candor and to truth in the dissemination of their research results and in the statement of their opinions as students of humanity.

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	a. Anthropologists should not communicate findings secretly to some and withhold them from others.		a. Anthropologists should not communicate findings secretly to some and withhold them from others.
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			<blockquote>
	c. In providing professional opinions, anthropologists are responsible not only for their content but also for integrity in explaining both these opinions and their bases.		c. In providing professional opinions, anthropologists are responsible not only for their content but also for integrity in explaining both these opinions and their bases.
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			<blockquote>
	d. As people who devote their professional lives to understanding people, anthropologists bear a positive responsibility to speak out publicly, both individually and collectively, on what they know and what they believe as a result of their professional expertise gained in the study of human beings. That is, they bear a professional responsibility to contribute to an "adequate definition of reality" upon which public opinion and public policy may be based (AAA 1971, emphasis added).		d. As people who devote their professional lives to understanding people, anthropologists bear a positive responsibility to speak out publicly, both individually and collectively, on what they know and what they believe as a result of their professional expertise gained in the study of human beings. That is, they bear a professional responsibility to contribute to an "adequate definition of reality" upon which public opinion and public policy may be based (AAA 1971, emphasis added).
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	=====Compare this to the full text of the section on Responsibility to the Public in the 1998 Code of Ethics:=====		=====Compare this to the full text of the section on Responsibility to the Public in the 1998 Code of Ethics:=====

	1. Anthropological researchers should make the results of their research appropriately available to sponsors, students, decision makers, and other non anthropologists. In so doing, they must be truthful; they are not only responsible for the factual content of their statements but also must consider carefully the social and political implications of the information they disseminate. They must do everything in their power to insure that such information is well understood, properly contextualized, and responsibly utilized. They should make clear the empirical bases upon which their reports stand, be candid about their qualifications and philosophical or political biases, and recognize and make clear the limits of anthropological expertise. At the same time, they must be alert to possible harm their information may cause people with whom they work or colleagues.		<blockquote>1. Anthropological researchers should make the results of their research appropriately available to sponsors, students, decision makers, and other non anthropologists. In so doing, they must be truthful; they are not only responsible for the factual content of their statements but also must consider carefully the social and political implications of the information they disseminate. They must do everything in their power to insure that such information is well understood, properly contextualized, and responsibly utilized. They should make clear the empirical bases upon which their reports stand, be candid about their qualifications and philosophical or political biases, and recognize and make clear the limits of anthropological expertise. At the same time, they must be alert to possible harm their information may cause people with whom they work or colleagues.

	2. Anthropologists may choose to move beyond disseminating research results to a position of advocacy. This is an individual decision, but not an ethical responsibility (AAA 1998, emphasis added).		2. Anthropologists may choose to move beyond disseminating research results to a position of advocacy. This is an individual decision, but not an ethical responsibility (AAA 1998, emphasis added).
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	Two things changed: emphasis was placed on particular groups within the general public, rather than “the public” as a whole, and; public advocacy became an individual choice, not an ethical obligation. Clearly, the idea of what constitutes ethical behavior in the presentation of anthropological materials is subject to variation over time.		Two things changed: emphasis was placed on particular groups within the general public, rather than “the public” as a whole, and; public advocacy became an individual choice, not an ethical obligation. Clearly, the idea of what constitutes ethical behavior in the presentation of anthropological materials is subject to variation over time.
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	All of this leads us back to the impetus for this year’s senior seminar focus on ethics: Patrick Tierney’s Darkness in El Dorado, and the questions that have been raised about anthropological ethics and the public perception of anthropology as a discipline. While Tierney is an investigative journalist, not an anthropologist, the book has affected the light in which at least some in the general public view anthropology, and there is at least circumstantial evidence indicating that Tierney was a mouthpiece for anthropologists Terence Turner and Leslie Sponsel (Zalewski 2000; Cantor 2000). Unfortunately, using Darkness in El Dorado to generate a discourse on ethics is akin to using the works of Carlos Casteneda7 to talk about shamanism: when the discussion ends, we still do not know what is truth and what is fabrication (Tooby 2000; Cantor 2000). Although the AAA appointed a committee to review the book’s allegations, the book itself is so unethical that it has done less to stimulate ethical discussions than it has to deepen the rift between already existing factions in anthropology. Debate over Tierney’s book has been divided along political lines, with sociobiologists on one side and cultural determinists on the other (Zalewski 2000; Cantor 2000). Had he been an anthropologist, Tierney might have chosen to write the book he went to the Amazon intending to write.8 Mining and disease are killing the Yanomami now, and it is possible that if the public were aware of their circumstances, the government could be forced to take protective action. Instead of writing about the conditions that exist, he chose to write an indictment of what might have been, over thirty years ago. Anthropologists whose work is shaped in part through a discourse on ethics have a foundation for understanding the importance of honest information obtained with integrity. Personal relationships in the field are vital to this cause, because it is difficult to see your informants as only “human subjects” when you know them as neighbors, friends and elders. Only by maintaining honesty and integrity can the credibility of anthropology be established in the eyes of the public.		All of this leads us back to the impetus for this year’s senior seminar focus on ethics: Patrick Tierney’s Darkness in El Dorado, and the questions that have been raised about anthropological ethics and the public perception of anthropology as a discipline. While Tierney is an investigative journalist, not an anthropologist, the book has affected the light in which at least some in the general public view anthropology, and there is at least circumstantial evidence indicating that Tierney was a mouthpiece for anthropologists Terence Turner and Leslie Sponsel (Zalewski 2000; Cantor 2000). Unfortunately, using Darkness in El Dorado to generate a discourse on ethics is akin to using the works of Carlos Casteneda7 to talk about shamanism: when the discussion ends, we still do not know what is truth and what is fabrication (Tooby 2000; Cantor 2000). Although the AAA appointed a committee to review the book’s allegations, the book itself is so unethical that it has done less to stimulate ethical discussions than it has to deepen the rift between already existing factions in anthropology. Debate over Tierney’s book has been divided along political lines, with sociobiologists on one side and cultural determinists on the other (Zalewski 2000; Cantor 2000). Had he been an anthropologist, Tierney might have chosen to write the book he went to the Amazon intending to write.8 Mining and disease are killing the Yanomami now, and it is possible that if the public were aware of their circumstances, the government could be forced to take protective action. Instead of writing about the conditions that exist, he chose to write an indictment of what might have been, over thirty years ago. Anthropologists whose work is shaped in part through a discourse on ethics have a foundation for understanding the importance of honest information obtained with integrity. Personal relationships in the field are vital to this cause, because it is difficult to see your informants as only “human subjects” when you know them as neighbors, friends and elders. Only by maintaining honesty and integrity can the credibility of anthropology be established in the eyes of the public.

			<blockquote>
	#We have chosen to avoid the term “Public Anthropology,” which is becoming a recognized category within the discipline, and was the theme of the 2000 meetings of the AAA. Although it the idea is not fully defined, and there are disagreements on what it means to be a “Public Anthropologist,” the term is generally used in association with what many would consider to be Applied Anthropology. Our project has been concerned with anthropological material as it is presented to an audience wider than that found in academic or applied circles, but not with whether the material was conceived for applied or academic purposes.		#We have chosen to avoid the term “Public Anthropology,” which is becoming a recognized category within the discipline, and was the theme of the 2000 meetings of the AAA. Although it the idea is not fully defined, and there are disagreements on what it means to be a “Public Anthropologist,” the term is generally used in association with what many would consider to be Applied Anthropology. Our project has been concerned with anthropological material as it is presented to an audience wider than that found in academic or applied circles, but not with whether the material was conceived for applied or academic purposes.
	#On a separate issue, Dr. Emad gave a lengthy description of “militant particularism,” and all the personal biases and cultural assumptions that an anthropologist must recognize and understand in herself before she will be able to do good work. Moments later, she commented that “objectivity is not part of my toolbox.” Ethics and the ability of anthropology to provide reliable and accurate accounts of cultural activities are very serious issues. But if anthropologists cannot laugh at themselves from time to time, and recognize the irony inherent in the discipline, these issues become a quagmire of righteousness.		#On a separate issue, Dr. Emad gave a lengthy description of “militant particularism,” and all the personal biases and cultural assumptions that an anthropologist must recognize and understand in herself before she will be able to do good work. Moments later, she commented that “objectivity is not part of my toolbox.” Ethics and the ability of anthropology to provide reliable and accurate accounts of cultural activities are very serious issues. But if anthropologists cannot laugh at themselves from time to time, and recognize the irony inherent in the discipline, these issues become a quagmire of righteousness.
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	#Casteneda was granted a PhD in anthropology for his third book on the teachings of a Yacqui shaman he called Don Juan. Critics have alleged that his books are fiction, while Casteneda, and those on his dissertation committee, maintain otherwise.		#Casteneda was granted a PhD in anthropology for his third book on the teachings of a Yacqui shaman he called Don Juan. Critics have alleged that his books are fiction, while Casteneda, and those on his dissertation committee, maintain otherwise.
	#Leslie Sponsel’s biography contains a reference to a “forthcoming” book by P. Tierney, Last Tribes of El Dorado: The Gold Wars in the Amazon Rain Forest (Cantor 2000). A Library of Congress record was created for a book of the same title, scheduled for publication in 1995 by Viking Press, but never appeared in print for unspecified reasons (Grossman 2000).		#Leslie Sponsel’s biography contains a reference to a “forthcoming” book by P. Tierney, Last Tribes of El Dorado: The Gold Wars in the Amazon Rain Forest (Cantor 2000). A Library of Congress record was created for a book of the same title, scheduled for publication in 1995 by Viking Press, but never appeared in print for unspecified reasons (Grossman 2000).
			</blockquote>

	====External Links====		====External Links====
	[http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbelote/Senior_Seminar/PublicAnth-ethics_in_anthropology.~~htm~~ Ethics in Anthropology -		*[http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbelote/Senior_Seminar/PublicAnth-ethics_in_anthropology.html Ethics in Anthropology: Public Presentation of Anthropological Material]
	Public Presentation of Anthropological Material]

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Caseorganic at 23:49, 3 December 2010

2010-12-03T23:49:08Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:49, 3 December 2010
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	#We have chosen to avoid the term “Public Anthropology,” which is becoming a recognized category within the discipline, and was the theme of the 2000 meetings of the AAA. Although it the idea is not fully defined, and there are disagreements on what it means to be a “Public Anthropologist,” the term is generally used in association with what many would consider to be Applied Anthropology. Our project has been concerned with anthropological material as it is presented to an audience wider than that found in academic or applied circles, but not with whether the material was conceived for applied or academic purposes.		#We have chosen to avoid the term “Public Anthropology,” which is becoming a recognized category within the discipline, and was the theme of the 2000 meetings of the AAA. Although it the idea is not fully defined, and there are disagreements on what it means to be a “Public Anthropologist,” the term is generally used in association with what many would consider to be Applied Anthropology. Our project has been concerned with anthropological material as it is presented to an audience wider than that found in academic or applied circles, but not with whether the material was conceived for applied or academic purposes.

	#On a separate issue, Dr. Emad gave a lengthy description of “militant particularism,” and all the personal biases and cultural assumptions that an anthropologist must recognize and understand in herself before she will be able to do good work. Moments later, she commented that “objectivity is not part of my toolbox.” Ethics and the ability of anthropology to provide reliable and accurate accounts of cultural activities are very serious issues. But if anthropologists cannot laugh at themselves from time to time, and recognize the irony inherent in the discipline, these issues become a quagmire of righteousness.		#On a separate issue, Dr. Emad gave a lengthy description of “militant particularism,” and all the personal biases and cultural assumptions that an anthropologist must recognize and understand in herself before she will be able to do good work. Moments later, she commented that “objectivity is not part of my toolbox.” Ethics and the ability of anthropology to provide reliable and accurate accounts of cultural activities are very serious issues. But if anthropologists cannot laugh at themselves from time to time, and recognize the irony inherent in the discipline, these issues become a quagmire of righteousness.

	#Boas expressed a fear that “in consequence of their acts every nation will look with distrust upon the visiting foreign investigator who wants to do honest work, suspecting sinister designs” (quoted in Pels 1999: 15).		#Boas expressed a fear that “in consequence of their acts every nation will look with distrust upon the visiting foreign investigator who wants to do honest work, suspecting sinister designs” (quoted in Pels 1999: 15).

	#Project Camelot was a social science research project, under the auspices of the CIA, which supported the U.S. Defense Department’s counterinsurgency program in Latin America. It was canceled due to protest (Pels 1999).		#Project Camelot was a social science research project, under the auspices of the CIA, which supported the U.S. Defense Department’s counterinsurgency program in Latin America. It was canceled due to protest (Pels 1999).

	#Bishop Usher used Biblical material to calculate the date that God created Adam as 4040 B.C.		#Bishop Usher used Biblical material to calculate the date that God created Adam as 4040 B.C.

	#Mead, with Rhoda Metraux, wrote a monthly advice column for women in Redbook from 1961 to 1978.		#Mead, with Rhoda Metraux, wrote a monthly advice column for women in Redbook from 1961 to 1978.

	#Casteneda was granted a PhD in anthropology for his third book on the teachings of a Yacqui shaman he called Don Juan. Critics have alleged that his books are fiction, while Casteneda, and those on his dissertation committee, maintain otherwise.		#Casteneda was granted a PhD in anthropology for his third book on the teachings of a Yacqui shaman he called Don Juan. Critics have alleged that his books are fiction, while Casteneda, and those on his dissertation committee, maintain otherwise.

	#Leslie Sponsel’s biography contains a reference to a “forthcoming” book by P. Tierney, Last Tribes of El Dorado: The Gold Wars in the Amazon Rain Forest (Cantor 2000). A Library of Congress record was created for a book of the same title, scheduled for publication in 1995 by Viking Press, but never appeared in print for unspecified reasons (Grossman 2000).		#Leslie Sponsel’s biography contains a reference to a “forthcoming” book by P. Tierney, Last Tribes of El Dorado: The Gold Wars in the Amazon Rain Forest (Cantor 2000). A Library of Congress record was created for a book of the same title, scheduled for publication in 1995 by Viking Press, but never appeared in print for unspecified reasons (Grossman 2000).

Caseorganic at 23:48, 3 December 2010

2010-12-03T23:48:31Z

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	====External Links====		====External Links====
	[http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbelote/Senior_Seminar/PublicAnth-ethics_in_anthropology.htm Ethics in Anthropology:		[http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbelote/Senior_Seminar/PublicAnth-ethics_in_anthropology.htm Ethics in Anthropology -
	Public Presentation of Anthropological Material]		Public Presentation of Anthropological Material]

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Caseorganic: Created page with '===Ethics in Anthropology: Public Presentation of Anthropological Material=== =====Professor L. Belote Senior Seminar, Spring 2001===== ====Authors:==== Anne Erickson Molly Hay…'

2010-12-03T23:47:53Z

Created page with '===Ethics in Anthropology: Public Presentation of Anthropological Material=== =====Professor L. Belote Senior Seminar, Spring 2001===== ====Authors:==== *Anne Erickson *Molly Hay…'

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Ethics in Anthropology: Public Presentation of Anthropological Material - Revision history

Caseorganic at 23:57, 3 December 2010

Caseorganic at 23:49, 3 December 2010

Caseorganic at 23:48, 3 December 2010

Caseorganic: Created page with '===Ethics in Anthropology: Public Presentation of Anthropological Material=== =====Professor L. Belote Senior Seminar, Spring 2001===== ====Authors:==== *Anne Erickson *Molly Hay…'

Caseorganic: Created page with '===Ethics in Anthropology: Public Presentation of Anthropological Material=== =====Professor L. Belote Senior Seminar, Spring 2001===== ====Authors:==== Anne Erickson Molly Hay…'