Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
7
Walking Softly Through the Wilderness
Ethics
Take only pictures, leave only footprints.
—Adapted from the National Speleological Society
Ethnographers do not work in a vacuum, they work with people. They often
pry into people's innermost secrets, sacred rites, achievements, and failures. In
pursuing these personal sciences, ethnographers subscribe to a code of ethics
that preserves the participants' rights, facilitates communication in the field,
and leaves the door open for further research.
This code specifies first and foremost that the ethnographer do no harm to
people or the community under study. In seeking a logical path through the
cultural wilds, the ethnographer is careful not to trample the feelings of natives
or desecrate what the culture calls sacred. This respect for social environment
ensures not only the rights of the people but also the integrity of the data and
a productive, enduring relationship between the people and the researcher.
Professionalism and a delicate step demonstrate the ethnographer's deep
respect, admiration, and appreciation for the people's way of life. Noninvasive
ethnography is not only good ethics but also good science (see the American
Anthropological Association's “Principles of Professional Responsibility,”
1990; see also Rynkiewich & Spradley, 1976; Weaver, 1973).
This chapter will briefly discuss the diversity of ethnographic approaches
to illustrate the complexity of ethical decision making in ethnography. It will
then locate these moments of decision within the life cycle of the ethnographic
research project.
THE ETHNOGRAPHER'S ROLE
The role a researcher assumes to explore a culture or a specific problem within it
determines how a problem is defined. For example, psychologists, anthropologists,
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