Nutshell: Basic Requirements:
primary focus: ethical issues raised in the Burr article
length: about 500 words (2 typed pages)
cited quotations needed: minimum of 2 (1 from textbook, 1 from Burr article) in APA format
due: your primary post due Friday night; responses to at least 2 colleagues due Saturday night
Topic:
The central topic for this discussion is ethics and the practice of anthropology. To complete this discussion you must read Chapter 5 of the textbook and the assigned article by Burr:
http://www.anthropologymatters.com/index.php/anth_matters/article/view/133/260 (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)
(Links to an external site.)Please post and share your ideas about issues raised in this article .Your post should be about 2 pages (500 words) long. As a general guideline you should include:
A quick overview of anthropological fieldwork practices and how they have changed.
An overview of the article.
A more detailed explanation of Burr’s field situation and the main challenges she faced.
Describe some of the major actions she took (or did not take), and their consequences.
Regarding ethics and the practice of anthropology, do you agree with the decisions she made then? Do you agree with her concerns now? Why or why not?
Also address current technology and how that might effect fieldwork today.
One of the assigned videos praises the use of “unobtrusive” cell phones and recorders, now in the hands of almost everyone, not just anthropologists or videographers. How do you think this will affect the fieldwork practices of contemporary and future anthropologists? With everyone possibly recording everyone else, and perhaps most of them doing it without anyone’s consent, should anthropologists no longer have to get informed consent, or will this put even more emphasis on ethical practices?
Draw upon your own experience: What ethical challenges have you faced? and are you satisfied with the results? A simple example: Have you ever recorded someone without their permission and posted your recording in a public format (e.g. Facebook)? Even if you meant no harm, and did not name that person, what if some person with an old grudge, someone this person thought had been safely left behind, recognizes the person from your photo? Would you refuse to take down a post if asked to?
Where do you think the ethics lie in these personal situations? How might that relate to professional fieldwork situations?
You must post your own work before you will be able to see the work of your colleagues.
In your answer, be sure to remember to include at least two direct, cited quotations, one from the text book and at least one direct quotation and as many citations as you need from the Burr article itself. Check here for how to do in-text citations (Links to an external site.) in APA format.
Why are you doing this?
This discussion targets the goal of understanding the ethical challenges involved in ethnographic fieldwork.
Anthropologists always face ethical decisions when doing fieldwork. Some of those are small, and some, like the issues discussed by Burr, can be very significant, even life or death issues. Using Burr’s story, her fieldwork situation, and her discussion as a focal point, I want you to develop a deeper understanding ethics as used in anthropology and as a part of our own everyday lives.
This will also give you some practice in using APA format for citations and reference information before you have to do it in your term paper.
DUE:
Your main post will be due Friday. You have until Saturday night to respond to the posts of at least two of your colleagues. The earlier you can post, the better, because then you can share and get deeper into the ideas of this important topic.
RUBRIC:
As before: Write your original post using the above as a general guideline, and post it by Friday night. Then respond to posts of at least two of your colleagues no later than Saturday night, but best if done earlier in the week (the sooner the better). A serious attempt at examining the topic, submitted on time, with citations, and significant engagement with at least two of your colleagues (no later than Saturday night) will earn you 30-40 points. A more basic response or a very short response will get fewer points. A late response will get a zero. Failure to respond to at least two of your colleagues will cost you heavily -10 (1) or -20 (0). Typically, most students get 35 points for their good work.