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The Primacy of the Ethical: Propositions for a Militant Anthropology

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Abstract

In bracketing certain ''Western'' Enlightenment truths we hold and defend as self-evident at home in order to engage theoretically a multiplicity of alternative truths encoded in our reified notion of culture, anthropologists may be ''suspending the ethical'' in our dealings with the ''other.'' Cultural relativism, read as moral relativism, is no longer appropriate to the world in which we live, and anthropology, if it is to be worth anything at all, must be ethically grounded. This paper is an attempt to imagine what forms a politically committed and morally engaged anthropology might take.

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... Briody et al. 2010;Cefkin 2010;Garsten i Nyqvist 2013) Međutim, zbog čestih preklapanja poddisciplina primijenjene antropologije teško je utvrditi neku njihovu ustaljenu i čvrstu taksonomiju. Primijenjena antropologija, bez obzira na teme i probleme kojima se bavi, teži uspostavljanju promjene (change-oriented), one koja nadilazi akademsku svrhu, čineći time samu znanost "uključenijom", "javnijom", a možda i "moralnijom" (Scheper-Hughes 1995;Eriksen 2015Eriksen , 2020b. ...
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Uz uvide u potencijale discipline u području primijenjene antropologije, namjera je knjigom ponuditi uvide u pitanja što je primijenjena antropologija i kakva je njezina pozicija u cjelini etnologije i kulturne antropologije te ocrtati spektar njezinih primjena, poslova, metodoloških specifičnosti i etičkih izazova. S posebnom pažnjom promatramo razvoj i analiziramo suvremenu primjenu etnoloških i kulturnoantropoloških znanja u Hrvatskoj. Potonje se, među ostalim, zasniva na našem etnografskom istraživanju iskustava etnologa i kulturnih antropologa u području primijenjene antropologije kojima smo zahvatile njihove karijerne puteve. Pritom smo se fokusirale na pitanja o razvoju njihovih karijera, transferabilnosti znanja stečenih na studiju etnologije i kulturne antropologije, o prednostima, izazovima i preprekama s kojima se susreću u okviru radnih zadataka te učincima njihova rada, a sve to s posebnim naglaskom na sugestije svima onima koji svoju karijeru namjeravaju usmjeriti u područje primijenjene antropologije. Uz etnografske podatke, u knjizi predstavljamo i rezultate anketnih istraživanja provedenih u Hrvatskoj te uvide u razvoj primijenjene antropologije u zemljama Europe i Sjeverne Amerike. Na kraju, sagledavamo studijske programe etnologije i kulturne antropologije s naglaskom na segmente fokusirane na primjenu etnoloških i kulturnoantropoloških znanja i vještina
... Una delle domande che ci ha guidate nella costruzione di questo dossier riguarda dunque il compito etico dell'etnografia (Scheper-Hughes 1995;Ramphele 1996) dinanzi ai processi di sottrazione della storia. Questo processo chiama in causa coloro che, per le loro condizioni di vita morale, economica e sociale, vengono esclusi, o resi invisibili, dagli ordini nazionali o morali (Bjarnesen, Turner 2020). ...
... Ethnography encourages researchers toward activism, seeking to instigate change or impact cooperative life. Like militant anthropology, the cooperative ethos that animates ethnography may manifest as a scholarly commitment to social betterment that surpasses the boundaries of traditional academic research (Scheper-Hughes, 1995). Researchers find a way to achieve restitution through their active engagement and collaboration with the communities, partnering with enterprises or other local institutions to address complex social issues and reach transformative shifts that conventional research alone cannot achieve. ...
... The question of how to relate ethically to the people with whom one conducts research is a theme that has animated discussion and debate across academic disciplines for decades. Over the past two decades in particular, social scientists have increasingly dedicated attention to the intersection of scholarship and activism, exploring the mutual imbrication of research and political engagement (Hale 2008;Scheper-Hughes 1995); the need to prioritize accountability and reciprocity in community-engaged research (Pulido 2019); and the challenges of participating in larger social struggle in an era of "private intellectuals" (Gilmore 1993). In this journal, researchers have drawn on such literature to meaningfully reflect on the methodological considerations implied by the intersection of scholarship and activism in the field of migration (Barone and Alioua 2021;Berg et al. 2023;Greatrick et al. 2022;Humphris and Yarris 2022;Manoussaki-Adamopoulou et al. 2022). ...
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Considering the increased institutionalization of scholar-activist research across many university contexts, this reflection critically engages the assumed harmony between scholarship and activism in migration research. Collaboratively authored by eight academics at various disciplinary, geographic, gendered/racialized, and career-level junctures, the article examines the commitments, aspirations, anxieties, and contradictions of activist scholarship. The reflection elaborates on concepts such as accompaniment, reciprocity, foreclosure, disclosure, and impact, putting a finer point on what responsible, ethical, and political research means in the neoliberal university today. The discussion develops insights from a 2023 workshop, convened by Noor Amr and Katharyne Mitchell, at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Göttingen, Germany.
... Provando a dare un'ulteriore declinazione a quello che potrebbe essere il contributo della ricerca etnografica nei contesti educativi, si può scommettere sull'approccio antropologico come efficace alleato nel processo di osservazione delle istituzioni scolastiche e dei modi in cui esse riproducono gli schemi dominanti. Non solo: inserendosi in quel filone che intende l'antropologia come una disciplina pubblica, in grado cioè, attraverso un approccio 99 engaged (Scheper-Hughes, 1995), di contribuire alla promozione di pratiche volte ad aumentare il benessere di tutti e tutte (Agier, 1997), essa potrebbe mostrarsi particolarmente utile non solo come osservatrice ma anche come partecipante e, si potrebbe aggiungere, protagonista, nel saper innescare il (seppur lento) processo di decostruzione di tali schemi. Un percorso che coinvolga tutti gli attori sociali (insegnanti, personale scolastico, studenti, famiglie, ministeri) e che nel metodo non dimentichi mai di restare dentro una prospettiva intersezionale e multidisciplinare. ...
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Il presente saggio definisce il ruolo della disciplina antropologica nel campo multidisciplinare delle scienze dell'educazione, partendo dai più recenti ordinamenti legislativi italiani; il focus principale è posto sul contributo che le riflessioni antropologiche possono fornire alla pedagogia di genere. Obiettivo principale del contributo è quello di ripercorrere brevemente le radici dell'antropologia di genere, una branca sistematizzata in Italia solo di recente, anche grazie alle rinnovate spinte culturali dei movimenti femministi ed LGBTQIA+. L'antropologia culturale, sin dai suoi albori, ha tentato di individuare le chiavi di lettura che permettessero di interpretare alcuni codici sottesi ai ruoli sociali, che ogni persona riproduce nelle pratiche quotidiane. La letteratura antropologica, negli anni, si è specializzata nell'analisi dei rapporti di genere, comprendendo che l'alterità di genere, o meglio dei generi, ha prodotto nel corso dei secoli dinamiche di squilibrio, da cui sono derivate disparità e ingiustizia sociale. Recuperando il portato del sapere antropologico, è possibile restituire a chi si occupa di educazione una prospettiva più ricca e consapevole, per esempio proprio in relazione ai rapporti tra i generi che si perpetuano da generazioni nelle nostre società. Le considerazioni proposte all'interno del saggio, dunque, intendono mettere in evidenza le opportunità che l'antropologia può generare in ambito di scienze dell'educazione, e della pedagogia di genere nello specifico, aggiungendo un tassello in più ai dispositivi culturali che si possono mettere in atto nella lotta ai sessismi e alle gerarchie alle quali, per fin troppo tempo, le persone sono state abituate.
... Simultaneously, not questioning sub-optimal care practices toward undocumented migrants felt deceitful toward those are the receiving end of such care. My silence made me feel like I agreed and legitimized such practices, a position that has been described by several medical anthropologists as complicity in a context of structural violence that requires us to take a stand and take the side of those who suffer most (Farmer 2005;Scheper-Hughes 1995;Singer et al. 2019;Willen et al. 2011). ...
... Th is is not to say that most anthropologists would make diff erent choices to Professor Scheper-Hughes. By my own lights, intervening to save the life of a whipped thief in a South African township, as she did (Scheper-Hughes 1995), is a courageous and moral action, but I recognise this for what it is -a taking off of the 'pith helmet'. Similar decisions, in the light of the current oppression in Xinjiang, have been made by many regional specialists, who have entered openly into activism. ...
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State securitisation and internment programmes in Xinjiang have, since 2017, rapidly changed living conditions for its inhabitants and created new degrees of risk. Here, I consider whether the consent given by participants for my use of interview transcripts and other research materials is meaningful when it is no longer safe to contact participants, and their consent was given under very different circumstances. I argue that at such critical moments neither formal codes of ethics nor the ‘situated’ ethics of fieldwork offer helpful guidance, but that consideration of the internal good of anthropology, and insights offered by its practice, can provide potential answers. Résumé L'entreprise de sécurisation par l'Etat et les programmes d'internement au Xinjiang au cours des quatre dernières années ont rapidement changé les conditions de vie pour ses habitants en créant des nouveaux degrés de risque. Dans cet article, je me demande si le consentement donné par les participants d'utiliser la retranscription des entretiens conduits avec eux ainsi que d'autres matériaux collectés au moment de ma recherche avait toujours la même valeur alors qu'il était désormais devenu dangereux d'entrer en contact avec ces participants et alors que leur consentement avait été donné dans des conditions bien différentes. Je défends l'idée qu'en de telles circonstances critiques, ni les codes d’éthique formels, ni l’éthique « située » du terrain n'offrent de guide pertinent, mais que seule la considération du bien interne à l'anthropologie et le jugement évaluatif offert par sa pratique peuvent fournir des réponses potentielles.
... This depends on the question whether we adopt a cultural relativism as demanded by Benjamin Teitelbaum (2019), who takes the stance of unconditional support for his field partners regardless of their morals. In other cases, anthropologists as Aihwa Ong (1995) and Nancy Scheper-Hughes (1995), propose a new form of universalism leading to a politically committed and morally engaged anthropology. In particular, Scheper-Hughes (1995: 419) combines witnessing with the obligation to "'take sides' and make judgements". ...
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This essay discusses poses of identities available for anthropologists in relation to increasingly salient issues of contemporary anthropological knowledge-making. Starting with a critical evaluation of the idea of the anthropologist as a witness by George Marcus (2005), we outline cornerstones in current debates on the positionality of the researcher, such as the implications of the end of meta-narratives, the call for epistemological openness, the crisis of representation, the delimitation of fields and the discussion on human rights. In a second step, we highlight how, at first glance, the concept of witnessing seems to provide a solution for these dilemmas. Yet, witnessing entails blind spots and other limits which are often overlooked. These concern relationality, memory, involvement, understanding, and the question of how to intervene in the scenarios we observe. In sum, the essay redefines the conditions of anthropological knowledge production in an age of witnessing.
... Poverty in this area is persistent and is interconnected with economic deprivation, poor health and low literacy rate. These, in turn, are strongly connected to the underlying social networks on which people rely for survival, identity and dignity (Du Toit 2005), which are structured around strong gender, caste and class hierarchies and produce the effects of the structural violence of inequalities (Farmer 2003;Scheper-Hughes 1992;Singer and Baer 2018). These experiences of inequality and suffering are caused and perpetuated 'by historically given (and often economically driven) processes and forces that conspire -whether through routine, ritual, or as is more commonly the case, the hard surfaces of life -to constrain agency' (Farmer 2003: 40). ...
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The public healthcare system in rural India is chronically under-resourced. It embodies and often perpetuates the wider politics of the Indian state towards its rural communities with provisions of care that are deeply entangled with violence and disgust. For rural women, such care deepens reproductive chronicity while providing temporary relief. Grounded in women’s everyday realities and experiences in sterilization camps and other healthcare settings in rural Rajasthan, State Intimacies examines the mundane workings, ambiguities and fragilities of care in post-colonial rural North India.
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Sur la base de quinze mois de travail ethnographique sur le terrain, mené entre 2013 et 2022, sur la façon dont sont vécues la folie et les pratiques de soins de santé mentale dans le sud-ouest rural du Ghana, je propose dans cet article de prendre comme point de départ l’épisode spécifique du refus des parents de Fadhila – une jeune fille que j’avais rencontrée pour la première fois dans l’unité psychiatrique où elle avait été diagnostiquée comme « psychotique » – à consentir à l’enregistrement d’une interview avec moi. Le refus de Fadhila et de sa famille était motivé par les instructions strictes que leur avait donné le guérisseur traditionnel qui s’occupait de Fadhila : entre autres, Fadhila ne devait pas s’approcher d’un appareil électronique et sa famille estimait donc qu’il était risqué d’enregistrer une interview dans sa maison. Le refus avait trait au fait que Fadhila était une « patiente », tout autant qu’il avait trait à un autre refus : celui des médicaments et de la psychiatrie. En fait, le refus était lié aux esprits, les esprits qui prenaient parfois possession de Fadhila et qui, d’après elle, les membres de sa famille et les experts traditionnels qu’ils avaient consultés, cherchaient à faire d’elle une guérisseuse. Le refus, cependant, représentait peut être aussi une manière polie et indirecte de « retirer le consentement », pour reprendre le jargon des formulaires de consentement éclairé et des comités d’évaluation éthique. Bien que Fadhila et sa famille n’aient cessé de m’inviter chez eux, de m’accueillir chaleureusement à chaque occasion et de discuter avec moi de nombreuses choses, y compris de l’« état » de leur fille, cet épisode de refus m’a poussée à reconsidérer les limites du consentement formel et la nécessité de le remettre en question et de le rétablir sans cesse. Paradoxalement, la bureaucratie des processus d’« autorisation éthique » dans le monde universitaire peut parfois contribuer à éliminer cette dynamique complexe. Grâce à l’analyse de cet épisode ethnographique à la lumière du puissant concept de refus ethnographique introduit par Audra Simpson, je propose une réflexion sur les implications éthiques et méthodologiques qui résultent du fait de considérer les personnes comme des « sources » dans les ethnographies de la folie et de la santé mentale.
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Este artículo fue publicado en Global Migration Perspectives nro. 29, año 2015. Su traducción al español y publicación en esta revista fueron autorizados por la autora. Traducción al español: Lucas Prieto, Instituto de Ciencias Antropológicas, FHCE, Udelar: lucas.prieto@fhce.edu.uy y Andrea Quadrelli andreamquadrelli@gmail.com. Revisión: Pilar Uriarte
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