Importance Of Fieldwork In Anthropology

Vishan Neupane

Professor Ritu Khanduri

ANTH 2322-002

1 December 2017

Ethics, fieldwork and anthropology

Anthropology is a global discipline which involve humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. Cultural anthropology studies the contemporary human cultures and how these cultures are formed and how they shape the world around them. When exploring the community, anthropologists learn about matters that their informants would prefer to keep their identity secret which leads them to protect informant identity. Anthropological researchers always have ethical obligations to the community and materials they study and to the people with whom they work. Social research can impact ethical dilemmas, a simple mistake of the anthropologist may

The concept of Human Terrain was first developed in a paper by Montgomery McFate and Andrea Jackson in 2005. After it was launched, it had been surrounded by controversy. The program initially received positive coverage in the US media as well as around the world. After a while, it became the subject of heavy criticism, particularly from anthropologists. Lots of people worried that the military use of anthropology in one place undermine the trust between local community’s overseas and anthropological researchers, compromising the trust and support all anthropologists strived to create with the

He conducted a research when he was living five years with his family next to a crack house in East Harlem during the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. As an ethnographer he managed to gain the trust and long-term friendship of street-level drug dealers in one of the roughest ghetto neighborhoods in East Harlem. During research he spent hundreds of nights on the street and in crack house. He also documented the many self-destructive behaviors that leads people for addiction. He always keep his informant secret while conducting the research. He got to learn that people who run crack houses work like any other big business house. He always used pseudonyms for informants’ names in order to protect their secrecy. He revealed a subculture that had previously been invisible to mainstream America. He applied ethnographic research method which help him to gather the ideas of information they require to understand the social complexities and inner beliefs of people and community. He was able deal with new culture very nicely and never respect his informants by keeping theit identity secretly.

In conclusion, all anthropologists face ethical dilemmas. They should respect the emotions and feelings of every individual while conducting research. While involving in fieldwork anthropologist should look over enculturation. Anthropologists look over the issues