Case Study Discussion:What would you do if you were the anthropologist in this situation?
Unit 1 Lesson 2 Case Study Discussion: You have learned about the concepts of participant observation and cultural relativism, which basically sets the rules for cultural anthropologists working in other cultures. As you can see from the case study and the example of Yir Yoront, doing participant observation can be very complicated, ethically, and the stakes can be very high. Anthropologists in the field tread a thin line. Sometimes small, seemingly harmless, decisions can have major effects and it is not always clear what the right choice is to make in order to avoid harming people or causing unsolicited change. This case study example is a commonly used one dealing with ethics in anthropology, and the full story, with a little less drama, can be found out on the web. Typically ,the question is what you would have done in this situation if you were the cultural anthropologist. The discussion follows about which was ethically correct: to help the woman or to not help the woman. After you wrote what you think the right thing to do is then you see some responses that other anthropologists made. Answer this question and discuss it by creating your own post and also responding to at least one other student’s post or reply. Be careful and consider all the information this person had and try really hard to think like an impartial observer. Don’t let your own culture cloud your vision. There are several aspects of this story that are more subtle and you have to consider not just the big picture of what will happen in the village and to your study if you help her or not, but you also have to consider all the angles of the situation to determine if you should help her or not on moral grounds. Taking her means you could be saving her from an abusive husband; on the other hand, you could be breaking up a normal family in the village. The first question before you make up your mind how to answer might be why do you think this woman chose to come to the anthropologist who she barely knew for help in the first place when there was a bus that she could so easily have escaped on? You might also want to consider what it says that the woman left with only one of her children? Be suspicious of all the players’ motives and then answer the question: What would you do if you were the anthropologist in this situation?
