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Window on Humanity
Conrad Kottak
Third Edition
Chapter 2
Ethics and Methods
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Overview
• Anthropological ethics
• Research methods in anthropology
– Multidisciplinary research in biological and
archaeological anthropology
– Ethnographic techniques
– Survey research
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Ethics and Methods
• Ethics and anthropology
– Proper relations with host nations, regions, and
communities
– AAA Code of Ethics
• Informed consent
• Collaborative relationships
• Inclusion of host country colleagues in planning,
funding requests, and dissemination of results
• “Giving something back”
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What would you do?
Ethical Dilemmas
1.
2.
3.
4.
Pseudonyms or real names?
In the case of Malpractice
To medicate or not to medicate?
Granddaughter or Researcher?
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Multidisciplinary Approaches to
Anthropology and Archaeology
• There are all sorts of specialized research
interests topics and methods within physical
anthropology and archaeology
• Scientists from diverse fields collaborate with
anthropologists in the study of sites where
fossils or artifacts have been found.
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Palynology
• study of ancient plants through pollen
samples
• Determine sites environment at the time of
occupation
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Bioarchaeology
• Study of human skeletons to reconstruct
physical traits, health status, diet
• Look for evidence of social status, diet, genetic
differences
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Remote sensing
(e.g., aerial photos, satellite imagery)
• Used to locate archaeological features as well
as patterns of flooding and deforestation, with
can then be examined on the ground
• Try to find footbaths, roads, canals, irrigation
systems
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Primatology
– Study of primates (apes, monkeys, lemurs) in zoos
and natural settings
– Data on primate social systems and behavior
– Hypotheses about behavior that humans do or do
not share with other primates and hominid
ancestors
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Anthropometry
• Measurement of human body parts and
dimensions
• Body mass and composition indicate
nutritional status in living people
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Bone biology
– Study of bone genetics; cell structure; growth,
development, and decay; patterns of movement
– Paleopathology – study of disease and injury in skeletons
from archaeological sites
– Forensic anthropology – recovery, analysis, and
identification of human remains in legal contexts
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Molecular anthropology
• Genetic analyses to assess evolutionary relationships
• Ancient and contemporary populations, species
• Reconstruction of migration and settlement
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Paleoanthropology
• Study of early hominids through fossil remains
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Research methods in physical
anthropology and archaeology
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Two Basic Field Work Strategies
1. Systematic survey
– Gathers information on settlement patterns*
(distribution of sites) over large areas
– Researchers record the location, size, and
approximate age of sites
– Questions they ask:
• Where are sites located? How bid are they? What
kinds of buildings? How old are the sites?
*Distribution of sites within a region
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Two Basic Field Work Strategies
2.
Excavation
– Scientists recover remains by digging through
layers of deposits
– Sites are only excavated because they are
endangered, or to answer specific research
questions – WHY?
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Kinds of archaeology
• Experimental archaeology – replication of ancient techniques
and processes
– (e.g., tool making)
• Historical archaeology – use of written records (when
available) as guides and supplements to archaeological
research
• Classical archaeology – study of the literate civilizations of the
Old World
– (e.g., Greece, Rome, Egypt)
• Underwater archaeology – investigation of submerged sites
– (e.g., shipwrecks)
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Dating the past
• Relative dating techniques
– Provides a time frame IN RELATION to other strata or
materials
– Not absolute dates in numbers
– Stratigraphy – science that
examines the accumulation
of sediments in layers (strata)
– Principle of superposition
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Dating the past
• Absolute dating techniques
– More precise dating of artifacts and fossils
– Dates in numbers
– Radiometric techniques – based on known rates
of radioactive decay of elements
– Examples:
•
•
•
•
•
Carbon-14 (14C)
Potassium-argon (K/A)
Uranium series (238U)
Thermoluminescence (TL)
Electron spin resonance (ESR)
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Understanding Geological Time
• Answer the
questions as you
navigate through
Understanding
Geological Time.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.ed
u/education/explorations/tour
s/geotime/gtpage1.html
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Research methods in
cultural anthropology
– Cultural anthropology and sociology
• Share interest in social relations, organization, and
behavior
• Sociology traditionally focused on large, industrialized
Western nations
– Questionnaires, collection of masses of quantifiable data
– Reliance on sampling and statistical techniques
• Anthropology traditionally focused on small,
nonliterate populations
– Ethnographic techniques
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Ethnography
• Firsthand, personal study of local cultural
settings
• Extended period of time in a given society or
community
• Holistic approach – attempt to understand the
totality of a particular culture
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Observation and
participant observation
• Awareness and recording of details from daily
events
• Establishment of rapport with hosts
• Participant observation – taking part in the
activities being observed
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Conversation, interviewing, and
interview schedules
• Various types of ethnographic interviews
– Undirected conversation
– Open-ended interviews focusing on specific topics
– Formal interviews using a predetermined schedule
of questions
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The genealogical method
• Procedures used to discover and record
connections of kinship, descent, and marriage
• Genealogy essential to social organization of
nonindustrial societies
• Genealogical data help anthropologists
understand current social relations and
reconstruct history
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Key cultural consultants (key informants)
• Key cultural consultants (key informants) –
people who can provide the most complete or
useful information about particular aspects of
life
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Life histories
• Reveal how specific people perceive, react to,
and contribute to changes that affect their
lives
• Illustrate diversity within a given community
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Local beliefs and perceptions versus
those of the ethnographer
• Emic (native-oriented) approach
– How local people perceive and categorize the
world – what is meaningful to them
– Emic perspective provided by cultural consultants
(informants)
• Etic (science-oriented) approach
– Emphasizes categories, explanations, and
interpretations the anthropologist considers
important
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Problem-oriented ethnography
• Investigate a specific problem (although they
remain interested in the whole context of
human behavior)
• Collection of data on range of variables (e.g.,
population density, environmental quality,
climate, physical geography, diet, land use)
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Longitudinal Research
• Long-term study of a community, region,
society, culture, or other unit, usually based
on repeated visits
• Increasingly common
• Often conducted by research teams
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Team research
• multiple ethnographers conducting
complimentary research in a given
community, culture, or region
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Culture, space, and scale
– Analyze the ongoing and inescapable flows of people,
images, technology, and information that shape social life
– Cultures cannot be located in bounded spaces – so-called
local events are always influenced by wider information
flows and experiences
– Anthropologists increasingly study people in motion,
traveling with them as they move from village to city, cross
borders, or travel internationally
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Survey research
–
–
–
–
–
large-scale societies
Complement more traditional ethnographic techniques
Goal is to draw inferences about larger population
Considerably more impersonal than ethnography
Ethnography can be used to supplement, fine-tune survey
research
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