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Embedding Ethics

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Embedding Ethics
Authors and Contributors      Edited by Lynn Meskell
Edited by Peter Pels
SeriesWenner-Gren International Symposium Series
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:336
Dimensions(mm): Height 234,Width 156
Category/GenreEthics and moral philosophy
ISBN/Barcode 9781845200473
ClassificationsDewey:174.9309
Audience
General
Professional & Vocational
Tertiary Education (US: College)

Publishing Details

Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint Berg Publishers
Publication Date 1 March 2005
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

Anthropologists who talk about ethics generally mean the code of practice drafted by a professional association for implementation by its members. As this book convincingly shows, such a conception is far too narrow. A more radical approach is to recognize that moral judgments are made at every juncture of scientific practice and they require a negotiation of responsibility with all stakeholders in the research enterprise. Embedding Ethics questions why ethics have been divorced from scientific expertise. Invoking different disciplinary practices from biological, archaeological, cultural, and linguistic anthropology, contributors show how ethics should be resituated at the heart of, rather than exterior to, scientific activity. Positioning the researcher as a negotiator of significant truths rather than an adjudicator of a priori precepts enables contributors to relocate ethics in new sets of social and scientific relationships triggered by recent globalization processes - from new forms of intellectual and cultural ownership to accountability in governance, and the very ways in which people are studied. Case studies from ethnographic research, museum display, archaeological fieldwork and professional monitoring illustrate both best practice and potential pitfalls. This important book is an essential guide for all anthropologists who wish to be active contributors to the discussion on ethics and the ethical practice of their profession.

Author Biography

Dr. Lynn Meskell is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University. Professor Peter Pels is Professor in the Anthropology of Sub-Saharan Africa at the Universiteit Leiden, The Netherlands.