Professional
Associations: Codes of Ethics and Conduct
Professional
Associations: Related Codes & Information
Case
Studies ~~Ethical
Issues and Controversies ~~ Other
Anthropology Ethics Materials
Codes of Ethics and Conduct:
American Academy of Forensic
Sciences (AAFS): Bylaws
http://www.aafs.org/aabylaws1.htm#Article%20II
Professionals from the field
of physical anthropology are just part of the diverse group that makes
up the membership of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS).
The AAFS Bylaws page not only outlines the rules and regulations of the
group, but it also includes a section about codes of ethics and conduct.
American Anthropological Association (AAA)
American Cultural Resources
Association Code of Ethics (ACRA)
http://archaeology.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.acra-crm.org%2FEthics.html
ACRA was formed in 1995 and
was designed to serve the needs of the cultural resources industry. This
organization's code of ethics was drafted so the public could see the principles
that its members strive to uphold.
American Society of Primatologists
(ASP): The Long-Term Care of Chimpanzees
http://www.asp.org/society/resolutions/chimp_resolution.html
ASP is an educational and
scientific organization that focuses on the study of non-human primates.
This organization's ethics page outlines the ASP standards for the ethical
treatment of non-human primates in research.
Archaeological Institute
of America (AIA)
http://www.archaeological.org/webinfo.php?page=10000
AIA is the oldest and largest
archaeological organization in North America. It is dedicated to supporting
archaeological research and protecting the world's cultural heritage.
European Association of
Archaeologists (EAA): Codes
http://www.e-a-a.org/eaacodes.htm
EAA is a membership-based
association of archaeologists and others interested in this area of study.
Over 1100 members from more than 41 countries who are involved in prehistory,
classical, medieval and later archaeology belong to EAA. This site provides
links to the EAA Code of Practice and Code of Conduct. Italian and Spanish
versions of these codes are also available.
http://www.e-a-a.org/EAA_princ_of_conduct.pdf
National Association for
the Practice of Anthropology (NAPA)-Ethical Guidelines for Practitioners
http://www.aaanet.org/napa/code.htm
The development of the NAPA
Ethical Guidelines for Practitioners was a collaborative process between
NAPA and the Southern California Applied Anthropology Network (SCAAN).
This document was developed as a "guide to the professional and ethical
responsibilities that practicing anthropologists should uphold."
Register of Professional
Archaeologists (RPA): Codes of Conduct
http://www.rpanet.org/conduct.htm
This association consists
of members who have agreed to abide by certain rules and standards of professional
conduct. RPA even has a grievance procedure, which allows for the investigation
of complaints against member professional conduct.
Society for American Archaeology
(SAA): Principles of Archaeological Ethics
http://www.saa.org/AboutSAA/ethics/prethic.html
SAA is an international organization
that is dedicated to the "research, interpretation and protection of the
archaeological heritage of the Americas." This group recognizes that archaeologists
face many dilemmas while in the field and have set up these ethical guidelines
to assist members in dealing with those challenges.
Society for Applied Anthropology
(SfAA)
http://www.sfaa.net/sfaaethic.html
The "Ethical & Professional
Responsibilities" section of the SfAA site is intended to be a guide to
professional behavior for its members.
The Society for Historical
Archaeology (SHA)
http://www.sha.org/sha_back.htm
No separate ethics page is
available on the SHA page, but the organization's ethical positions are
outlined in the bylaws section of this site.
Statement of Ethics for
the American Folklore Society (AFS)
http://www.afsnet.org/ethics.cfm
The AFS Board of Directors
has approved this ethics statement, but the group still considers it to
be a document that will change and evolve over time. This statement is
to be used to help clarify the responsibilities of professional folklorists.
World Archaeological Congress
(WAC)
http://www.wac.uct.ac.za/archive/content/ethics.html
WAC is an international forum
for people interested in the research of the past. The code of ethics for
this organization has two different sections: 1) principles to abide
by; and 2) rules to adhere to.
American Sociological Association
(ASA)
http://www.asanet.org/members/ecoderev.html
The ASA code outlines the
professional responsibilities and conduct of sociologist. ASA has a "Policies
and Procedures" page at http://www.asanet.org/members/enforce.html
that describes its Committee on Professional Ethics (COPE).
American Statistical Association
(ASA)
http://www.tcnj.edu/~asaethic
This site, provided by the
American Statistical Association Committee on Professional Ethics, is intended
to facilitate and encourage dialog about statistical ethics.
The Belmont Report: Ethical
Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research
http://ohsr.od.nih.gov/mpa/belmont.php3
The Belmont Report is a summary
of the ethics principles outlined at the National Commission for the Protection
of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. Specific recommendations
are not given in this particular Commission report.
Canadian Archaeological
Association (CAA)
http://www.canadianarchaeology.com/home.lasso
Members of the Canadian Archaeological
Association include professionals, students and members of the general
public who have an interest in the archaeological heritage of Canada. The
"Principles of Ethical Conduct" page, as well as other sections of the
site, is accessible in English or French.
Middle East Studies Association
(MESA)
http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/ethics.htm
MESA's ethics committee has
outlined a statement that addresses issues that arise in the areas of teaching,
research and publishing in the Middle East. A policy on plagiarism is also
included in the statement.
Professions of Duplexity:
A Prehistory of Ethical Codes in Anthropology
http://www.pscw.uva.nl/gm/articles/pp1999.htm
Peter Pels, University of
Amsterdam, discusses the renewed interest in the U. S. and countries around
the world in developing codes of ethics for the field of anthropology.
Pels discusses why this shift has occurred and how it relates to the scientific
truth.
Sociological Research
Online
http://www.socresonline.org.uk/info/ethguide.html
The process to develop this
statement of ethical practice by the British Sociological Association was
helped in part by the codes produced by the American Sociological Association,
the Association of Social Anthropologist of the Commonwealth and the Social
Research Association.
Case Studies
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/9893/cslinks.html
Karen Supak designed this
site to be used as a scholarly resource for those interested in biological
anthropology or related fields. Her "Case Studies" section has 5 different
anthropology-related case studies to investigate.
Cases on Research Ethics
http://rcr.ucsd.edu/tools/cases.htm
The case studies posted at
this site are intended to facilitate discussions about scientific integrity.
They are general scenarios and are not anthropology specific.
The Gladiator Sparrow:
Ethical Issues in Behavioral Research on Captive Populations of Wild Animals
http://onlineethics.org/reseth/appe/vol4/gladiator.html
A graduate student in psychobiology
is studying the development of aggressive behaviors in non-human animals.
She decides to test environmental influences on the development of these
aggressive behaviors in gladiator sparrows, and she encounters a few problems
during the research process. Discussion questions and commentaries follow
the scenario.
Commentaries on this case
can be found at:
Handbook on Ethical Issues in Anthropology
Society for American Archaeology
Bulletin 16(4) From the Ethics Committee
http://www.saa.org/publications/saabulletin/16-4/SAA13.html
This site presents two of
the four invented ethical issue scenarios presented at the Society for
American Archaeology (SAA) forum in Seattle.
Professional Association Statements on Issues:
American Anthropological
Association (AAA): Statements
http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/ethstmnt.htm
The Council of the AAA has
adopted a general statement on the responsibilities anthropologists must
adhere to in order to ethically perform in this profession. A list of 15
specific statements approved by the Executive Board of the Association
on issues such as race, evolution and the Cuban Trade Embargo can be found
at http://www.aaanet.org/stmts/index.htm.
American Association of
Physical Anthropologists (AAPA)
http://www.physanth.org/
The Clovis Debate:
"Clovis and Beyond" Conference
http://clovisandbeyond.org/conference.html
The "Clovis and Beyond" Conference
held in Santa Fe, NM in 1999 was considered to be one of the "most important
conferences in New World history in more than 50 years." For more information
about this conference, go to the January 2000 issue of Mammoth Trumpet
at
http://www.peak.org/csfa/mt15-1.html.
The Clovis First/Pre-Clovis
Problem
http://www.ele.net/art_folsom/preclvis.htm
This site discusses the Clovis
controversy and is divided into two sections. The first provides background
information on this topic, and the second discusses the author's proposed
theory and its implications.
Find May Rewrite Americas'
Prehistory
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/americas/feb/17/artifact.htm
"Find May Rewrite Americas'
Prehistory" is a Washington Post article that discusses the discovery
of artifacts in South America, thousands of miles away from the Clovis
site.
Monte Verde: About.com
http://archaeology.about.com/library/excav/blmonteverde.htm
Links to information about
the Monte Verde controversy and other resources dealing with Clovis can
be found at this About.com site.
Monte Verde and the Antiquity
of Humankind in the Americas
http://intarch.ac.uk/antiquity/adovasio.html
J. M. Adovasio and D. R.
Pedler address issues surrounding the Monte Verde debate in this brief
article.
Monte Verde Excavation:
Or Clovis Police Beat a Retreat
http://www.unl.edu/rhames/monte_verde/MonteVerde.htm
"Monte Verde Excavation"
discusses the verification process of this pre-Clovis site.
Monte Verde Fallout
http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/clovis/rose2.html
Two questions arise when
debating the Monte Verde saga.
Monte Verde Under Fire
http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/clovis/
This article takes a look
at the questions surrounding the Monte Verde site in southern Chile.
On Monte Verde: Fiedel's
Confusions and Misrepresentations
http://www.uky.edu/Projects/MonteVerde/
Stuart Fiedel of John Milner
Associates, a private archaeological contract firm in Alexandria, VA, published
a non-refereed "special report" entitled "Artifact Provenience at Monte
Verde: Confusion and Contradiction" in the October 1999 issue of Scientific
American Discovering Archaeology (no longer available online). This
site, "On Monte Verde: Fiedel's Confusions and Misrepresentations", was
developed as a way to address and respond to Fiedel's allegations and "factual
& interpretive mistakes."
I, Rigoberta Menchú:
Academia's Lust for Lies
and Disregard for Truth
http://216.247.220.66/archives/academia/leo1-20-99.htm
A number of professors do
not care that several sections of the book, I, Rigoberta Menchú,
are untrue and continue to teach it in their classes. John Leo discusses
this and other issues surrounding this controversial publication in this
article from the January 19, 1999 issue of the Seattle Times. Leo
also examines research by David Stoll, a Middlebury College anthropologist
who interviewed 120 people in Menchú's Guatemalan hometown, and
who published his findings in the book entitled Rigoberta Menchú
and the Story of All Guatemalans.
I, Rigoberta Menchú
http://www.wmich.edu/dialogues/texts/irigobertamenchu.html
Lynnette Grate, Post Colonial
Literature at Western Michigan University, created this page that outlines
the Menchú story. Background information, dialogues, notes, historical
background of Guatemala and additional research links are provided.
I, Rigoberta Menchú?
http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/hop/1.3liano.pdf
David Stoll, an anthropologist
and author of Rigoberta Menchú and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans,
argues that Rigoberta Menchú deliberately "distorted" facts in her
1983 memoir I, Rigoberta Menchú. Dante Liano examines Stoll's
allegations and discusses the details surrounding this scandal in this
article from the 1999 issue of Hopscotch.
I, Rigoberta Menchú
Debate
http://chronicle.com/colloquy/99/menchu/re.htm
The
Chronicle of Higher Education set up an online discussion
forum to address the issue of whether or not Rigoberta Menchú's
autobiography should continue to be taught in college courses.
Salon Right On! I, Rigoberta
Menchú, Liar
http://www.salon.com/col/horo/1999/01/11horo.html
David Horowitz published
this article in Salon about the Rigoberta Menchú controversy.
More information about the Rigoberta Menchú controversy can be found at:
http://www.rlc.dcccd.edu/annex/COMM/english/mah8420/menchu4.htm
College professors continue
to teach the book, I, Rigoberta Menchú, even though allegations
have surfaced indicating that the book is full of untruths. This article,
reproduced from the January 15, 1999 issue of The Chronicle of Higher
Education, examines the allegations by David Stoll, an anthropology
professor at Middlebury College, against the memoir by Nobel Prize winner,
Rigoberta Menchú.
Untruth in Academe
http://www.theamericanenterprise.org/classic.htm
Kenneth Lee, a Harvard law
student, discusses the Rigoberta Menchú controversy and examines
what seems to be a growing trend of academic misconduct in this May/June
1999 issue of The American Enterprise Online.
A Battle Over Bones
http://www.archaeology.org/9701/etc/specialreport.html
Andrew Slayman discusses
the discovery of the Kennewick Man and the observations made from examinations
of the skeleton in this January/February 1997 article from Archaeology.
The controversy surrounding the Kennewick Man and Native American claims
to the remains are also addressed. Links to related stories on this issue
are also provided.
Additional articles and updates by Slayman and others published in Archaeology can be found at http://www.archaeology.org/online/news/kennewick.html.
Kennewick Man
http://www.cr.nps.gov/aad/kennewick
In July, 1996, Kennewick
Man was found in the Kennewick, WA area, and the Army Corps of Engineers
(COE) became the agency responsible for determining what would be done
with the remains. Even though the COE followed the guidelines of the Native
American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), this agency's
actions were challenged in Federal court. The U. S. Department of the Interior
(DOI) and the National Park Service agreed to help the COE. This site provides
numerous links from reports and letters that outline the work being done
by the DOI on this issue.
The Kennewick Man Case
http://www.nas.org/publications/sci_newslist/7_1/d_kennewick_artic.htm
Glynn Custred from California
State University-Hayward believes that the Kennewick Man does not physically
resemble any living Indian populations and indicates that the remains should
not have been returned to tribal leaders. Custred states in this November
2002 issue of Science Insights that Indian activists have prevented
further investigations into theories that the first Americans arrived by
boat 40,000 years ago rather than through Siberia. This article discusses
this issue and examines the political considerations affecting research
on the Kennewick Man.
Kennewick Man--News and
Information: Or How I Learned to Hate 60 Minutes
http://archaeology.about.com/blkennewick.htm
On October 31, 1998, the
CBS program 60 Minutes aired a 12 minute piece on the Kennewick
Man. Those who saw the program were not happy with the errors and misconceptions
propagated about the Kennewick Man burial. K. Kris Hirst, a project archaeologist
at Louis Berger Associates, Inc., compiled the resources found at this
site to provide a better understanding about the Kennewick Man and about
the controversy that surrounds this issue. Hirst provides a list of columns,
bibliographies, Web resources and other materials pertaining to the Kennewick
Man.
Kennewick Man News Update
http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/kmanupdate.html
This site provides information
on the government's findings regarding Kennewick Man. Recent discoveries,
data and additional resources on this topic are also presented.
Kennewick Man, Northern
Clans, Northern Traces
http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/kennewick_man.html
When Kennewick Man was discovered
in 1996, Dr. James Chatters, the owner of Applied Paleoscience, was called
in to conduct skeletal forensics and recover much of the skeleton. In this
article, Dr. Chatters addresses his observations at the Kennewick site.
News from the Confederated
Umatilla Journal, Issues, News Releases
http://www.umatilla.nsn.us/activity.html
Links to press statements,
position papers, and articles about the Kennewick Man are available at
this site. Information about tribal gaming and salmon restoration are also
provided.
Oregon Live: Kennewick
Man
http://www.oregonlive.com/special/kman
Oregon Live is a site affiliated
with the newspapers The Oregonian and The Hillsboro Argus.
One section of this site is devoted to articles on the Kennewick Man.
Tri-City Herald's
Kennewick Man Virtual Interpretive Center
http://www.kennewick-man.com
This site is an online archive
of the articles the Tri-City Herald has written about the Kennewick
Man since its discovery in 1996. Photos of the Kennewick Man site are also
provided.
One of the most comprehensive collections of news stories about the Kennewick Man issue can be found at the Tri-City Herald's site at http://www.kennewick-man.com/news/index.html.
**For related information
on Kennewick Man, see the Repatriation
and NAGPRA section.**
Mead-Freeman:
Margaret Mead, Derek Freeman,
and the Issue of Evolution
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m2843/n6_v22/21275523/print.jhtml
Did Margaret Mead favor an
evolutionary approach, or was Derek Freeman correct in his argument that
she was antievolutionary? Paul Shankman, an associate professor of anthropology
at the University of Colorado at Boulder, compares and contrasts the positions
and arguments by both Mead and Freeman in this article from the November-December
1998 issue of The Skeptical Inquirer.
The Mead-Freeman Controversy
in Review
http://courses.brown.edu/William_Beeman-AN0196_F01/sassigadd2.pdf
James E. Côté,
a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Western
Ontario, examines the controversy that began in the 1980s with the publication
of Derek Freeman's book Margaret Mead and Samoa: The Making and Unmaking
of an Anthropological Myth. In this 1983 book, Freeman argued that
Mead's conclusions about Samoan adolescence and Samoan culture were wrong.
This article was the lead entry in the October 2000 issue of the Journal
of Youth and Adolescence.
Other articles addressing the Mead-Freeman saga have also been published in the October 2000 issue of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence and include the following:
Leading Chinese Educator
Accused of Plagiarism (free registration to the Nando Times is
required to access)
http://www.nando.net/entertainment/story/221500p-2139687c.html
The Nando Times published
this article in January 17, 2002 about Wang Mingming, a professor at Peking
University who was accused of plagiarizing a 1987 edition of Cultural
Anthropology.
Other articles on the Dr. Wang plagiarism controversy include the following:
To Catch a Thief
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/worldwide/story/0,9959,639421,00.html
David Cohen discusses various
plagiarism scandals, including the one involving Dr. Wang, in this January
25, 2002 article from the Guardian Unlimited. Additional links to
sites addressing the issue of plagiarism are provided at the end of this
article.
NAGPRA: Native American
Grave Protection and Repatriation Act 1990
http://archnet.asu.edu/archnet/topical/crm/usdocs/nagpra14.htm
This site has outlined the
Act by dividing it into 13 separate sections. Information on topics like
illegal trafficking, inventory for human remains, penalties and changes
in existing laws are included.
NAGPRA is Forever: Osteology
and the Repatriation of Skeletons
http://anthro.annualreviews.org/cgi/content/full/25/1/81
This article examines the
1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and
explores the possibility of forming a partnership between Native Americans
and osteologists.
NAGPRA Legal Mandates Native
American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq
http://www.cast.uark.edu/other/nps/nagpra/nagpra.dat/lgm003.html
The full text of the Native
American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) can be found at
this site.
Native Americans and the
Practice of Archaeology
http://anthro.annualreviews.org/cgi/content/full/25/1/63
In the past, Native Americans
have criticized the way archaeology has been conducted, and the NAGPRA
of 1990 was drafted in response to that criticism. This article addresses
the way both archaeologists and Native Americans have responded, changed
and sometimes worked together as a result of this Act.
Repatriation and Reburial
Information
http://www.uiowa.edu/~anthro/reburial/repat.htm#Case%20Studies
Sources addressing issues
related to the ethical treatment of the dead by archaeologists, physical
anthropologist and museums can be found at this site. Case studies, ethics
codes, state laws and more are also available.
Repatriation and Treatment
of the Dead: World Archaeological Congress (WAC)
http://www.wac.uct.ac.za/archive/archive.asp?category=3
Links to codes of ethics
as they relate to indigenous peoples, the Vermillion Accord on Human Rights,
papers presented at WAC congresses & intecongresses plus other materials
can be found at this World Archaeological Congress site.
Repatriation Issues
http://www.saa.org/Repatriation/index.html
The Society for American
Archaeology (SAA) has pulled together a collection of recent announcements
pertaining to the issue of repatriation. A link to the SAA Statement Concerning
the Treatment of Human Remains is available at this site and can also be
found at http://www.saa.org/Repatriation/repat_policy.html.
**For related information
on Repatriation and NAGRPA, see the Kennewick
Man section.**
Yanomami Controversy:
Academic Scandal in the
Internet Age
http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i18/18a01401.htm
In the summer of 2000, Terence
Turner and Leslie E. Sponsel, former leaders of the American Anthropological
Association's (AAA) human-rights and ethics committees received proofs
of Patrick Tierney's book, Darkness in El Dorado. Confident that
this book would be highly controversial in the academic arena, the two
sent out an e-mail "warning" to the AAA's top officers. Their e-mail notice
sparked an online debate that was completely unexpected, and this January
12, 2001 article from The Chronicle of Higher Education describes
how the Internet proved to be an ideal forum for this anthropological debate.
American Anthropologists
Criticized for Keeping Yanomami Blood Samples (must be subscribed to
The
Chronicle of Higher Education to access)
http://chronicle.com/daily/2002/11/2002112502n.htm
Blood samples taken from
the Yanomami people in 1968 are still being held in American labs, and
many Yanomami want the samples returned to their communities. The fate
of these samples and what this may mean for field ethics is discussed in
this November 25, 2002 article from The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Darkness in El Dorado
http://www.tamu.edu/anthropology/Neel.html
This Texas A & M site
has numerous links to articles and reports about the Yanomami controversy.
It is often cited on other Web pages that discuss this issue.
Doug's Anthropological
Niche Darkness in El Dorado Information
http://www.anth.uconn.edu/gradstudents/dhume/darkness_in_el_dorado/index.htm
Doug Hume, a University of
Connecticut graduate student in anthropology, developed this site. Information
about the Yanomami issue is posted as it becomes available.
Fierce People
http://www.crab.rutgers.edu/~christen/Aboutanthro/weekly/aa100200c.htm
"Fierce People" is a three
part series discussing issues surrounding the Yanomami Indian tribe, Napoleon
Chagon's case study, Yanomamo: The Fierce People, and the Patrick
Tierney book Darkness in El Dorado: How Scientists and Journalists Devastated
the Amazon. Related resources and other sites on the Web are also provided.
Napoleon Chagnon Responds
to Darkness in El Dorado by Patrick Tierney
http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/chagnon.html
Napoleon Chagnon, an emeritus
professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California
Santa Barbara, and his colleagues have developed this site as a vehicle
to respond to the allegations of misconduct that appear in Patrick Tierney's
book, Darkness in El Dorado.
Scandal in the Amazon
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0204/q_n_a.html
Scott Wallace, a writer and
TV producer, traveled into the Venezuela rainforests to explore the Yanomami
controversy for his April 2002 article for Adventure entitled, "Napoleon
in Exile." This Q & A interview with Wallace addresses some of the
things found when he traveled to this area and met the people who are embroiled
in this anthropological controversy.
Summary of the AAA's El
Dorado Task Force Report
http://www.publicanthropology.org/ElDoradoTaskForce/Summary(Report&Comments).htm
The organization, Public
Anthropology, began an Ethics Initiative in response to the Yanomami controversy
with the hope that the AAA Code of Ethics would be revised.
Yanomamö - Book States
Anthropologist Caused Epidemic
http://www.wadsworth.com/anthropology_d/resources/exchange/news/cultanthro/epidemic.html
Links to 15 different news
articles that track the Yanomamö controversy are available at this
site. Articles starting with the first pre-publication leaks of the book
Darkness
in El Dorado by Patrick Tierney through special sessions held at the
American Anthropological Association meeting are included.
Other Ethical Issues in
Anthropology:
The AAA and the CIA
http://www.cia-on-campus.org/social/price.html
The article "The AAA and
CIA" appeared in the November 2000 issue of Anthropology News. It
discusses the increasing evidence that American intelligence agencies,
like the CIA, monitored and influenced American social sciences throughout
the Cold War.
Anthropologists Apologize
to Lumads
http://www.mindanews.com/others/arts-culture/anthro.html
Datu Al Saliling of the Arumanen-Manobo
in North Cotabato made a comment regarding the attitudes of researchers
and how some of them look down on the Lumads as "uneducated." In response
to those comments, Professor Leonardo Estracio, President of UGAT, the
Anthropology Association of the Philippines, made a formal admission of
guilt and a public apology to the Lumads at the UGAT 24th National Conference
in April 2002.
Anthropologists as Spies
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20001120&s=price
"Anthropologists as Spies"
discusses the allegations stated in a letter written by Frank Boas and
published in The Nation in 1919. Boas' letter accuses 4 unnamed
American anthropologists of conducting espionage in Central American during
World War I.
Anthropology in the News
http://www.tamu.edu/anthropology/news.html
This very popular site has
links to anthropology articles that appear in the news. General anthropological
news items, as well as articles addressing controversial topics are provided.
Apes Nest Controversy
http://home.worldcom.ch/~negenter/00AA2ApesNestContro_01.html
"Apes Nest Controversy" is
a reply to the rather "sensational" report, "Did the First Hominids Build
Nests?" by Jordi Sabater Pi et al that appeared in a 1997 issue of Current
Anthropology.
Archaeologist Faked Important
Discovery
http://www.academicpress.com/inscight/11072000/graphb.htm
Shinichi Fujimura, deputy
director of the private Tohoku Paleolithic Cultural Research Institute,
admitted to planting primitive stone tools at a dig so he could get credit
for discovering the oldest tools in Japan. This article posted on November
7, 2000 to the Academic Press Daily inScight details how this case
of misconduct was uncovered and what it means to others involved in the
dig.
Archaeologists and the
Looting Trade
http://www.linguafranca.com/9805/dorfman.html
Issues surrounding a Maya
collection at the museum of Fine Arts in Boston are discussed in this article
that appeared in the May 1998 issue of Lingua Franca. The Boston
Globe deemed it to be a "questionable collection."
**The online version of Lingua
Franca has been suspended. This publication has been purchased by The
Chronicle of Higher Education.**
Archaeology Magazine
http://www.archaeology.org/
This online publication is
a great resource to search for articles dealing with ethics in the field
of archaeology.
Cannibalism Controversy
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/history_culture/cannibalism.html
Some members of the Hopi
Indians in Arizona are convinced that their ancestors, the Anasazi, were
not cannibals as some researchers believe. This article presents a new
theory offered by some Hopi Indians.
Conflicting Concerns and
Ideas About Northern Research
http://www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/~agraham/research1.htm
Amanda Graham and her colleague,
Professor Jim McDonald, volunteered to revise the Association of Canadian
University for Northern Studies' Ethical Principles for the Conduct of
Research in the North. This page lists the ethical concerns and issues
that surfaced during this revision process.
Crisis at the Smithsonian
http://www.archaeology.org/magazine.php?page=online/features/smithsonian/index
Jasmin Chua, a graduate student
in NYU's science and environmental reporting program, discusses some of
the controversies surrounding the Smithsonian's Secretary, Lawrence Small,
in this article from the September 19, 2002 issue of Archaeology.
Small has been accused of transgressions ranging from selling the Smithsonian
name to the highest bidder to closing certain research facilities. Other
investigations about some of Small's personal collections have also been
under investigation. A timeline of events and character sketches of some
of the key players involved in this issue are also included.
Crossing the Line (must
be subscribed to The Chronicle of Higher Education to access)
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i09/09a00801.htm
Is it acceptable for an anthropologist
studying heroin use to use Federal grant funds to purchase and use the
illegal drug in order to understand his subjects? This article that appeared
in the October 25, 2002 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education
examines what happened when Ansley Hamid, a professor at John Jay College
of Criminal Justice (NY) was accused of misusing funds and drugs.
Debates in Anthropology
http://www.ssc.uwo.ca/anthropology/jorgensen/debates_01s.htm
Links to a wide variety of
issues being discussed in the field of anthropology, like the Kennewick
Man and the Darkness in El Dorado, can be found at this site.
Ethics in Archaeology:
An American Perspective
http://almashriq.hiof.no/ddc/projects/archaeology/berytus-back/berytus39/ethics/index.html
This article by Martha Sharp
Joukowsky and published in a 1991 issue of Berytus, examines the
challenges facing American archaeologists.
Ethics in Archaeology,
Can You Dig It?
http://www.antiquitynews.com/news/archives/000191.html
Ethical concerns are gaining
importance in the field of archaeology. This article from the March 28,
2002 issue of Egypt Antiquity News discusses ethical concerns such
as how to treat remains, who owns the artifacts and how the site should
be preserved.
Going Head-to-Head Over
Boas's Data
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/298/5595/942b
Frank Boas, the father of
American anthropology, studied cranial measurements of European immigrants
and their offspring in the early 1900s to determine trends in cranial shapes.
Researchers, like Clarence C. Gravalee from the University of Michigan
(Ann Arbor) believe Boas got it right, while others, like Corey Sparks,
Penn State University (University Park) disagree. This article from the
November 1, 2002 issue of Science Magazine discusses the ongoing
debate about the roles of genetics, environment and race.
Human Genome Diversity
Project
http://www.stanford.edu/group/morrinst/hgdp.html
This international project
consists of anthropologists, geneticists, doctors, linguists and others.
It is still in the planning stages, but the goal is to document the "genetic
variation of the human species." A FAQ section is provided at http://www.stanford.edu/group/morrinst/hgdp/faq.html.
Israel: Icon Under Fire
(must be subscribed to The Chronicle of Higher Education to access)
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i15/15a01601.htm
Nachman Ben-Yehuda, a sociologist
and dean of the faculty of social sciences at Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
has written a controversial new book entitled Sacrificing Truth: Archaeology
and the Myth of Masada. In the 1960s, Israel's most celebrated archaeologist,
the late Yigael Yadin, conducted the "most massive" archaeological excavation
ever attempted in Israel. Ben-Yehuda's book accuses Yadin of misconduct
in researching Masada, but not everyone agrees. This December 6, 2002 article
from The Chronicle of Higher Education provides some historical
background on Masada and discusses the controversy behind the research
on the second most visited site in Israel.
Additional information about Masada can be found at the following sites:
Paluxy Dinosaur-Man Track
Controversy
http://members.aol.com/paluxy2/paluxy.htm
Claims were made of "giant
man tracks" occurring along side of dinosaur tracks in limestone river
beds near Glen Rose, Texas. This site has a collection of articles about
the history and controversy surrounding this claim, as well as evidence
about other out-of-order fossil and artifact findings.
Saga of the Persian Princess
http://www.archaeology.org/0101/etc/persia.html
At one point in time, Iran,
Iraq, and Afghanistan's Taliban regime were all trying to claim a 2600
year old mummified Persian Princess. The problem discussed in this article
from the January/February 2001 issue of Archaeology is that this
princess has been shown to be a fraud.
Shaming of the Anthropologist:
Ethical Dilemmas During and in the Aftermath of the Fieldwork Process
http://www.anthropologymatters.com/onlinejournal/RachelBurr.html
Rachel Burr, an instructor
at the Open University who has a PhD in the anthropology of childhood,
presents her Vietnam research experiences in this Anthropology Matters
article. The children Burr studied were ones who were at risk of contracting
the AIDS virus, and who tested positive for HIV after the fieldwork was
completed. Burr examines ethical situations anthropologists face in the
field and discusses how involved researchers should be in lives of the
people the study and observe.
Spies Like Us: When Sociologists
Deceive their Subjects
http://www.linguafranca.com/9711/9711.allen.html
This article that appeared
in the November 1997 issue of Lingua Franca examines what happened
when University of South Florida sociologist, Carolyn Ellis, became a traitor
in the eyes of the Guinea families she researched.
**The online version of Lingua Franca has been suspended. This publication has been purchased by The Chronicle of Higher Education.**
Thomas N. Headland Controversies
http://www.sil.org/~headlandt/controv.htm
Links to various anthropological
controversies, like the hunter-gatherer revisionist debate, can be found
at this site.
Alaska Anthropological
Association, Alaska Anthropology Links
http://www.alaska.net/~oha/aaa/AAALINKS.HTM
The Alaska Anthropological
Association has developed a site with links to sources about anthropology
in Alaska.
Anthropology Ethics &
Fieldwork
http://www.library.adelaide.edu.au/guide/soc/anthro/ethics.html
Adelaide University Library
(Australia) has put together a collection of print and online resources
on ethical issues for anthropologists and fieldwork & research techniques.
Anthropology, Genetic Diversity,
and Ethics
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/21st/projects/GeneticDiversity/friedlae.html
A workshop entitled "Anthropology,
Genetic Diversity, and Ethics" was held in 1999 at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
This particular site is just one of the many talks given at that conference.
Binghamton Univ. Libraries
Anthropology Ethics & Responsibility
http://library.lib.binghamton.edu/subjects/anthro/ethics.html
The Binghamton University
Library (New York) has an "Ethics & Responsibility" site with numerous
links to professional ethics, academic responsibility, social responsibility
& public policy and related online publications.
Ethics and the Archaeologist
http://archaeology.about.com/cs/ethics/index.htm?terms=ethics
K. Kris Hirst, a project
archaeologist at Louis Berger Associates, Inc., has selected a diverse
collection of archaeology resources for her "Ethics and the Archaeologist"
site. Materials on ethics, preservation, controversies and more are available.
Ethics in Anthropology:
Public Presentation of Anthropological Material
http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbelote/Senior_Seminar/PublicAnth-ethics_in_anthropology.htm
A Senior Seminar class at
the University of Minnesota-Duluth set out to "examine the ethical issues
involved in the presentation of anthropological material to the public,
and to consider the role of public activism by anthropologists." These
students examined codes of ethics from various anthropology associations
& organizations, reviewed the literature on this topic, and interviewed
anthropologists. This document is a culmination of their findings.
European Archaeological
Heritage Convention
http://www.tufts.edu/departments/fletcher/multi/www/bh997.html
This document outlines the
principles agreed to by the member States of the Council of Europe and
the other States of the European Cultural Convention.
Legal Background of Archeological
Resources Protection
http://www.cr.nps.gov/aad/PUBS/TECHBR/tch11a.htm
Despite numerous laws passed
by various agencies, looting continues to be a problem. This online document
outlines the current civil and criminal actions that have been taken since
the passage of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA), potential
areas of application for ARPA, other archaeological resource protection
rules and regulations and case patterns.
Training Students in Archaeological
Ethics
http://dhr.dos.state.fl.us/saa/lynstep.html
In the past, most archaeology
students worked in university departments and learned the skills that would
be important to their future as a professor. Ethics was learned informally,
often from their peers. Today, those in archaeology have other types of
employment options, and are sometimes employed outside the university setting.
This paper by Mark Lynott and Vincas P. Steponatis was prepared for the
SAA workshop on "Enhancing Undergraduate and Graduate Education and Training
in Public Archaeology and Cultural Resource Management" in February 1998.
It addresses the ethical gray areas that exist in archaeology and argues
for the development & implementation of formal ethics training programs.
Useful Anthropology Resources:
Methods & Ethics
http://www4.gvsu.edu/anthropology/links.html#Methods
Russell Rhoads, a sociocultural
anthropologist at Grand Valley State University (Michigan), has compiled
a list of links in areas, such as Medical Anthropology, Archaeology, and
Indigenous Peoples. A section on Methods/Ethics is also included.
WWW Virtual Library Anthropology
General Ethics
http://vlib.anthrotech.com/General/Ethics
The WWW Virtual Library has
an Anthropology section that includes links to ethics materials.
Created by Sharon Stoerger
December 2002