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Ethics Q&A: Ethnography 2
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March 2003
I have been asked to lead a team to research a living art tradition in Africa. The information we gather will be used to develop archival materials, an exhibition and a publication for an institution that is not a dedicated museum of ethnography.
We plan to observe and record the use of objects and the techniques for making them. We also want to conduct interviews to find out more about these objects as works of art and the part they play in the everyday lives of the people we meet.
I am aware that I have been trained more as an art historian than an ethnographer and am uncertain about best practice for working in the field with indigenous communities. What advice can you give?
First, contact the Museum Ethnographers Group (MEG). This is the professional group that is best able to advise on responsibilities to indigenous communities, particularly over questions of respecting sensibilities, and proprietary rights over material generated by the project you are undertaking.
The MEG will almost certainly be able to refer you to colleagues with knowledge and/or experience of working in the particular part of Africa you will be travelling to.
Crucially, though, you must not limit professional contacts to colleagues in the UK. You will need to contact museums, universities, archives and other bodies in the host country. Such projects are best undertaken as equal, collaborative partnerships. Your plans should, of course, have been thoroughly discussed with and clearance gained from the host government or other relevant authorities.
You should also try to make direct contact with the communities and individuals you will be working with prior to your visit. Whether in the UK or abroad, it is unethical to gather or use any form of data without the permission of any individual who is to be filmed, photographed, or whose voice is to be recorded. The Oral History Society's guidelines for use with participants in the UK has principles that can be applied well beyond the discipline of oral history in this country.
You must take steps to discuss and agree with communities and individuals the uses to which the information you gather will be put. There are obvious concerns, such as being sensitive to religious belief when researching an object's ritual use, for example. Make sure that you allow communities to control and benefit from material that could be exploited commercially, such as a design or film of a technique for making an object that could be reproduced and sold in the UK.
Particular care must be taken if collecting from the field. In addition to adhering to any export restrictions it is best practice when collecting more than one of a rare item to deposit the best example with a local museum. Be scrupulous in dealing with offers of gifts of items.
Take advice from those who know local etiquette. You may, for example, need to clarify confusion over whether a gift is being offered to your institution or to you as individuals. Wherever possible you should appreciate but turn down offers of gifts to you as an individual without causing offence.
You will need to deposit with appropriate institutions in the host country copies of any research, field data and ancillary material you produce, whether they be photographs, films, tapes, articles or scholarly publications.
You will also need to deposit some form of published materials directly with the community itself. Finally, make sure governments, partner institutions, communities and individuals are thanked and recognised in any resulting publications or exhibitions.
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