Archiving ethnography? The impossibility and the necessity
I review the conflicting injunctions to archive and not to archive anthropological field materials (data). There are ethical contradictions: some ethics codes tell us to destroy data after a period of time, others to save for the long term. I discuss the responsibilities researchers have to differen...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | fra |
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Laboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie Comparative
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Ateliers d'Anthropologie |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/ateliers/16318 |
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| author | David Zeitlyn |
| author_facet | David Zeitlyn |
| author_sort | David Zeitlyn |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | I review the conflicting injunctions to archive and not to archive anthropological field materials (data). There are ethical contradictions: some ethics codes tell us to destroy data after a period of time, others to save for the long term. I discuss the responsibilities researchers have to different groups of people and how these may conflict. I illustrate beneficial long-term uses of field data from my own work with Mambila people in Cameroon and Nigeria, partly using archival material in ways never originally intended (so never considered for consent). To adhere strictly to some data management protocols would result in inhumane and I suggest unethical action. We must accept that life is contradictory and find ways of managing this: long term embargoes might provide a solution that is workable, although difficult to implement with digital archives. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-631141353009472bad518f1c2cbbd40f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2117-3869 |
| language | fra |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | Laboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie Comparative |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ateliers d'Anthropologie |
| spelling | doaj-art-631141353009472bad518f1c2cbbd40f2025-01-30T13:42:32ZfraLaboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie ComparativeAteliers d'Anthropologie2117-38692022-03-015110.4000/ateliers.16318Archiving ethnography? The impossibility and the necessityDavid ZeitlynI review the conflicting injunctions to archive and not to archive anthropological field materials (data). There are ethical contradictions: some ethics codes tell us to destroy data after a period of time, others to save for the long term. I discuss the responsibilities researchers have to different groups of people and how these may conflict. I illustrate beneficial long-term uses of field data from my own work with Mambila people in Cameroon and Nigeria, partly using archival material in ways never originally intended (so never considered for consent). To adhere strictly to some data management protocols would result in inhumane and I suggest unethical action. We must accept that life is contradictory and find ways of managing this: long term embargoes might provide a solution that is workable, although difficult to implement with digital archives.https://journals.openedition.org/ateliers/16318CameroonNigeriaethnographic archivesfield notesanthropological ethicsresponsibility across time |
| spellingShingle | David Zeitlyn Archiving ethnography? The impossibility and the necessity Ateliers d'Anthropologie Cameroon Nigeria ethnographic archives field notes anthropological ethics responsibility across time |
| title | Archiving ethnography? The impossibility and the necessity |
| title_full | Archiving ethnography? The impossibility and the necessity |
| title_fullStr | Archiving ethnography? The impossibility and the necessity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Archiving ethnography? The impossibility and the necessity |
| title_short | Archiving ethnography? The impossibility and the necessity |
| title_sort | archiving ethnography the impossibility and the necessity |
| topic | Cameroon Nigeria ethnographic archives field notes anthropological ethics responsibility across time |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/ateliers/16318 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT davidzeitlyn archivingethnographytheimpossibilityandthenecessity |