Internet Exercises

1. Ethnographic Fieldwork: Look at Dr. Laura Zimmer- Tamakoshi's web site documenting her fieldwork in New Guinea (http://www.melanesia.org/fieldwork/tamakoshil/).
   1. Click on the Planning section, and read all of the subsections (Background, Proposals, Prep, Field Sites, and Getting There). Why did Dr. Zimmer-Tamakoshi choose her field site? What research questions was she investigating? Before this class, did you think that anthropologists invested this much time before they started their research?
   2. Go back and click on the Method section and read all of the subsections. How did Dr. Zimmer-Tamakoshi settle in and adjust to life at her field site? What field methods did she employ?
   3. Go back and go to the Writing section and read all of the subsections. How did Dr. Zimmer-Tamakoshi record and present her observations? How did the fieldwork affect her personally? How about returning home?
      
      
2. Ethical Dilemmas: Visit the American Anthropological Association’s chapter on “Handbook on Ethical Issues in Anthropology” entitled “Cases and Solutions” and edited by Sue-Ellen Jacobs (http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/ch3.htm).
   1. Read Case 1: To Medicate or Not to Medicate (http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/case1.htm). What was the ethical dilemma faced by the anthropologist? What do you think of the anthropologist’s decision? What do you think of the responses? What is the most ethical response in this situation?
   2. Read Case 5: Anonymity Declined (http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/case5.htm). What is the ethical dilemma the anthropologist faced? How does the anthropologist balance the wishes of the community with the accepted practices of the profession? Would you have published the real names?
   3. Move forward to the next chapter in the Handbook entitled “Cases and Comments” and edited by Joan Cassell (http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/ch4.htm). ). Read Case 17: The Case of the Damaged Baby (http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/case17.htm). What are an anthropologist’s legal and ethical imperatives when they have witnessed a mistake like this? What would you have done?
   4. Read Case 21: Ethical Dilemmas and Moral Responsibilities (http://www.aaanet.org/committees/ethics/case21.htm). Ethnographers rely on the social connections they make with their informants. What should an ethnographer do when those connections are costly to the anthropologist? How should the anthropologist have handled the requests from her adoptive family?