The Ethics of Anthropology and Amerindian Research [recurso electrónico] Reporting on Environmental Degradation and Warfare

The decision to publish scholarly findings bearing on the question of Amerindian environmental degradation, warfare, and/or violence is one that weighs heavily on anthropologists. This burden stems from the fact that documentation of this may render descendant communities vulnerable to a host of predatory agendas and hostile modern forces. Consequently, some anthropologists and community advocates alike argue that such culturally and socially sensitive, and thereby, politically volatile information regarding Amerindian-induced environmental degradation and warfare should not be reported. This admonition presents a conundrum for anthropologists and other social scientists employed in the academy or who work at the behest of tribal entities. This work documents the various ethical dilemmas that confront anthropologists, and researchers in general, when investigating Amerindian communities. The contributions to this volume explore the ramifications of reporting--and, specifically,--of non-reporting instances of environmental degradation and warfare among Amerindians. Collectively, the contributions in this volume, which extend across the disciplines of archaeology, anthropology, ethnohistory, ethnic studies, philosophy, and medicine, argue that the non-reporting of environmental mismanagement and violence in Amerindian communities generally harms not only the field of anthropology but the Amerindian populations themselves. Front Matter....Pages i-xvi Introduction....Pages 1-26 Ethical and Political Ramifications of the Reporting/Non-Reporting of Native American Ritualized Violence....Pages 27-36 Pre-Columbian Warfare and Indecorous Images in Southeastern North America....Pages 37-50 The Portrayal of Native American Violence and Warfare: Who Speaks for the Past?....Pages 51-72 Catawba Indians’ Adaptive Response to Colonialism....Pages 73-77 Maya Hunting Sustainability: Perspectives from Past and Present....Pages 79-116 Sympathetic Ethnocentrism, Repression, and Auto-repression of Q’eqchi’ Maya Blood Sacrifice....Pages 117-145 Relativism, Revisionism, Aboriginalism, and Emic/Etic Truth: The Case Study of Apocalypto ....Pages 147-190 Mythologies of Conquest....Pages 191-234 Imagining Human Alteration of Ancient Landscapes in Central and South America....Pages 235-267 Overstating, Downplaying, and Denying Indigenous Conquest Warfare in Pre-Hispanic Empires of the Andes....Pages 269-287 Violence, Indigeneity, and Archaeological Interpretation in the Central Andes....Pages 289-309 Conservation or Resource Maximization? Analyzing Subsistence Hunting Among the Achuar (Shiwiar) of Ecuador....Pages 311-360 The Studied Avoidance of War as an Instrument of Political Evolution....Pages 361-366 Medical Ramifications of Failing to Acknowledge Amerindian Warfare, Violence, Social Inequality, and Cultural Enigmas....Pages 367-393 Ancestral Pueblos and Modern Diatribes: An Interview with Antonio Chavarria of Santa Clara Pueblo, Curator of Ethnology, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Santa Fe, New Mexico....Pages 395-426 Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Degradation: An Indigenous Perspective....Pages 427-434 The Logic of Indigenous Voice....Pages 435-450 Discussion and Conclusions....Pages 451-503 Back Matter....Pages 505-521 The decision to publish scholarly findings bearing on the question of Amerindian environmental degradation, warfare, and/or violence is one that weighs heavily on anthropologists. This burden stems from the fact that documentation of this may render¡ Indigenous communities vulnerable to a host of predatory agendas and hostile modern forces. Consequently, some anthropologists and community advocates alike argue that such culturally and socially sensitive, and thereby, politically volatile information regarding Amerindian-induced environmental degradation and warfare should not be reported. This admonition presents a conundrum for anthropologists and other social scientists employed in the academy or who work at the behest of tribal entities. This work documents the various ethical dilemmas that confront anthropologists, and researchers in general, when investigating Amerindian communities. The contributions to this volume explore the ramifications of reporting--and, specfically, --of non-reporting instances of environmental degradation and warfare among Amerindians. Collectively, the contributions in this volume, which extend across the disciplines of archaeology, anthropology, ethnohistory, ethnic studies, philosophy, and medicine, argue that the non-reporting of environmental mismanagement and violence in Amerindian communities generally harms not only the field of anthropology but the Amerindian populations themselves "The majority of the contributions are authored by archaeologists and the remainder by cultural anthropologists along with others. Five contributors are of native ancestry. The essays range widely, from head and limb removal in warfare in the Ohio valley, blood sacrifice among the Maya, and the sophisticated strategies and tactics developed to prevail in war; to the question of sustainability of hunting practices among the Maya and the Achuar of the Ecuadorian Amazon; and to metacritique of representations of Amerindians in museum exhibitions and film" -- p. viii