Signature Assignment Global Cultures Summer 2020 The resources you need are in the module entitled Ethics Response. We will be exploring the scandal involving the controversial anthropologist Napoleon...

Signature Assignment Global Cultures Summer 2020

The resources you need are in the module entitled Ethics Response. We will be exploring the scandal involving the controversial anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon, who died last year.

Please watch the documentarySecrets of the Tribe: Tribal Warfare in the Academic Jungle (2010)and read the 2013 article by Alice Dreger inThe Atlantic(Sex, Lies, and Separating Science from Ideology). If you want to dig deeper, you can also read the NYT article published that same year, but it is not required. I have also included a pdf of the 1998 American Anthropological Association Code of Ethics. You may also use other resources in addition to these if you wish but be sure to cite them.

Start by providing a brief overview of the documentary. Next, address at least two of the following prompts. You will not be graded on your opinion, since I am asking you to form one, but be sure to provide persuasive arguments, using evidence from the assigned sources.

1. What is your assessment of the situation described in the documentary? The debate about Chagnon and the Yanomamo/Yanomami was a painful episode in the history of American cultural anthropology. The documentary was made about ten years ago, and since then the validity of at least some of the accusations made in Patrick Tierney’s book,Darkness in Eldorado, has come into question. Do you think Chagnon was treated fairly, or did he deserve to become, at least for a time, an outcast in the anthropological community?


2. What is your evaluation of the documentary itself? Did it appear to be fair or biased? What aspects of the documentary led you to decide it was credible or not?


3. Give examples of the allegations made about the behavior of Chagnon or others and explain why they are violations of the American Anthropological Association Code of Ethics as it exists today.


4. The Yanomamo today continue to struggle with gold miners, new diseases, and in Brazil, political leadership that is not supportive. The documentary argues that anthropologists also exploited the Yanomamo. What should individual researchers and the anthropological community do to make sure the rights of indigenous peoples are not violated in ethnographic research?


5. Should students be exposed to the "dirty laundry" of an academic discipline or should it be avoided? Why or why not?

Your response should be about 750-1000 words long, double-spaced, and written in college-level English. You may write more than 750 words if you wish. Upload your response as a doc or docx file. Your work will go through Unicheck.