Do you think the following is enough to ensure that ethnography is conducted respectfully?

Question

Through living among and with a group of people, an ethnographer is given great insights into the peoples and places they conduct fieldwork in. These insights are based on developing close and intimate relationships with people that the ethnographer wants to study. The American Anthropological Association has agreed on a set of ethical guidelines which are meant to ensure to ensure that the relationship between the ethnographer and the community they study is not unethical.

Do you think ethnographers have a responsibility to the communities they study? What are they? Who should benefit from ethnographic research?

Answer 1

I think ethnographers have a responsibility to their communities in the sense that they make all of their plans, findings, etc. known to the community and give the community control (to some degree) over what happens to those findings.  If there is sensitive information that they don't want published, make sure it isn't published...that sort of thing.

In terms of who benefits from anthropological research, clearly anthropologists do. It enables them to publish/present papers and thus secure (or try to at least) academic employment. In terms of who should benefit, I think it depends on the situation and the type of research.  I think there are some types of ethnographic research that lead really nicely into some kind of collaborative project with the community in question. In those cases, if the community is willing, I think some sort of collaboration could be nice. That being said, I think the idea of "activist anthropology" is incredibly condescending and its implicit assumption that the accumulation of knowledge needs to be augmented in some way by "practical" applications is incredibly anti-intellectual.

Answer 2

I think that ethnographers have a responsibility to portray their community in an accurate light.  They also need to be presented in a way that is culturally relative but not ethnocentric on either end.  

As far as benefits, I suppose the Anthropological community and anyone who happens to be researching or interacting with that particular group?  I don't really understand that part of the question.