I remember an Anthropology professor of mine telling our class one of her moral dilemmas as an “overt ethnographer” was the decision to remain an “observer” of people in their natural setting and not become a “participant” in their practice. During the time she was writing one of her books on the class systems and economic disparities between the two Egyptian cities split by the Nile, El Gisa and Cairo, a child of one of the families experienced a medical emergency and needed transportation from El Gisa to the capital city of Cairo. A function of her role as a researcher was to “learn from observation” (Trenholm, 2008, p. 379), but she found herself conflicting with her personal values and professional ethics as well as her power to access medical support. In addition to the mentioned dilemma, ethnographers “must constantly be [conscious of] prejudices that may bias their ability to understand a culture” (Trenholm, 2008, p. 380). I know, in the beginning of this class, we posted a similar response about prejudgments; it’s imperative an ethnographer practice separating their preconceived notions in order to present the most valid study.
For me, especially because maintaining impartiality and refraining from passing judgment on a student is critical to a consistent and fair disciplinary process, I constantly reflect on my hearings and my treatment of students. Since the range of violations and demographics of our students is expansive, I resolve numerous dilemmas with proactive self-work, which often means attending social justice trainings or pre-conference sessions focused on naming how “my bag of rocks” can obstruct the equality I strive for in my process as a judicial officer. I love my professional work and interacting with students in an educational manner to strengthen their commitment to civility and integrity through critical thinking and ethical decision-making. For them to be at their best, I have to commit to bettering my practice and myself too!
Hey there! I hope you are doing well. I can't believe we only have two more weeks of class left. This session has gone by so fast. I can totally relate to you having to remain impartial and not passing judgment at your job. I used to work with my mom at a day care program that watched children of mothers who were substance abusers. The mothers would come in for a class that would help them care better for their children and keep them of illegal substances. It was really hard to not pass judgment on these women after you hear their stories and what they put their children through. The only thing that I tried to think of was these women are getting help and they are trying to better their lives for themselves and their children.
ReplyDeleteI found your post incredibly interesting. I really liked the example about your professor. That must have been so hard for her to make that kind of decision about the child. That is one part of the ethnographic research that may cause moral dilemmas. Even though the job is to observe, a person's values must kick in at some point and want to fight for the child.
ReplyDeleteThis whole concept makes me think of the movie "Drop Dead Gorgeous" with Kirsten Dunst. In the fake documentary one of the characters is having a problem and a disclaimer flashes on the screen that the film crew is there to only observe and not get involved. It is interesting that after taking this class we can relate and apply concepts and theories to real life and pop culture.