Annex

Ethical Dilemmas: Cases and Solutions

Handbook on Ethical Issues in Anthropology; ed. by Joan Cassell and Sue-Ellen Jacobs, 1987: Cases and Solutions (retrieved: 07/10/2020).

The 12 cases are presented in a format that asks the reader to solve each dilemma. The solutions used by the anthropologists will follow. Some readers disagreed with the “solution” presented by given fieldworkers. Their comments are also included:

Case 1: To Medicate or Not to Medicate
Case 2: Who Owns the Field Notes?
Case 3: Witness to Murder
Case 4: Hiding a Suspect
Case 5: Anonymity Declined
Case 6: Anonymity Revisited
Case 7: Robbers, Rogues, or Revolutionaries: Handling Armed Intimidation
Case 8: The Case of the Missing Artifact
Case 9: “Hot” Gifts
Case 10: Professor Purloins Student’s Work: Her Recourse?
Case 11: The Case of the Falsified Data
Case 12: Possible Conflict of Interest

Questions concerning possible courses of behavior. Comments by anthropologists and ethicists recruited by Joan Cassellfor publication in Anthropology Newsletter follow each case:

Case 13: The Suspect Questionnaire
Case 14: The Hazardous Consent Forms
Case 15: The Case of the Egyptian Travel Agent
Case 16: What’s in That Bottle? What’s in That Pipe?
Case 17: The Case of the Damaged Baby
Case 18: “A Little Thing Like Plagiarism”
Case 19: Backstage Maneuvers
Case 20: Power to the People
Case 21: Ethical Dilemmas and Moral Responsibilities
Case 22: Forbidden Knowledge
Case 23: Slow Code
Case 24: Site Unseen
Case 25: The Runaway Wife

Good reads (more books with Case Studies):

• Appell, G.N. 1978. Ethical Dilemmas in Anthropological Inquiry: A Case Book. Waltham, MA: CrossroadsPress.
• Rynkiewich, M.A. andJ. P. Spradley. 1976. Ethics and Anthropology: Dilemmas in Fieldwork. New York: John Wiley and Sons.