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Importance of Ethics when Studying an Indigenous Culture

Ethics is an important aspect in many fields including business, medicine, and research.

Researchers are supposed to follow certain ethical guidelines that dictate how they are supposed

to undertake their research practices. In indigenous research, ethics are important in ensuring that

research is done with integrity and ensure that potential negative experiences to the indigenous

participants are minimized. Historically, research on indigenous peoples has been associated
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with negative and racialized impact on such communities and hence the need for ethical

regulations. Scholars on the topic of indigenous cultures research have emphasized on the need

for research ethics and the need for the protection of indigenous participants while also ensuring

that participation in research is voluntary and not coercive nor undertaken under pressure. This

paper looks at the importance of ethics in indigenous cultures research and proposes that ethics

are meant to help the researchers gain consent for carrying out their research practices on the

indigenous people, protect and respect the intellectual and cultural property rights of the

indigenous individuals, protect the indigenous individuals themselves against coercion and

promote self-determination, and finally, to ensure that the research is for the benefit of the

indigenous people.

Before researchers conduct a research on any particular group or culture, getting consent

to do so is vital. This is to ensure that the group being researched on is comfortable with sharing

information or with the researchers invading their personal space on exposing information that

might be sensitive. This is where the code of ethics comes in as the principles of ethical research

recommend that researchers are supposed to gain the indigenous peoples' consent and for them to

agree in contributing to the research by providing the knowledge, resources, and access to data.

Once consent is given, the research can now begin, and researchers can have access to all

materials, artefacts, and relevant information concerning the indigenous culture being examined.

While carrying out the research, the researchers are supposed to respect and protect the

intellectual and cultural property rights of the indigenous individuals. The cultural and

intellectual property rights of the indigenous peoples are part of the heritage that exists in their

cultural practices, resources, and knowledge systems.1 It is also important to note that indigenous

intellectual property extents to things that may be created on the basis of indigenous heritage.
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George, Nicholas, Alison Wylie. 203.
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Therefore, it is important for research to acknowledge the sources of information related to the

indigenous culture as well as the individuals who have contributed to or involved in the research.

This eliminates the likelihood of researchers deploying unethical and individualistic practices

such as collecting and disseminating false information about the indigenous cultures and being

rewarded for it.

Still on the same point on protecting and respecting indigenous intellectual and cultural

property and rights, it is important to note that indigenous artefacts and other archaeological

remains should be treated with respect. For instance, the use of indigenous remains in scientific

research ought to follow certain ethical considerations and guidelines, especially since a big

ethical concern is that the study and display of human remains is considered a violation of the

person to whom the remains belong. As highlighted by Phillip L. Walker, "the ethical principle

that human remains should be treated with respect and dignity is consistent with and can be seen

as an extension of, respect for human dignity, which is the cardinal ethical principle for modern

research on human subjects in the biomedical and social sciences.”2 20). This ethical standard is

based upon the conviction that it is not right to treat human remains of other people as objects

because this is seen as a lack of respect to the central human dignity of the individual that those

remains represent and therefore impoverishes all of humanity.

Another importance of ethics in indigenous culture research is that it protects the

indigenous participants against coercion and promotes self-determination. The choice to be

involved in the research should be voluntary and no indigenous individuals should be forced to

share information against their will. Therefore, researchers have an ethical obligation to come to

a clear understanding with the indigenous participants and agree about the intentions of the
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Phillip, Walker, "Bioarchaeological ethics: a historical perspective on the value of human
remains." 20.
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research, methods to be used, and the potential results.3 This is to enable the participants to make

an informed decision on whether to be involved in the research or not. Therefore, before the

research begins, researchers need to ensure that the participants gave free and informed consent

based on the agreements made during the negotiation.

Lastly, ethics in indigenous culture research ensures that the research is for the benefit of

the indigenous community. As mentioned earlier, research has had negative and traumatic effects

on the indigenous people from the continued contribution to ongoing experiences of

colonization, theft of indigenous lands and resources, disruption to aboriginal societies and

families, and the suppression of indigenous culture and identity.4 Ethics in indigenous research

therefore helps eliminate the possibility of such detrimental effects and benefit Indigenous

peoples at a local level, and more generally.

Bibliography

Atalay, Sonya. "Indigenous archaeology as decolonizing practice." American Indian

Quarterly (2006): 280-310.

Walker, Phillip L. "Bioarchaeological ethics: a historical perspective on the value of

human remains." Biological anthropology of the human skeleton 3 (2000): 40.

Nicholas, George P., and Alison Wylie. "Do Not Do Unto Others…": Cultural

Misrecognition and the Harms of Appropriation in an Open Source

3
Sonya, Atalay. "Indigenous archaeology as decolonizing practice.” 82.
4
George, Nicholas, Alison Wylie. "Do Not Do Unto Others…": Cultural Misrecognition and the
Harms of Appropriation in an Open Source World." 198.
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World." Appropriating the Past: Philosophical Perspectives on Archaeological

Practice (2012): 195-221.