Statement of Ethics-- Senior Research

I am a first-time teacher in Muisne, a rural island off Ecuador's northern coast. I am a researcher. I am white and female and very young. I stick out in appearance; I open my mouth and stick out even more. I am confined by my gender; in the street, I walk quickly and do not acknowledge the piropeos (cat calls). I cannot be alone on the beach. I am a teacher, but I am a friend. Children buy me coconuts and shout “Profesora” as I wave by their doors. Why do they trust me?

The teachers are buzzing before class one November morning; there has been a rape. The principal details the situation in front of four hundred students during morning formation. He yells into the microphone. He demands better conduct. A meeting ensues between the principal, the female victim, and the male accused of rape. I am invited to be present. The principal interrogates the 14-year old girl, she is silent. He evokes her sexual past, implying that she is promiscuous. Moreover, she spends time with known homosexuals on the island and he concludes that she “probably has HIV.” The accused rapist goes back to class, embarrassed but cleared of all charges. The girl is silent and looks at her hands. I am silent and horrified. The principal turns to me and says with disgust, “This is Ecuador. This is Muisne.” He assumes that I (as an American?) share his sentiments and agree with his course of action. My disgust is with him, yet I am implicated on his side. All of my roles seem to collide. Who am I? Who do I protect, and can I still protect my job? There is no time. We leave the office. The girl walks back to class and will not look at me for the remainder of my time teaching in Muisne.

As the situation I describe above implies, there are many moments when anthropological research cannot be neatly categorized as either “ethical” or “unethical.” Grappling with questions of ethics, although rarely done in public academic circles, is an integral and often unexpectedly jarring part of social research. In this essay, I would like to address ethics in my senior project by focusing on three research “phases”—the origins of research, the process of research, and the consequences of research.

You can read the entirety of my statement of ethics HERE.