Knock, knock - Can I come in? San People of South Africa Issue Code of Ethics for Researchers
Hand-wringing is over
So if you've ever been involved in any anthropological or ethnobiological work you'll know that researchers in these fields are often obsessed with ethics and will talk themselves round in circles, wringing their hands, agonising, double-guessing and deeply philosophising about what is ethical and what is not. Usually the main references are from associations such as the American Anthropological Association or the Society of Ethnobiology, among others, as well as discussion papers on the topic.
Here's an interesting story (by the Smithsonian) that's been doing the rounds this year regarding the San people (often known as "bushmen") of South Africa. Following in the footsteps of indigenous groups such as First Nations in Canada and Aborigines in Australia, they have released their own code of ethics for researchers.
The Ethics Code quick overview
The ethics requests researchers to:
- submit proposals for their studies to the San councils for approval
- respect the privacy of San
- not take or publish photos of individuals without their consent
- not bribe individuals to take part in their studies
- communicate honestly with the San and not misrepresent the purpose of their work
- allow San to review the research before publication
It also elaborates on how benefits may be shared with the community beyond simple payment of money, including providing opportunities for co-research, skills training, employment of translators and research assistants.
The entire tone of the code is one of welcome, expressing committed engagement with future research but simply inviting this to be on a respectful basis. I love how on the last page it says:
"Andries Steenkamp, the respected San leader who contributed to this Code of Ethics until he passed away in 2016, asked researchers to come through the door, not the window. The door stands for the San processes. When researchers respect the door, the San can have research that is positive for us."
Bottoms up!
It's great to see some bottom-up empowerment among indigenous groups in Africa, and it's another step towards counter-balancing some of the colonial legacy inherent in research culture. And hopefully researchers will sigh a breath of relief at having the heavy weight of ethical judgement being alleviated a bit, and they shall have to do less hand-wringing.
Controversy of a San voice
The Smithsonian article highlights the controversial issue of the San wishing to review the research before publication. As a researcher myself who has traveled to conduct research among indigenous groups as a masters student, I realise that this may have some practical knock-on effects. Unless a researcher has very good in-country academic/NGO partners who can conduct this review process on their behalf, this means that they will have to travel back a second time to present the work before publishing. I wonder if this will restrict some younger early career researchers who simply might not have the funds for two return international flights? You might say can they not just stay out there to write up and then present, but the reality is that this isn't practicable for most early researchers. This could act as a restriction on research being conducted, much of which may be very beneficial for the tribes themselves (although there are some very interesting debates being reignited about the need and value of such work following the recent need to rescue explorer Benedict Allen in Papua New Guinea). Personally I think it is best to comply to the proposed code, but it's an interesting consideration.
However I'm guessing the real controversy of this aspect of the new code though lies in the worship of the sacred impartiality of science, and the fear that results will be biased due to influence of the San at the review stage to make themselves appear in the best possible light, with the possible censorship of certain results. However any researcher should really be aware that their results are never going to be impartial anyway! Whether they acknowledge it or not they are already imbuing their work with their own cultural perspectives and values. The mere choice of methods used has already condemned the work to a certain level of bias. And through this process it is clearly the researcher who holds the power of deciding (whether consciously or not) where that bias lies. Hence the code is simply seeking to redress that power imbalance to a certain extent.
I'm probably going to regret not having spent more time thinking through some of my points on this post, as ethics in research is a very twisty and tort area. Let it be said that I'll be happy for any other perspectives to be shared!
Peace and Love Steemonians!
Hi Kate-m, I'm not a researcher or have a PHD, but I have spent time with both the SAN people and with Australian aboriginals (varied tribes - most of which, don't get along or agree on much). I have seen first hand some of the difficulties and social issues brought on by western societies and modern, external changes etc.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but If I recall correctly the SAN people seem to have issues at the moment with break away groups (often the younger generation), whom actually have a differing of opinion to the older leaders.
Do you know if the views of these newer generation were reflected in the code of ethics? and often the ancient tribes have very different views - was this paper put together by some form of modern consortium of tribal leaders? or just leaders from a subset representative.
I always feel bad for these groups as often they are forced to face modern problems and lack the support (or more commonly are used up, by the modern Governments that rule over the place). Lacking the modern education, having to rely on the same Governments exploiting them to help write ethical papers to protect them. I'm hoping this is not the case here?
Hi Lord Nigel, Thanks for your comment - no need to have letters after your name to chime in!
I have no direct experience with the San myself, although I do have immediate family members who have collaborated with San in Namibia. From what I can gather the code was put together by the leaders of three different San groups within South Africa, the !Xun, Khwe and !Khomani, with support from an organisation called Trust, who are an international NGO who specialise in empowering indigenous groups towards establishing more equitable relations with research (so no, it doesn't seem that this was the result of government machinations). It is not clear whether the process incorporated participatory techniques that would have captured voices from all sectors of society or if it would simply have been limited to the old men of the council. It would be really interesting to know! I certainly would not just take for granted that methods were sufficiently participatory as that is very hard to achieve. There is a great book called "Participation: The New Tyranny?" by Cook and Kothari (2001), perhaps a bit old now, but I think still very relevant and gives great examples of how "participatory" processes often end up further silencing or bullying people.
It should be noted that the majority of San live in Namibia and Botswana with smaller populations in Angola and Zimbabwe, but these ethics are only adopted by the three groups who put it forward. I imagine it may be the beginning of more groups either formulating their own ethics codes or adopting pre-prepared ones used by other groups such as this one from South Africa.
Yes, jeez Louise, your heart just has to go out to groups like the San. They really do get trapped between worlds. I certainly know that in Namibia they've had many problems, including prohibition of hunting and therefore their traditional nomadic style of life, and issues with dis-appropriation of land. In one instance the watering hole of one group was fenced off for the cattle of a private land-owner and the tribe were left with no access. In this particular case they actually set up a living history museum, so they built a model village were everything was completely traditional and they would invite groups of tourists who would pay an entry fee and also buy traditional items and jewelry. This sort of cultural tourism is plagued with problems and I would be the first to jump to critically analyse that, however they have managed to get out of a really bad situation on their terms and whilst maintaining a pride in their culture and heritage, so it's great to see a successful example. I believe they managed to buy back access to the watering hole and a certain percentage of all income from tourism goes towards a shared community pot that is spent on buying in food and other essentials for the entire community.
That book:
Cook, B. and Kothari, U. eds. (2001). Participation: The New Tyranny? London: Zed Books.
Interesting stuff, thanks for the great post! we seem to have some similar views about both the positive/negative effects of tourism.
The San I visited were in Botswana. They were younger, not very large people, lean and built to live off the land. It's fascinating to see how they see and use the environment (taking only what is needed to survive) - Where I saw dirt and bushes, these guys saw a supermarket of a variety of foods, medicines, shelters (not that they could speak English to tell me this, I just learned by being shown).
I believe the group I visited in Namibia were the Himba people (there are San there as well) & I have spent time with many of these different ancient race/traditional tribal groups all over the planet.
Practically (just an observers view without a science degree - I have minimal formal education coming from a relatively poor background myself) they all have different views of the world which is great, but struggle with similar issues brought on by the concept of cash$/ownership. Basically they are exploited, I mean how can you buy back a water hole that for 1000's of years was everyone's to use? just having to deal with the concept of your not allowed to go there anymore, must be so difficult for them.
The problem I saw is they use the money to do things like buy large bags of rice. On the surface this seems great like..yeah they deserve to get something (western way or thinking is cash please :). Speaking with some of the elders/leaders/local conservationist this change in diet has brought on changes, they also use the money to go to doctors and things (which they would not have been able to do without cash$ - ironically in some cases wouldn't have had to do without the changes happening around them). Often these groups unsure how to behave in this unbalanced environment will over harvest their landscape for more cash (more rice), then thus worsening the issues.
I think a code of ethics is a good thing. I'm glad that it seems to be representative of those whom participated in creating it as they will all have different views. It would be fascinating if someone could read/collect a book of ethics from tribal/ancient groups all over the world to see if there are common areas/patterns that could led to some kind of book of minimal ethics to cover all on how to deal with ownership and cash concepts.
Cheers
Yes, the concept of ownership of land is not always congruous with various tribe’s ways of understanding the world, it may be seen as grossly immoral to many of them! Unfortunately, disappropriation of land is the global norm when it comes to indigenous people, it’s a real struggle. Many NGOs try to fill the gap of lobbying on behalf of indigenous peoples to influence government policy, which is often geared towards allocating concessions of land to industry/conservation.
Yes, cash is complicated. However if they have been forbidden to hunt and restricted in their traditional roaming lifestyle then the other alternative if cash is not to be involved is to farm (which they may not have the culture and skills to immediately assume) or to directly receive food without cash transaction, or I guess starving is also an option. In the living history museum project I mentioned it was really good that a percentage went to communal use whilst a percentage went to individual incomes. That the quality of food might not be the best is definitely an issue. Take for example the Guarani in Rio de Janeiro where I just spent a couple of years, they receive the “basic basket” from the government, and the quality of food is very poor! Cheap white flour, cheap white rice, cheap rape seed oil… basically loads of empty calories. I think the “nutrition transition” concept is quite an interesting one to think about this change in traditional diets. Having said all that I am actually rather fascinated about the complexities of how interacting with cash changes the dynamics within indigenous culture. For example, I’ve heard of several cases where projects were set up to try to help people make money from crafts (or pick x,y and z from possible NGO development activities). In the end the men coerce the women to work away at these crafts and then the men just spend the money on cigarettes and alcohol, and because the women have been working so hard on the crafts they are forced to neglect other homesteading activities that keep things ticking over for healthy well-fed families. So in the end they end up worse off. So power and gender considerations are really important to investigate.
I suspect with the code of ethics that many of them will be rather similar. At the end of the day most people just want to be treated with a bit of basic respect!
Hmm, I hope I covered all the points you raised! Thanks for the comment!
Wow ethnobotanical research is really sounding so much like a field of research I could get into. I'm very interested in coevolution and integration with different cultures.
Regardless about human rights, which I'm not saying are unimportant or should be overlooked, for the sake of the he study these requests should be complied with. Willing participation will of the subject is incredibly beneficial. You wouldn't want to work with a lab rat that bites you everytime you check on him.
If you are interested in ethnobiology you can follow my blog as I am currently in Columbia learning about the culture and ecology of the Amazon. It's a very new blog but I'm very excited to get it going. Thanks for you post!
Great - thanks for connecting. Yes I'd be very interested in your journey there so followed. Looking forward to hearing more. :)
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Oh waow!
Your reporting on the change of ethics (and, for me, raising awareness of current trends in anthropology) is greatly appreciated.
I can't help but wonder how mistreated (citing the reasons for their ethics code) the San, and other tribes, had been to warrant this move?
So just to quote from the original article: "the motivation behind writing a code of ethics largely came from the publication of a study in 2010 that documented the genome of four San men in Namibia. For this study, researchers received the appropriate ethics approvals from the Namibian government and their respective universities. Using a translator, they also filmed verbal consent from the participants. But San leaders were upset that they were not consulted about the research and questioned the way verbal consent was acquired from participants. They also objected to terms used in the final paper, including “Bushmen”—a colonial-era name that is considered an insult. "
I myself haven't got any other juicy stories directly relating to the San, but there have been many controversial debates about ethics in research among indigenous peoples over the decades.
Thank-you. I can fully understand the 'bushman' issue cited. I find this fascinating as I am now questioning the accuracy of the few papers I have read, not of the San but other indigenous people.
Do you mean accuracy as regards how the people themselves prefer to be referred to? I'm sure in the above paper regarding genomes, probably the genetics science is really quite accurate, it passed peer review after all, it just seems to have been framed in rather insulting language.
I think it's interesting when it comes to research involving indigenous people, as usually they have fundamentally different worldviews from the researchers, and yet there's an implicit understanding that the positivist worldview of the researcher is the more "accurate" and "correct". In reality that worldview could equally be picked apart.
A remnant of colonialism, indeed. I'm also questioning the accuracy of the anthropology papers that I have seen, in regards to the author's observation of a group, and how much this lensing has affected the portrayal of culture, both in their use of language and their objections to certain traditions and beliefs. The cultural barrier. Of course, with peer-review, these can be spotted, along with counter-argument studies, but for the average enthusiast with limited access to papers and no formal education in the field, the media reporting on them adds another potential for a warped perception and thus my general skepticism to the material I've read.
I think maintaining a constant general skepticism to anything you've read is very healthy! I think some of my friends maybe get a bit exasperated by my constant critical analysis of anything and everything, he he he
Oh, definitely is healthy, but easier said than done, I reckon. Thank-you for your information above, I've learned quite a bit!
Thanks. I personally thought it was quite a lazy post just drawing attention to a story I've seen doing the rounds on my other social networks and so thought I'd share it on here, but I guess not everyone on Steemit have the same stories flying about their social networks! I'll definitely be sharing more! :D
It was nice to know that young scientists are working in Africa and studying the life and language of the indigenous population. Very interesting post.
There's a long history of young scientists from the nuclei of colonial empires (e.g. UK, France) going overseas to conduct research, and it very much continues alive and well to today. The healthy part is to acknowledge the colonial backdrop to this and be aware of how current research may be perpetuating without realising it certain colonial prejudices and patterns, or whether it may be breaking such links to the past and being much more respectful and self-aware.
I appreciate your highlighting the absolute impossibility of a sterile "impartiality" in research. As you point out, even something as fundamental as selecting a research method is imbued with biases. I am a clinical social worker, and having had years in the field, I have learned that in order to be aware and respectful of client self-determination I must continuously "check in" regarding my own biases, values, prejudices. I am glad to read about the attention being paid this in the field of anthropology. Best wishes to you!
Thanks! Do you use Grounded Theory in your field? It's something I'd like to learn more about, it seems that achieving it can in practice sometimes prove to be more aspirational than anything else, but it seems like a rather alluring way to in some ways balance out the researcher bias.
I have to admit, hadn't heard of grounded theory - I'm 17 years out of grad school and haven't really kept up. But I looked it up - Wikipedia describes it as "the construction of theory through the analysis of data." You know, that really describes what I see as good social work/psychotherapy practice. Each client/family/organization is an undiscovered, unique culture and we have to stay open to see what the client identifies as the issue, what possible solutions they see or have tried, and then support them in solving the problem as they see it. It sounds like it would be a real challenge to put Grounded Theory into practice in research. I need to read more, but at first glance it would appear that you wouldn't even start with a working hypothesis. but how exciting, to start with curiosity and openness, and see where it takes you! What has been your experience with this?
Well I've read around it a little and chatted a great with a friend whose been trying to implement it. One of my advisers thinks it's just a fancy term for coding! But from what I can see it's quite difficult to achieve true grounded theory. Apparently one of the techniques of grounded theory is to go back to your informants with what you've coded to see if they agree with your interpretation, which is interestingly similar to what the San are requesting in their code of ethics.
Thank you very much for your information for me.
Are you based in South Korea?
I live in the center of the European part of Russia.
Ha ha, ok I was very far off! I had just had a quick look at your list of blogs and wondered what language that was. I feel somewhat ashamed that I was so far off!
Everything is fine. Success in Steemit.
You too!
Interestingly, I had no idea that when doing a study on a tribe, before presenting it to other people, this study had to go through a presentation to the tribe, this really complicates the lives of students who might not have the financial resources to do it.
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It really is best practice, but usually is up to the researcher whether they will include it in their study. Even with this code of ethics, it is not set in law, it is simple voluntary etiquette and show of respect. Any sort of consultation is difficult and time-consuming, and certainly if we are talking about students it really may be quite intimidating! Often it may have to be done via a translator and in a completely foreign culture with foreign social etiquette and foreign power structures that need to be acknowledged. As a student, the thought of standign in front of a bunch of people and talking may already be scary! It's not easy. But it is the most correct way to do things if you want to be fully respectful to the study population.
As this article notes, the San are the first tribe in Africa to release their own code of ethics, so that leaves a lot of tribes where the ethics is still primarily guided by the anthropological (and other research areas) communities themselves.
I speak in front of a lot of people almost every day, if today the thing flows normally, when I started to do it ... I trembled on all sides and sweated through every pore, and spoke to people of my culture and customs . I can't imagine how I would feel to speak to people who have a culture and customs completely different from mine, being afraid of being impolite.
To blur these differences it is really there to have a code of ethics.
In all fairness, by the time someone gets to the end of a study they should feel a lot more at ease with the study population (although it of course depends on the nature of the research). I think the initial presentations and introductions are more likely to create presentation sweats!
By the way thanks for the resteem!!!
What are the new ethics then
Here is a link to there small booklet comprising the ethics code. I've updated the post to include a small synopsis. Sorry only replying now, I thought I had already actually!
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Thank you!
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Good Luck!
Thank you Waqas Ali :)
Not mention I am always give you the right advice
What are the new ethics then?
The original story is here, and the new code of ethics is here.
Thanks!
I should have linked the ethics code from the post and also maybe given more of a summary of what the article was, even if just a few bullet points of their main thrust so it wouldn't be necessary to go to that page. It ended up being much more of a commentary than what I had originally set out to do, which was basically just link to an interesting story. Always learning!
It is in the headline and then the information should be there. But anyway you may edit your post with the links. Have a great day!
Oh my gosh - I had never realised before that I could edit posts! Thank you!