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When ethics runs counter to morals

Pina-Cabral, Joao (2020) When ethics runs counter to morals. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 8 (2). pp. 522-529. ISSN 2575-1433. (doi:10.1086/708679) (KAR id:80657)

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Official URL:
https://doi.org/10.1086/708679

Abstract

In the present conjuncture, Brazilian social anthropologists are facing a major challenge to their work. I suggest that this happens because of anthropology’s central dependence on the ethnographic method. The ethnographer’s direct contact with the people they study gives rise to an ethical response that moves the ethnographer beyond abstract moral principles. But, in the world of Jair Bolsonaro or Donald Trump, ethics counters morals: the objectivized, legalistic formulas favored by these autocratic ideologues (supposedly representing “tradition” and “identity”) turn out not to correspond to the actual conditions that face the persons that anthropologists meet in the field, who experience oppression and suffering in their lives.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1086/708679
Uncontrolled keywords: Brazil, conjunction, ethnographic gesture, de-ethnocentrification, ethics, morals, conservativism, progressivism, pharysism
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Anthropology and Conservation
Depositing User: Joao de Pina Cabral
Date Deposited: 30 Mar 2020 13:56 UTC
Last Modified: 05 Nov 2024 12:46 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/80657 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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