The “Moral Codex” of a Researcher as a Bearer of Culture

Abstract

All researchers have their own methods of conducting fieldwork and making available information on the culture they have studied. However, a researcher that is simultaneously a bearer of culture must follow at least three principal ethic rules: First, there is knowledge or information that could be available to anyone. Second, there is knowledge or information that the researcher is initiated into, but the researcher is not allowed by the informant to make it available to anyone. Third, there are prohibitions against sharing certain knowledge or information. My research object is a diaspora group and it therefore requires a special approach to fieldwork.

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Raziskovalci na številne načine in z različnimi metodami opravljajo terensko delo in omogočajo informacije o raziskovani kulturi. V vsakem primeru pa mora raziskovalec, ki je tudi sam nosilec kulture, slediti vsaj trem osnovnim etičnim pravilom: nekatere informacije so lahko dostopne komurkoli; določena znanja ali informacije lahko raziskovalec le selektivno objavi; nekaterih znanj ali informacij pa ni dovoljeno širiti. Avtorica raziskuje diasporo, ki zahteva poseben terenski pristop.