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Hidden Truths and Unresolved Dilemmas: a Panel on Ethics and Research in the Urban Public Domain
Author(s) -
Nelson Nancy L.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
city and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.308
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1548-744X
pISSN - 0893-0465
DOI - 10.1525/ciso.1996.8.1.101
Subject(s) - variety (cybernetics) , public domain , public space , sociology , identity (music) , ethnography , construct (python library) , research ethics , domain (mathematical analysis) , public relations , political science , engineering ethics , geography , anthropology , aesthetics , computer science , architectural engineering , philosophy , archaeology , artificial intelligence , engineering , programming language , mathematical analysis , mathematics
INTRODUCING THE ARTICLES on ethics in this volume, this paper identifies one issue common to them all—research ethics in the urban public domain. When one considers the multiple meanings associated with the word “public,” a variety of questions surface. To which “public” should the ethnographer respond? What is “public” and what is “private”? What if the people studied have no “private” space, or their lives have been deemed “public”? How should an anthropologist construct her own “public” identity? While all these issues arise in urban research settings, they also provide valuable insights for other areas of anthropology.