CASE FIVE: THE YANOMAMI When Good Intentions Are Not Enough
SOURCE: Robert Borofsky (drawn from Yanomami: The Fierce Controversy and What We Can Learn From It and references cited below)
The Yanomami are perhaps the best-known Amazonian Indian group in the world. They are often portrayed in books and films, not necessarily
correctly, as one of the world's last remaining prototypically primitive groups.
James Neel, perceived by some as the father of modern human genetics, began his research among the Yanomami in 1966. One may infer from his actions and writings that he felt research among the Yanomami specifically collecting their blood samples for analysis involved also providing them something in return for their assistance. When Neel learned the Yanomami were susceptible to measles, for example, he brought over 2,000 doses of the Edmonson B vaccine (that he obtained at minimal cost from the Center for Disease Control) to vaccinate the group against a potential deadly measles epidemic. Half of this supply he gave to the Venezuelan government to distribute. (What happened to that vaccine is not known.) He planned to hand the rest over to missionaries for an inoculation campaign. But when a measles epidemic unexpectedly broke out, he scrapped this plan and began a vaccination campaign himself to minimize the epidemics impact. He was only partially successful. He inoculated many Yanomami. A number, however, had adverse reactions to the vaccine because he failed to include immune gamma globulin (MIG). (He had given much of his gamma globulin to the Venezuelan authorities.) Regretfully, a number of Yanomami died.
SOURCE: Robert Borofsky (drawn from Yanomami: The Fierce Controversy and What We Can Learn From It and references cited below)
The Yanomami are perhaps the best-known Amazonian Indian group in the world. They are often portrayed in books and films, not necessarily
correctly, as one of the world's last remaining prototypically primitive groups.
James Neel, perceived by some as the father of modern human genetics, began his research among the Yanomami in 1966. One may infer from his actions and writings that he felt research among the Yanomami specifically collecting their blood samples for analysis involved also providing them something in return for their assistance. When Neel learned the Yanomami were susceptible to measles, for example, he brought over 2,000 doses of the Edmonson B vaccine (that he obtained at minimal cost from the Center for Disease Control) to vaccinate the group against a potential deadly measles epidemic. Half of this supply he gave to the Venezuelan government to distribute. (What happened to that vaccine is not known.) He planned to hand the rest over to missionaries for an inoculation campaign. But when a measles epidemic unexpectedly broke out, he scrapped this plan and began a vaccination campaign himself to minimize the epidemics impact. He was only partially successful. He inoculated many Yanomami. A number, however, had adverse reactions to the vaccine because he failed to include immune gamma globulin (MIG). (He had given much of his gamma globulin to the Venezuelan authorities.) Regretfully, a number of Yanomami died.
Need a Professional Writer to Work on this Paper and Give you a 100 % Original Paper? Click Here and Get this Essay Done………………
Some praised Neels attempt to save Yanomami lives. Others have suggested that he helped spread the epidemic through his research or at least aggravated the problem by using the Edmonson B vaccine, without immune gamma globulin. If he had purchased a more expensive measles vaccine, the Yanomami would have had fewer adverse reactions. Today, the Yanomami rarely mention Neels assistance.
What is clear is that the Yanomami were barely consulted regarding Neels research. Neel decided to do his research without first gaining Yanomami permission. And he decided, on his own, what the reciprocal benefits of his research would be.
The Yanomami were promised that Neels blood samples would be analyzed to discover information helpful in fighting Yanomami diseases. That promise was never kept. Moreover, Napoleon Chagnon the anthropologist who was central to Neels research apparently never informed the Yanomami that the blood samples would be stored for years in research refrigerators in the United States rather destroyed soon after the research was over. Yanomami believe that all parts of a deceased Yanomami must be ritually disposed of so the deceased can spiritually leave this world. Forcing the deceased to spiritually remain in this world as would occur by storing their blood in research refrigerators could cause the deceased to turn on the living and bring them harm.
In his own anthropological research, Chagnon provided informants with a host of valued itemssuch as machetes, pots and even guns for
http://www.publicanthropology.org/CAW/General/-background.htm Page 5 of 8
Background 2/5/15, 7:49 AM
In his own anthropological research, Chagnon provided informants with a host of valued itemssuch as machetes, pots and even guns for hunting. Chagnon speaks movingly of his time with the Yanomami.
By repetitively returning and becoming more and more intimately associated with people like Kaobawa and Rerebawa [two of his informants], I became "involved" in their culture and now want to make sure that they and their children are given a fair shake in the inevitable changes that are occurring. I can do so only by becoming, as they say, involvedby becoming more active and becoming an advocate of their rights and their chances to have a decent future, one that does not condemn them to becoming inferior members of the lowest possible rung of the socioeconomic ladder (Borofsky 2005:27; Chagnon 1992:244-46).
Yet it is also true that during his research, Chagnon broke the American Anthropological Associations Code of Ethics. Quoting from the
Associations El Dorado Task Force Report, in respect to the allegations it investigated against Changon: "first, allegations that his representations of Yanomami ways of life were damaging to them and that he made insufficient effort to undo this damage, and second that his association in the early 1990's with FUNDAFACI, a Venezuelan foundation that sponsored his research, represented an unethical prioritizing of his own research concerns over the well-being of the Yanomami. We concur with both these allegations" (Borofsky 2005:308; American Anthropological Association 2002, I:31). The first violated the anthropological injunction against do no harm. The second violated Venezuelan law and led to Chagnons deportation from Venezuela.
Beyond doubt, both Neel and Chagnon wanted to provide the Yanomami with reciprocal benefits for the assistance the Yanomami provided them. Both clearly wanted to do well by the group. But in both cases, helping the Yanomami often involved the researchers specifying the requests as well as the benefits for assisting in their research. The Yanomami were not active negotiators in this process. There was no informed consent. They were lied to in respect to receiving back medical information from the blood samples to help in fighting Yanomami diseases. It also seems they were misled regarding the fate of the blood samples. Certainly when the Yanomami discovered that these blood samples were being stored in research refrigerators, there was an uproar that continues today. The Yanomami have vociferously campaigned for the return of these samples.
The result is that Chagnon and, to a lesser degree, Neel are now held up as examples of how NOT to conduct field research. The Yanomami feel taken advantage of by both researchers. The Yanomami clearly benefited from both individuals research. But they benefited in ways they did not always appreciate at the time and they vociferously criticize today. Both researchers are depicted in less than positive terms, sometimes vehemently so, by the Yanomami.
Need a Professional Writer to Work on this Paper and Give you a 100 % Original Paper? Click Here and Get this Essay Done………………
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.