The book, Critical Ethography makes few suggestions for scholars in ethnography. Here is my response. The examples in CE, chapter six are reminiscent or almost complete reflection of centuries of demonstrated behaviors by advocates, academics, researchers and the like who would go into a culture, immerse themselves, study that culture, return to wherever they came from, dismember the data, interpret and make recommendations with little concern for ethics. Ethics, I know, is a very delicate, multifaceted subject, because what one might consider ethical may not be ethical for me. However, there are standards now in place that we have to follow when studying and interpreting data. Despite the methods and pieces of advice suggested by Madison, some scholars would flagrantly violate established standards and the people's trust in the name of free speech, self ego inflation or other ulterior motive(s). Just a point of information: did you know that some researchers who go into a culture to conduct a study have very little clue as who the people are, and what the culture is. Some even go in with preconceived bias or even hatred for a culture influenced by stored media images, texts and oral tradition from members of their culture. We may have all these ethical standards in the books, but individual ethics and philosophy count a lot. Think about it!
Sierra Leone Academic/Professional
Victor A. Massaquoi is a PHD Fellow in communication studies/policy analysis, with research interests in development communication/social change, political communication, communication law, capacity building, and communication philosophy/media history. Victor uses mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) for academic inquiry. Victor loves writing, reading, listening to classical/gospel music, watching action, drama and comedy movies, traveling and interacting socially.


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