Fieldwork runs on three duties: consent governs what you may take in, confidentiality governs what may go out, and harm is what comes back to the people who trusted you. Read each case, flag every duty it breaks — or flag nothing, if the design is sound.
The three flows
Every case is one triangle. Something flows in from the community, something flows out to the wider world, and the consequences flow back.
The rule of the triangle. Consent guards the inflow. Confidentiality guards the outflow. Harm is the return path — and it is the one nobody signs for.
Nine field casespick a case to open the file
The case
Flag every problem — or none
The reviewer’s questionAnthropologists do not answer to a checklist. The American Anthropological Association’s Principles of Professional Responsibility ask you to weigh duties that can pull against each other — and they are explicit that when they conflict, the obligation to the people you study comes first.