Comparative accounts of linguistic fieldwork as ethical exercises

Abstract

This article is an account of a long-term linguistic fieldwork project at San Antonio Pueblo, New Mexico, an indigenous North American community that places great emphasis on controlling access to cultural and linguistic materials. Using two previous accounts of linguistic fieldwork to frame critical ethical issues (Matras 2005; Wilkins 1992), I present my experience of working collaboratively with a tribe who limits the circulation of indigenous language materials and shapes the scope of my research inquiries. As part of my account, I delineate the advantages and challenges of this partnership over time, present an account of my role as researcher, and analyze the ethics of gain and loss for both fieldworkers and indigenous communities. In doing this, I argue for the efficacy of reflexivity, continuously examining one’s place in a community of study, and engaging with the experiences of other fieldworkers in order to craft ethical research projects.