The Necessity of Action, the Potential of Harm
(CSU, Fullerton)
This paper seeks to explore the ethical conundrum faced by anthropologists when action is necessary but potentially harmful to one group or another. The high profile Tse-whit-zen archaeological dig in Northwest Washington state affected the Klallam Indian Tribe as well as the other residents of Port Angeles, Washington, politically, economically, and emotionally. Media and personal sources such as blogs, newspaper, and magazine articles tell the saga of the discovery and excavation of the 2700 year-old site, as well as the politics surrounding the loss of local jobs that resulted from the discovery. This was a case in which anthropologists and archaeologists could not choose whether or not their work would be public, and every action on their part weighed heavily on the politics of the tribe, the town, and the state as a whole. The anthropologists’ participation prompts the question as to what happens when local politics are divided in such a way that every decision has a potentially negative impact on one side or the other.