ETHICS IN PRACTICE:

THREE ENCOUNTERS FROM THE FIELD

Three Ethical Encounters: Observing, Intervening, and Representing Ethics in Ethnographic Fieldwork rarely fall into neat categories. It unfolds in the uncertainty of real situations, moments when decisions must be made without guidance, where understanding people’s worlds collides with personal conscience, and where good intentions can have unintended consequences.

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Today, this uncertainty extends beyond professional researchers. With the rise of smartphones and social media, everyone has become a documentarian. Every day, millions of people travel, photograph, and

film every corner of the globe. Yet much of this is not guided by the desire to tell others' stories with understanding or respect, but by the pursuit of likes, shares, and subscribers. Communities, rituals, and

even private lives are captured and circulated for attention rather than insight. The world’s most intimate human moments are often turned into content, stripped of context, consent, and meaning.

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This new reality makes the question of ethics more urgent than ever. The power to record and share demands self-awareness and restraint. Whether behind a camera, holding a notebook, or posting online, we must ask: Whose story is this to tell? And what are the consequences of telling it?

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The three case studies that follow explore different dimensions of ethical challenge. In Jaisalmer, the Manganiyar musicians raise questions about representation, livelihood, and the blurred line between participation and exploitation. In North Bihar, a researcher must decide whether cultural respect outweighs the moral duty to prevent harm. And in post-war Bosnia, a team discovers how trust and translation can be manipulated from within.

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Together, these stories reveal that ethics is not a checklist but a state of awareness, an ongoing negotiation between empathy, truth, and responsibility. They remind us that the ethnographer’s role is not only to observe the world, but to consider how their presence, choices, and silence shape it.

CASE STUDY ONE: THE MANGANIYAR MUSICIANS OF JAISALMER

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Each evening in Jaisalmer, a Manganiyar family brings their music to the courtyards of hotels, carrying centuries of oral tradition into the present as they sing for passing visitors. Their harmoniums, dholaks, and voices fill the warm desert air, performing songs that once belonged to royal courts and village gatherings, now sustaining family livelihoods through tourism.

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To many visitors, it is a captivating scene, heritage alive, children learning the music of their ancestors beside their fathers. Yet behind the melodies lie quieter stories: the struggle to balance culture with survival, learning with labour, and tradition with change. The family depends on these nightly performances for income. The children, still of school age, perform late into the night, often too tired for morning classes. Some guests see the performance as a symbol of Rajasthan’s rich culture; others see children working when they should be studying.

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For the ethnographer or photographer, such a scene raises questions that are both aesthetic and ethical. Is documenting or sharing such images a celebration of cultural continuity, or does it risk reinforcing

poverty as spectacle? Should the presence of children in traditional performances be interpreted as apprenticeship, family work, or child labour? Where does one draw the line between participation and

exploitation, authenticity and necessity?

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Reflection and Discussion

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• Cultural heritage can both preserve and constrain. Economic pressures may force traditions into performance rather than practice.

• ​Children’s participation in art and ritual is common in many societies but becomes ethically complex when linked to income generation.

• Researchers and photographers must consider how their work represents these realities—whether it empowers or objectifies.

• The context of livelihood, education, and dignity must inform every act of documentation.

Questions for Reflection

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• When does participation in cultural heritage become exploitation?

• Should ethnographers intervene or observe when children are involved in economic performance?

• How might representation, through photography, film, or writing, affect how the outside world perceives such families?

• What responsibilities do we have when our work shapes those perceptions?​

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Teaching Summary

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This case highlights the ethical challenges of representing living traditions in contexts of poverty and change. It invites reflection on the blurred boundaries between art, work, and education, as well as on the

role of the ethnographer as both witness and storyteller. The Manganiyar musicians remind us that culture is not static; it survives through adaptation, often at a cost that outsiders rarely see.

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