Anthropology and/as an applied ethics

Theory and methods „hidden“ in the Ethical code of the American Anthropology Association

Abstract

In the context of the upcoming reactivation of the Serbian Ethnology and Anthropology society and the normalization of the work of professional associations, as well as their occasional adoption of their ethic codes in Serbia, we are analyzing the ethic code of the biggest professional anthropological association in the world- American Anthropology Association (AAA). Starting from the assumption that ethic codes are not „pure“moral algorithms of the desirable/correct, but that they are enriched/burdened with „hidden“ theoretic and methodological assumptions, whether by their direct authors, or on the level of the silent knowledge of the disciplinary community, we are examining what can Serbian ethnological/anthropological community learn from the genesis, structure, function and criticism directed at the ethic code of AAA. We are also considering the thesis that the ethic codes of anthropologic associations are legitimizing narrative practices, not unlike those of  magic, through which the discipline is attempting to transform itself from the status of fluid and generally socially unrecognized (and even obscure) occupation into a generally recognized, formally licensed and respectable profession. We suggest for anthropology in Serbia to construct its professional status by forming an alliance with applied ethics offering the services of customization of ethic codes to other professions, through cultural analysis of moral decision-making, as an alternative to legitimizing itself through a contradictory, ethics code burdened with hollow magic principles and theoretical and methodological issues.