Responsibilities of Anthropologists There is much blindness in the way "civilized" people first percieve people of other cultures. Often times this blindness can lead to arrogance. Anthropology has been important for hundreds of years, describing unknown cultures and explaining their histories. Unfortunately, not all of the work or research these anthropologists do can be completely accurate. Researchers such as Napolean A Chagnon abuse not only the culture under question, but all those who follow his work. It is difficult to understand why this type of abuse occurs. There are many explinations why, but the most prevelant being the illusion of superiority. Chagnon was a very crafty man who manipulated his surroundings to get the results he desired. Although supposedly researching the formerly unkonown tribe of the Yanomami, Chagnon essentially changed the history of the Yanomami people, in order to collect information about their past. This is an example of anthropologists abusing his or her power, to further their own career. Chagnon got the results he wanted from the start. Chagnon wanted to describe these people as violent and dangerous in order to get more people interested and make himself seem brave by living with these "wild" tribes. His descriptions were made from his own point of view, which are certainly tainted, and the worst part is that people who read his work have no idea how biased an opinion he might have. Anthropologists have a responcibility to their research, as well as those who learn from it, to be completely objective. It is disappointing that people get taken advantage of and sometimes led to believe things that make the "reasercher" seem almost mighty. An area of much debate is whether a researcher should intereact or simply observe. Both could have positive or negative results to the people being studied. An argument can be made that the only truly objective way to research a culture is to only observe, and never interact because interacting could change the way people live.
