| Researchers have often been criticized for their disregard of Native protocols when investigating Native knowledge, causing harm on a spiritual, emotional, and physical level. This shared inquiry into the ethics of researching Native knowledge took place in one of the Paiute-Shoshone Tribes in Nevada. The research emerged from a common interest in Native protocols of seeking informed consent, particularly when interacting in a spiritual context. Through the example of the Sweat-Lodge we sought to demonstrate how spiritual awareness defines, shapes, and demands ethical behaviour.;When cross-cultural research consists of an interaction between a fieldworker and an “other” who becomes the resource for and the subject of ethnography, Lévinas, theory becomes a valuable tool for analyzing this relationship. The centrality of otherness lies at the heart of his philosophy which centres on the relationship between the self and the other's irreducible alterity. Ethics begins with the awareness of otherness and is a calling into question of the privileges of the self.;While the importance of informed consent is unquestioned in most circles, what often goes unquestioned in how informed consent may have different meanings and implications in cross-cultural situations. In the context of this research, we established that there is a strong spiritual grounding for ethical conduct. We argued that there are “spiritual laws” that may have to be considered when seeking informed consent. We elaborated a set of ethical recommendations that apply to the particular circle in which this research took place, but that may also apply to other research situations. |
