ABSTRACT
A primary ethical obligation shared by anthropologists is to do no harm. It is imperative that, before any anthropological work be undertaken - in communities, with non-human primates or other animals, at archaeological and paleoanthropological sites - each researcher think through the possible ways that the research might cause harm. Anthropological practice has always necessitated a reflective discourse on the responsibility to the people, communities, and animals with whom people work. For anthropology, the revised code places responsibility for one's actions squarely on the anthropologist; it requires each of the people to consider the impacts of the work and its potential to cause harm. Complicated anthropological issues require nuanced understandings and interpretations of the events people find themselves fully enmeshed in, are associated with, or examine from a distance. Like many of the principles in this and previous codes, they may have different interpretations or ramifications when applied to individuals or to communities of differing scale.
