Euro-Western research and ethics

Euro-Western societies value some different principles and ideas from Indigenous societies (although of course there are also areas of overlap). For example, the principle of autonomy is highly valued in most Euro-Western societies, while the principle of collectivity is highly valued in many African societies (de Vries and Henley, 2014: 80). Also, there are a range of Euro-Western epistemologies and ontologies. Nevertheless, most Euro-Western ontologies are based on the idea that it is possible to separate wholes into parts: to differentiate, for example, spiritual from physical, and emotional from cerebral. And most Euro-Western epistemologies are based on the idea that knowledge is held by individuals. This book highlights some of the ways in which Euro-Western research may not always be as ethical as its adherents would like to think. In this context, it is necessary to note that the oppression of Indigenous peoples through Euro-Western research is not confined to history (Moodie, 2010: 818; Rix et al, 2018: 5, 7). For example, American museums, universities and other institutions still hold the remains and burial offerings of around two million Indigenous people, even though legislation was passed to change this as long ago as 1990. Because Euro-Western researchers have labelled these materials as ‘data’, they have been able to avoid repatriating the human remains and burial offerings which are so important to Indigenous peoples (Dunbar-Ortiz, 2014: 231). We know that Euro-Western research has been used in support of atrocities around the world, including within Euro-Western society, such as Nazi medical research on concentration camp prisoners during the Second World War

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