Abstract

SPEED, Shannon. At the crossroads of Human Rights and Anthropology: toward a critically-engaged activist research. Alteridades [online]. 2006, vol.16, n.31, pp.73-85. ISSN 2448-850X.

This article re examines anthropology’s engagement with human rights today. Through the lens of the author’s experience in a case brought before the International Labor Organization by a community in Chiapas, Mexico, this work considers the ethical, practical, and epistemological questions that arise in a research defined by rights activism. The argument is that the critical engagement brought about by activist research is both necessary and productive. Such research may contribute to transforming the discipline by addressing the politics of knowledge production and working to decolonize our research process. Rather than seeking to avoid or resolve the tensions inherent in anthropological research on human rights, activist research draws them to the fore, making them a productive part of the process. Finally, activist research allows us to merge cultural critique with political action to produce knowledge that is empirically grounded, theoretically valuable and ethically viable.

Keywords : human rights; Chiapas; activist research.