Abstract

It is clear that many Indian people and their organizations are becoming more and more interested in all matters that directly concern them. Anthropology is no exception. What is becoming even more clear is the onus of responsibility on anthropologists to interact with and to engage Indian people in various aspects of their research projects. Anthropologists also have, of course, a responsibility to their discipline. These two responsibilities, perhaps among others, are judged by some researchers to be incompatible. Indeed, some view the recent developments that comprise the Hesquiat project as a threat to the very nature of scientific inquiry. The primary purpose of this paper will be to demonstrate on the basis of the Hesquiat experience that these recent developments are more an opportunity than a threat and that the two primary responsibilities of anthropologists, to the people with whom they work and to their discipline, are very compatible.