Le dilemme du secret dans l'étude de trois groupes ethniques de Grand Chaco Sud-américain
The dilemma of secrecy in the study of three ethnic groups from the South American Gran Chaco

Summary/Abstract: From an epistemological perspective, ethics poses a problem that goes beyond the issue of the stakeholders’ rationality or irrationality. Besides, it refers to the conceptual framework of knowledge, practices, and emotions allowed and forbidden within the group, as well as to their possible revelation to the researcher. This compels us to reconsider group secrets and their disclosure to the anthropologist. Undoubtedly, the resolution of this problem attempts to introduce a novel topic both concerning ethnographic fieldwork and anthropological reflection. Our examples are provided by the Wichi and Chorote Indians of the Argentine Chaco and by the Nivaclé of the Paraguayan Chaco. Secrets usually fall within the private sphere, whose meaning differs among these cultures: it may be based on a reasonable respect for intimacy, but also on the attribution of cosmological disorder that manifests the disintegration of the world. According to our experience, rubbish, body waste, corpses, or the violation of modesty as required by sexual relations attest to such disorder. Hence, all those topics associated either with Life or Death should occur not only in private but in a protected environment. We bring forward these issues by classifying secrecy into the following fields: 1) cognitive; 2) gender differences; 3) emotions; 4) offense; 5) guilt; 6) new forms of secrecy and disclosure. In this paper, the relevance of secrets is shown in unexpected situations arising from an interaction that takes place on the boundaries of standardised knowledge, and may contribute to the enhancement of anthropological knowledge while revealing unforeseen topics.

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