This article critically assesses the impact of political and moral positions within contemporary anthropology. Re‐examining ideas of advocacy and the ethical within the discipline, it argues for an alternative political anthropology that focuses on perpetration rather than victimhood, offenders rather than the offended. If anthropology wants to be a discipline that works against social wrongs and suffering, then understanding the positions and perspectives of those causing them is, we contend, a necessary point of departure. Yet how can we approach people ethnographically who transgress bodily, legal, and moral boundaries, and why is this not more commonly done? In answering these questions, we analyse mainstream disciplinary ethics, both current and historical, and highlight some of the reactions that the study of perpetrators evoke in anthropologists. This illuminates an inconsistency within political anthropology. While there is ample theoretical and ethnographic nuance within the subdiscipline, this complexity seems to fade when we focus on perpetration. We suggest that anthropology engages more fully in the study of perpetration and approaches the issue by clarifying how (mis)dynamics are anchored within shared social worlds and historical becomings. This article thus calls upon us to expand our anthropological attention and curiosity beyond what might be morally comfortable.

中文翻译：

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我们的其他他者：关于犯罪者、道德和人种学的不安


本文批判性地评估了当代人类学中政治和道德立场的影响。它重新审视了该学科内的倡导和道德理念，主张一种替代性的政治人类学，它关注的是犯罪者而不是受害者，是罪犯而不是被冒犯者。我们认为，如果人类学想成为一门反对社会错误和苦难的学科，那么理解造成这些错误和苦难的人的立场和观点是一个必要的出发点。然而，我们如何从人种学的角度接近那些超越身体、法律和道德界限的人，为什么这不更普遍呢？在回答这些问题时，我们分析了当前和历史上的主流学科伦理学，并强调了对肇事者的研究在人类学家中引起的一些反应。这揭示了政治人类学内部的不一致。虽然该子学科内有大量的理论和人种学细微差别，但当我们专注于犯罪时，这种复杂性似乎就消失了。我们建议人类学更全面地参与对犯罪的研究，并通过澄清（错误）动态如何锚定在共享的社会世界和历史演变中来解决这个问题。因此，本文呼吁我们将人类学的关注和好奇心扩展到道德上可能舒适的范围之外。