Chandra Jayawardena and the Ethical Turn in Australian Anthropology

The Sri Lankan-born anthropologist, the late Chandra Jayawardena, was a pivotal figure in the development of Australian anthropology. He arrived at the University of Sydney in the late 1960s, a period of dramatic intellectual and political change. In the 1970s, he was at the centre of the ethical debate about the involvement of anthropologists in the Tribal Research Centre, a dispute which pitted him against W.R. Geddes. The article draws on his archived papers, including a previously unpublished essay on ethical practice, and locates the 1970s debate - which came at a crucial time in the development of Australian anthropology - in relation to contemporary debates about ethics and anthropological engagement.