[Ethics in social research, its absences, urgencies, and possibilities: Critical proposals from Latin America]

Ethics in qualitative social research has particular features that distinguish it from the model formulated in the Global North for the health sciences, which is characterized by a universalist, quantitative, clinical approach and a limited critical perspective on its role in power relations. In Latin American social anthropology-similarly to other social sciences-there are few institutionalized collective discussions about how ethics is being understood, excluded, and practiced in research processes. In this essay, I examine these issues in the Latin American context, along with some academic and community-based responses. I analyze key dimensions such as risk/benefit, social value, informed consent, confidentiality, validity of results, and the ethics proposed by communities themselves to protect against researchers. I also draw on two institutional experiences in which I participated, raising questions and possibilities through examples from the fields of anthropology and health.