As a scholar invested in advancing the field of Native American material cultural studies, I am constantly reconditioning my understanding of epistemology and appropriate ways of approaching cultural circumstances of the so-called “Other” through the personal encounters and shared experiences of my contemporaries. My own ethical position is always fluid, negotiated by indigenous and non-indigenous sources as I try to find ground on what exactly I intend to do (outside of a profession) with the knowledge I 'accumulated. Perhaps the most vulnerable aspect of existence in academia is the ease with which one is unable to compromise one's own advancement for the well-being of those being studied. Barre Toelken is an encouraging exception to this conundrum, considering his explicit analysis of Navajo and Western ethics in the case of the Hugh Yellowman tapes. His essay argues for an approach that abandons the hypothetical gain of the field researcher to the socio-emotional needs of the subjects' epistemological structure and, most intriguingly, he treats ethnographic materials as a practice rather than as data. After years of apprehension about the objectifying habits of cultural anthropology, a discipline internally hesitant by the quarrels between the sciences and the humanities, I am finally driven to completely disengage from these authority-based methods following the example of Toelken. Perhaps the most ubiquitous quality shared among humans is the ability to know. The English language seems stark and outdated when we consider a definition of the word itself that encompasses the different feelings that can be aroused by knowing something. John Farella examines the inequality that exists in the relationship between the West... middle of article ...... in our collaborative efforts as progressive cultural studies scholars, I had never thought until 'Now for my own work, I would compromise if ever a circumstance similar to that of Toelken's Yellowman strips arose. Whereas his position has caused me to identify an unnamed malaise that has left me feeling uneasy about much of the material I consume: "some of it [benefits] from inherent benefits due to control of infrastructure and production. Ultimately, my own morality and the relationships I choose to maintain in my research will dictate the decisions I make in my actual practice. Works Cited by John Farella. The Main Stem: A Synthesis of Navajo Philosophy. Navajo religion. (Tuschon: University of Arizona Press, 1984)Barre Toelken. “The Yellowman Tapes.” Journal of American Folklore. (American Folk Society, 1998)