ABSTRACT
Anthropologists should be clear and open regarding the purpose, methods, outcomes, and sponsors of their work. Anthropologists must also be prepared to acknowledge and disclose to participants and collaborators all tangible and intangible interests that have, or may reasonably be perceived to have, an impact on their work. The goal of being open and honest about research is obviously desirable, but the more one considers it, the more complicated it can become. The specific nature of individual anthropologists' understanding of their ethical responsibility and loyalties to studied populations is in part revealed in the forms of secrecy they use. Sometimes the lines separating academic publications from reports of applied contract work and cultural appropriation are blurry, and in a world where everything is at risk of commodification, anthropologists need to negotiate appropriate uses of the information they gather from those who share their lives with them.
