"[A] must-read for every student of anthropology, policy maker and administrator trying to understand the complexities of the social world we inhabit." - Sarbani Sharma (Anthropology Book Forum) "A stimulating collection of articles that illustrates, examines, and generates important questions about the project of public ethnography, and about public social science more generally. It deserves to be widely read." - Martyn Hammersley (Canadian Journal of Sociology) "<i>If Truth Be Told</i> offers thoughtful, reflexive accounts of the public afterlife of ethnography that will surely spark a range of productive exchanges among scholars invested in the public reach of social science research." - Colin Hastings, Leigha Comer, & Eric Mykhalovskiy (Forum: Qualitative Social Research) "In presenting some of the possibilities and challenges that 'going public' entails, this volume is essential reading for researchers embarking on public ethnography, and for departments and funders who encourage engagement beyond academia. <i>If Truth Be Told</i> is equally important for those who do not see their work as being particularly public-facing; any published work can take on a public afterlife beyond the author’s intentions." - Laura Haapio-Kirk (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute) "In this important new collection,<i></i>Didier Fassin and his colleagues stake a powerful and innovative claim on the diverse landscape of anthropology’s history of public engagement." - Alyshia Galvez (American Ethnologist) "[This] book is a wonderful contribution that further helps to reflect upon the role of ethnography, and the constant challenges it must face when trying to go beyond academia and engage with wider audiences." - Sebastian Rojas Navarro (Sociological Research Online)
Contributors. Jonathan Benthall, Lucas Bessire, JoÃo Biehl, Gabriella Coleman, Manuela Ivone Cunha, Vincent Dubois, Nadia Abu El-Haj, Didier Fassin, Kelly Gillespie, Ghassan Hage, Sherine Hamdy, Federico Neiburg, Unni Wikan
Part I. Strategies
1. Gopher, Translator, and Trickster: The Ethnographer and the Media / Gabriella Coleman 19
2. What Is a Public Intervention? Speaking Truth to the Oppressed / Ghassan Hage 47
3. Before the Commission: Ethnography as Pubic Testimony / Kelly Gillespie 69
4. Addressing Policy-Oriented Audiences: Relevance and Persuasiveness / Manuela Ivone Cunha 96
Part II. Engagements
5. Serendipitous Involvement: Making Peace in the Geto / Federico Neiburg 119
6. Tactical versus Critical: Indigenizing Public Ethnography / Lucas Bessire 138
7. Experto Crede? A Legal and Political Conundrum / Jonathan Benthall 160
8. Policy Ethnography as a Combat Sport: Analyzing the Welfare State against the Grain / Vincent Dubois 184
Part III. Tensions
9. Academic Freedom at Risk: The Occasional Worldliness of Scholarly Texts / Nadia Abu El-Haj 205
10. Perils and Prospects of Going Public: Between Academia and Real Life / Unni Wikan 228
11. Ethnography Prosecuted: Facing the Fabulation of Power / JoÃo Biehl 261
12. How Publics Shape Ethnographers: Translating across Divided Audiences / Sherine Hamdy 287
Epilogue: The Public Afterlife of Ethnography / Didier Fassin 311
Contributors 345
Index 349