How transparency works : ethnographies of a global value / edited by Filipe Calvão, Matthieu Boly, Elizabeth Ferry.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Calvão, Filipe, editor.

Bolay, Matthieu, editor.

Ferry, Elizabeth Emma, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Transparency.

transparency (optical property).

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2026.

Summary:

"Transparency has become a ubiquitous presence in seemingly every sphere of social, economic, and political life. Yet, for all the claims that transparency works, little attention has been paid to how it works – even when it fails to achieve its goals. Instead of assuming that transparency is itself transparent, this book questions the technological practices, material qualities, and institutional standards producing transparency in extractive, commodity trading, and agricultural sites. Furthermore, it asks: how is transparency certified and standardized? How is it regimented by 'ethical' and 'responsible' businesses, or valued by traders and investors, from auction rooms to sustainability reports? The contributions bring nuanced answers to these questions, approaching transparency through four key organizing concepts, namely disclosure, immediacy, trust, and truth. These are concepts that anchor the making of transparency across the lifespan of global commodities"-- Cambridge Core.

Contents:

Introduction : making transparency visible / Matthieu Bolay, Filipe Calvão, Elizabeth Ferry, and Alex Golub

Indian tea, postcolonial governance, and the uses of transparency / Sarah Besky

Transparency and the meaning of sustainability / Matthew Archer

Opaque exchange : concealment, disclosure, and asymmetric transactions in the Indian Ocean sapphire trade / Nethra Samarawickrema

Coercive expertise and the paradox of responsible extraction in the ruby trade in Mozambique / Brian Brazeal

The social life of digital transparency / Filipe Calvão and Emanuel Hermann

“I never looked into a diamond” : the transparent ignorance of the diamond broker / Sam Shuman

Worth its weight : value-making with gold and transparency / Elizabeth Ferry

Lenses of transparency : optical disjunctures around mining and the future in Greenland’s nation-building project / Les W. Field

Transparency and trust in DIY aid / Andrew Walsh

Transparency and truth in organic certification / Shaila Seshia Galvin

Discreet transparency : dealing in plural veridictions in Swiss gold refineries / Matthieu Bolay

How to count vanilla : transparency trade-offs in organic certification / Sarah Osterhoudt

Methodological appendix : making global comparison possible? / Filipe Calvão and Matthieu Bolay.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (Cambridge Core, viewed January 15, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: How transparency works

ISBN:

9781009605243

1009605240

OCLC:

1545082438

Publisher Number:

CIPO000290679

Access Restriction:

Some versions: Open access versions available from some providers open access