Negotiating ethical and legal mazes in the federal workplace

The mandates that control actions in the federal workplace often challenge academic principles of conduct. Particularly vulnerable is the anthropologists' image of themselves as champions of powerless and voiceless groups in an arena perceived as dominated by a hostile government. This is coupled with convictions that socially responsible anthropology respects individual privacy while disseminating data to encourage culturally informed public and federal decisions. Using examples involving federal cultural and natural resources, we show conflicts within this suite of perspectives and with the demands of the federal workplace. The need for legally defensible decisions, responses to publics with diverse agendas, and requirements for confidentiality and public access to government records test our anthropological convictions as well as available legal protections of individual privacy and the public's right to know. Perhaps the anthropological community will strategize about more effective remedies for the problems of meeting the concerns of the individuals and the publics it cares about.