Anthropologist, spy, and apprentice: “Secreting” the data produced on the African art market in Burkina Faso in the age of open science

In Burkina Faso, secrecy reigns supreme in the African art market. Any attempt at conducting an ethnography in this field reveals the paradoxes inherent in ethnological research, whose aim is to uncover and disseminate these secrets. Finding theoretical footholds to help navigate these paradoxes and devising practical solutions for carrying out such research is providing ample food for thought in current debates on open science policy. This article highlights the specific features of the insider knowledge wielded by market players and the ways in which it is circulated. In terms of researchers, it stresses the heuristic value of taking into account the expectations of those studied with regard to co-produced knowledge, and details the solutions put in place to ethically disseminate this knowledge. In so doing, it suggests avenues for reflection on the balance to be struck between disclosure and silence.