Introduction: Partial Truths By James Clifford

In his selection titled, “Introduction: Partial Truths,” James Clifford asserts that ethnographies present “Partial truths” and, as such, are not entirely valid. According to Clifford, “Even the best ethnographic texts - serious, true fictions - are systems, or economies, of truth. Power and history work through them, in ways their authors cannot fully control” (p. 7). Due to these historical constraints, it is impossible for anthropologists to assert the ‘full’ truths about a culture and confidently evaluate and present that culture’s values, norms and ideology. Additionally, Clifford suggests that ethnographies are “True fictions.” While anthropologists intend to study the ‘truth’ about a culture, their own unique backgrounds and identities