Ways of not seeing: visibility, blindness, and the transparency game
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 13 September 2024
Abstract
Purpose
To advance understanding of transparency by problematising the motivations and strategies of a so far underexplored group: its users.
Design/methodology/approach
We explore the relationship between blindness, visibility, and transparency by drawing on our analysis of Max Frisch’s experimental novel Gantenbein (1964), in which the protagonist lives a life of feigned blindness.
Findings
The accounting scholarly debate on transparency has neglected the users of transparency. We address this through a novel theorisation of transparency as a game, highlighting some of its distinctive features and paradoxes.
Originality/value
By theorising the transparency game we move beyond concerns with what transparency reveals or conceals and conceptualise the motivations and strategies of the players engaged in this game. We show how different players have something to gain from the transparency game and warn of its emancipatory limits.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the three anonymous referees and the Editor, Lee Parker, for their time and challenging, thoughtful comments. Thanks also go to Marian Gatzweiler, Elena Giovannoni, Afshin Mehrpouya and Paolo Quattrone for their support and advice with the paper. Finally, special thanks go to a close friend, Jan Breitsohl, for introducing us to Gantenbein and the work of Max Frisch.
Citation
Tweedie, J. and Ronzani, M. (2024), "Ways of not seeing: visibility, blindness, and the transparency game", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-05-2023-6458
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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