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An important recent trend in dissemination has been toward “public anthropology,” which seeks to break free of academic “intellectual isolation,” engaging straightforwardly with issues and audiences beyond the discipline’s self-imposed boundaries (Borofsky 2000). One aim of public anthropology is to spread knowledge and understanding, and rising scholars are increasingly groomed for public dissemination via -op-eds and podcasts. But public anthropology also seeks to compete directly with journalists and scholars from other disciplines who have succeeded at repackaging and selling – often at quite a profit – our anthropological insights. Marcus (2005) specifically sees the call for public anthropology as a quest for recognition from the media, which has become, for many, “the most prestigious realm” of authoritative knowledge. Marcus attributes this need to the fact, as he sees it, that anthropology is currently paradigm-poor and therefore authority-weak. In this light, public anthropology serves as “a place-holder, an attractive surrogate” and “a source of solidarity” much needed (p. 687).