{"title":"Anthropology's crypto blind spot","authors":"Annaliese Milano Merfield","doi":"10.1111/1467-8322.12951","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12951","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This guest editorial examines how anthropologists approach the study of cryptocurrency communities, revealing a tendency to treat ‘crypto people’ as unworthy subjects deserving only critique rather than serious ethnographic enquiry. Drawing on fieldwork experiences within crypto communities, the author challenges the discipline's selective application of ethical principles and questions why certain groups are deemed less deserving of anthropological understanding. The article argues that anthropology's political homogeneity and growing reluctance to engage with challenging subjects threatens the discipline's cosmopolitan ideals. It calls for a more inclusive approach to fieldwork and subject selection – one that welcomes dissenting voices and extends anthropological curiosity to all people, including those the discipline might find politically or ideologically unpalatable.</p>","PeriodicalId":46293,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology Today","volume":"41 2","pages":"1-2"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143741528","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Front and Back Covers, Volume 41, Number 2. April 2025","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/1467-8322.12884","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12884","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Front and back cover caption, volume 41 issue 2</p><p>THE BEARD AS IDENTITY</p><p>For Danish Sufis of the Naqshbandi Mujaddidi Saifi order, growing a beard is not just a personal choice – it is a spiritual necessity. The beard in this image represents the multiple meanings these beards carry in contemporary Denmark.</p><p>Inside their community, the beard connects Sufi men directly to Prophet Muhammad, whose example they strive to follow in every aspect of life. It marks spiritual progress and devotion. As one Saifi explained, ‘In the grave, at least I have one sunnah, and the Prophet will see me and know what kind of person I am’.</p><p>Outside their community, the same beard subjects them to suspicion and discrimination. Some lose job opportunities. Others face hostile questions from strangers who associate Muslim beards with extremism. Family members worry about their prospects in Danish society.</p><p>Yet these men transform daily challenges into spiritual opportunities. As one Saifi explains, the difficulties they face become meaningful as part of their spiritual journey.</p><p>In this issue, anthropologist Mikkel Rytter examines this tension between what he calls ‘mundane otherness’ – being visibly different in secular Danish society – and ‘transcendent Otherness’ – the spiritual goal of emulating the Prophet. By growing beards despite the consequences, these Danish Muslims turn visible markers of difference into pathways of devotion.</p><p>Like the multicoloured strands in this image, the Saifi beard weaves together religious tradition, personal identity and daily life in a society where being visibly Muslim remains challenging.</p><p>Back cover caption, volume 41 issue 2</p><p>CRYPTO BLIND SPOT</p><p>This illustration depicts the anthropological researcher at the threshold of cryptocurrency communities – represented by blockchain patterns, network nodes and the Bitcoin symbol. It visually captures the central argument of Annaliese Milano Merfield's guest editorial in this issue: anthropology has largely avoided meaningful engagement with crypto communities, instead reducing them to stereotypes such as ‘libertarians’, ‘bros’ or ‘speculators’.</p><p>Merfield challenges the discipline's tendency to apply journalistic-style ethics when studying groups anthropologists may find politically or ideologically unpalatable. She argues that dismissing crypto as mere scams or gambling overlooks its complexity as a social phenomenon with genuine attempts to reimagine economic systems.</p><p>Anthropology has a dilemma: how to approach communities that do not neatly fit into traditional analytical categories of marginality or power. Merfield suggests that, much like blockchain's open, decentralized nature, anthropology should strive to be genuinely inclusive – even of communities researchers may personally dislike.</p><p>This calls for renewed ethnographic commitment: to abandon preconceptions, embrace long-term fieldwork and allow ourselves to be sur","PeriodicalId":46293,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology Today","volume":"41 2","pages":"i-ii"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8322.12884","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143741533","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"What's in a beard?: Mundane and transcendent Otherness among Danish Sufi Muslims","authors":"Mikkel Rytter","doi":"10.1111/1467-8322.12953","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12953","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 <p>This article examines how for contemporary Danish Muslim men, growing a beard becomes a spiritual practice and a marker of visible difference. Drawing on Clifford Geertz's interpretive approach to symbolic meaning, the analysis explores how a beard can function simultaneously as an expression of religious devotion and a contested symbol in public spaces. Through ethnographic research with an offshoot of the global Sufi order referred to as Naqshbandi Mujaddidi Saifi <i>tariqa</i>, the article analyzes how Danish Muslim men navigate between what is termed ‘mundane otherness’ – the everyday experience of being visibly Muslim in a secular society – and ‘transcendent Otherness’ – the spiritual goal of emulating the Prophet Muhammad. The analysis reveals how visible markers of faith, rather than simply acting as signs of difference, can serve as active means of spiritual transformation, even as they subject practitioners to various forms of discrimination and contestation.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":46293,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology Today","volume":"41 2","pages":"3-6"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8322.12953","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143741534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dominican bateyes and the Haitians: New reconfigurations of a colonial legacy","authors":"Raúl Zecca Castel","doi":"10.1111/1467-8322.12954","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12954","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Las Pajas between 2013 and 2023, this article examines how Dominican <i>bateyes</i> – settlements within sugar plantations – have transformed colonial-era labour camps into paradoxical sanctuaries for Haitian migrants and their descendants. An analysis of sugar industry privatization and recent citizenship policies demonstrates how these spaces continue to mediate between labour exploitation and social exclusion while serving as sites of relative protection from deportation. As the 2024 Haitian crisis intensifies cross-border tensions, the case reveals how the historical legacies of colonialism intersect with contemporary legal frameworks to maintain vulnerable labour pools through bureaucratic rather than physical segregation.</p>","PeriodicalId":46293,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology Today","volume":"41 2","pages":"11-14"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143741532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Spy tours: Ruins, secrets and the memory of Cold War Berlin","authors":"Andrew Bickford","doi":"10.1111/1467-8322.12952","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12952","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Field Station Berlin – a National Security Agency/US Army listening post atop Berlin's rubble-built Teufelsberg (‘Devil's Mountain’) – shows how societies transform surveillance infrastructure into spaces of memory. Drawing on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork and his experience as a former US Army intelligence operative at the site, the author reveals how visitors make sense of this Cold War ruin. Through Alison Landsberg's concept of ‘prosthetic memory’, the analysis shows how tourists piece together meaning from accumulated cultural references, while classified aspects of the station's operations remain beyond reach. As Teufelsberg has transformed from spy station to tourist site, it illustrates how cities grapple with their military past. Tourists now explore what was once Berlin's most secret spy station, while protesters turn its walls into canvases for anti-war art.</p>","PeriodicalId":46293,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology Today","volume":"41 2","pages":"7-10"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143741535","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Futures thinking as collaborative practice in anthropology","authors":"Roanne van Voorst","doi":"10.1111/1467-8322.12950","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12950","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 <p>Futures-thinking methods offer transformative potential for anthropological research yet need to be more utilized in our field. Collaborative Futures Scenario Thinking (CFST) combined with the Qualitative Delphi (QD) method provides an accessible and dynamic approach to understanding how communities imagine and shape their futures. Anthropologists have long been sceptical of these methods because corporations have co-opted them. Yet their fundamental purpose fits naturally with anthropology's efforts to decolonize the field. By breaking down the barriers between researchers and participants, these approaches create opportunities for more diverse voices in knowledge creation. Through two ethnographic examples – a housing project in Indonesia and a healthcare study – this article demonstrates how these methods create spaces for marginalized voices and collective action. However, successful implementation requires careful attention to power dynamics and sustained commitment to participatory principles. This methodological innovation suggests promising pathways for anthropology's engagement with future-making practices.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":46293,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology Today","volume":"41 2","pages":"15-19"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-8322.12950","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143741539","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"ANTHROPOLOGY & THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR ECONOMICS 2024","authors":"Paul Richards, Maarten Voors","doi":"10.1111/1467-8322.12956","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12956","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46293,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology Today","volume":"41 2","pages":"20"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143741537","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"New Humanism: A reply to Tim Ingold & Chris Hann 40(6)","authors":"Brian Morris","doi":"10.1111/1467-8322.12943","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12943","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46293,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology Today","volume":"41 1","pages":"28"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143121378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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