Editors’ Forum

These Fieldsights sections feature series of ten or more short-form essays, which bring together scholars across institutions and career stages to weigh in on a shared topic. These pieces are reviewed by the editors of Cultural Anthropology.

How to Submit

View the submission guidelines. Please email [email protected] with any questions.

Ukraine and Russia: The Agency of War

Hot Spots

Ukraine and Russia: The Agency of War

The war in Russia and Ukraine is as much a war of consciousness and ideologies as it is a war of militias with guns, tanks, and Buk missile launchers. While in ... More

Ebola in Perspective

Hot Spots

Ebola in Perspective

Since early 2014, the international coverage of Africa has been dominated by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Much of that coverage represents the region as h... More

The Wheel of Crisis in Thailand

Hot Spots

The Wheel of Crisis in Thailand

For decades, Thailand has been entangled in a cycle of political turmoil that oscillates between elections, street protests, and coups both military and judicia... More

The Central African Republic (CAR) in a Hot Spot

Hot Spots

The Central African Republic (CAR) in a Hot Spot

This Hot Spot is dedicated to Dennis D. Cordell, whose generosity and example nourished a number of us as we came to know CAR, and who passed away far too soon.... More

The Politics of “Postconflict”: On the Ground in South Asia

Hot Spots

The Politics of “Postconflict”: On the Ground in South Asia

The last decade has marked the purported end of several conflicts in South Asia: the 2003 ceasefire along the Indian–Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir, the 2... More

Imagining Precarious Life in Tulum, Mexico

Writing with Light

Imagining Precarious Life in Tulum, Mexico

Until recently, Tulum was a small, quiet town. On the Caribbean side of Mexico, close to Mayan ruins, few cabanas lined its broad white beach and these drew mai... More

The Politics of Ontology

Theorizing the Contemporary

The Politics of Ontology

Much energy has been devoted over the last decade to the so-called ontological turn in the social sciences, and in anthropology in particular. A number of state... More

Protesting Democracy in Brazil

Hot Spots

Protesting Democracy in Brazil

What exactly happened in Brazil during June and July, 2013? What started as a protest over an increase in bus fares grew into something much larger, with rallie... More

An Impromptu Uprising: Ethnographic Reflections on the Gezi Park Protests in Turkey

Hot Spots

An Impromptu Uprising: Ethnographic Reflections on the Gezi Park Protests in Turkey

This Hot Spots series addresses the antigovernment protests that first sprang up in Gezi Park, Taksim, in Istanbul in the summer of 2013, and later spread to mu... More

Mali, March 2012

Hot Spots

Mali, March 2012

Folo Folo Kuma or A Prefatory Word Before the events of late March 2012, most people - even those who regularly follow global news - probably had very little aw... More