Public  engagements in anthropology and beyond

Anthropology in the Borderland – Borderlands in Anthropology

The journal received 20 points on the Polish list of scientific journals and reviewed materials from international conferences as of January 5, 2024.

This volume takes a particular interest in the role of liminal foods – something between what is generally accepted and something controversial (Matejowsky 2013). What stories, performances, rituals, and plays surround their consumption? How do fermented food, blood food, freeganism and other food practices become symbols of heritage and identity, and what do they have in common with systems of, e.g. gender, class and ethnicity?

Climate change is one of humanity's most demanding challenges. Anthropology allows us to observe and describe this phenomenon from the perspective of local communities adapting to global changes in which humans must revise their relationships with nature and other humans. This volume asks what practices and strategies people take to navigate these challenges. We welcome, especially ethnographic examples but also theoretical and transdisciplinary reflections. 

 Research areas include cultural ecology, climate activism, climate change discourse, a social experience of climate change (e.g. urban communities), and climate migration.

In 2023, the SEiA has been granted 40 points in the parametric evaluation of the Polish Ministry of Science and Education (see: Komunikat Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z dnia 17 lipca 2023 r. w sprawie wykazu czasopism naukowych i recenzowanych materiałów z konferencji międzynarodowych”: https://www.gov.pl/web/edukacja-i-nauka/komunikat-ministra-edukacji-i-nauki-z-dnia-17-lipca-2023-r-w-sprawie-wykazu-czasopism-naukowych-i-recenzowanych-materialow-z-konferencji-miedzynarodowych).

Ruins remnants of past epochs, but they also embody a past which 'haunts' the present, giving rise to ethical dilemmas stemming from the ways and the scope of commemorating relics of the past. In the modern context, ruins often become 'problematic heritage', that is, a past - as Sharon Macdonald (2009:1) called it - that has meaning, but is at the same time, for various reasons, questioned and uncomfortable to be officially recognised and commemorated; it is also problematic since it disrupts the present, causing, for example, social divisions and conflicts through the disturbing visions of the future it evokes. What the ruins speak, do they become helpful in transforming the latter's scars into building materials for a future, what kind of spaces can be labeled troublesome heritage and why? This volume also intends to explore broader future interdisciplinary dialogical space between history, archaeology, anthropology, heritage and other disciplines that have their interest in different kind of ruins. 

Zapraszamy do nadsyłania tekstów dotykających zagadnień różnorodnych ryzyk, z jakimi boryka się współczesna Europa. Celem antropologicznej refleksji nad tym zagadnieniem jest próba odpowiedzi na pytania:  jak nauki społeczne i humanistyczne mogą przyczynić się do łagodzenia stanu utraty poczucia bezpieczeństwa; w jaki sposób mogą pomóc zrozumieć przyczyny powstawania niektórych ryzyk oraz w jakiej kondycji znajdują się współczesne społeczeństwa Europejskie i jak poszczególne ryzyka wpływają na stan ich kultury?

A "big, beautiful wall" along the border with Mexico is unlikely to be completed in the foreseeable future. But the idea itself will not disappear soon and will probably continue to heat up the political atmosphere in the US for years to come. But what do we need a wall on a political border today for? After all, a hard border - one of the first associations of which is this architectural form - is a lofty and unfriendly line, which disturbs the need to move, extremely important for contemporary man. Should this phenomenon be treated as "phantom yearning for borders” (to use a Frank Jacobs’ phrase) - or maybe there is something more behind it; perhaps a border wall is once again something necessary for the prosperity and development of the modern state, and recently also for the epidemic security? Answering these questions is even more difficult insofar as the wall is rarely an effective barrier against intruders. A border wall does not protect against migration or germs. That was the case in the times of Emperor Hadrian - it is no different under President Donald Trump. A wall - be it of stone, steel or concrete - can at most slow down or restrict human mobility. Reason? In the today's world, stable, clearly defined borders simply do not exist. (Or perhaps they have never existed?). What is outside cannot be precisely separated today from what is inside. Nowadays borders do not coincide with sovereignty or political power. Does a state end at its borders, or perhaps only there where its "national" mobile telephony network no longer reaches, or where its currency ceases to exist? Answers to these questions are not easy for anybody. Thinking of the "political edges" of a state, we most often think of land borders (the only exception in this respect may be “island nations"). This is largely due to our attachment to land - a kind of terracentrism. And so Wikipedia informs that Poland is bordered only with 7 countries. However, it considers land borders only. This is all the more puzzling since their importance in international contacts is gradually decreasing, while the role of sea, air and... digital routes is increasing. All of them today are becoming true corridors in the global system of exchange and communication. Despite the galloping globalisation, borders seem to be needed as never before.
This is due to the social inequalities in the world, which today have clearly a spatial character. Today, the standard of living in individual countries can vary dramatically, and migration - from poor to rich countries - is a matter of social advancement. That is why the borders in the modern word differ from those of yesterday, but also have some elements in common. Namely, they are ubiquitous, dynamic, fragmented and often deeply hidden and closely linked to the world of advanced digital technologies. In volume 22 (1) of “Studia Etnologiczne i Antropologiczne" we want to consider what physical borders are now - and what they once were. And all sorts of boundary structures - walls, small walls and fences - are good pretext for such considerations. These, as we believe, speak a lot about the idea of borderness over time.

The editorial team of SEiA invite you to submit papers for the issue 1/2022.

Papers should be submitted via Open Journal System: https://journals.us.edu.pl/index.php/SEIA/about/submissions.

In case of any questions, please contact us by e-mail: seia@us.edu.pl.