Some readers of Archaeological dialogues may be surprised to discover that the discussion article featured in this issue neither is written by an archaeologist nor makes overt reference to archaeology. Curious as that may seem, we see this as a productive move in the journal's continuing mission to find innovative, and sometimes provocative, ways to stimulate conversations that transgress disciplinary boundaries. In soliciting this piece, we felt that, as two of the most important contributors to the theoretical development of the historical anthropology of colonialism and as scholars who have been at the forefront of cultural anthropology's new re-engagement with the study of material culture, the work of Jean and John Comaroff offers an exceptional opportunity for a creatively heuristic conjuncture between archaeology and cultural anthropology, and that it deserves to be widely read and discussed by archaeologists.