During the last decade at least twelve anthropologists studied the identities building process in the border region of western Greek Macedonia. Having lived in this area as a resident for four years, I operated both as an ethnographer and as a semi-native informant for other colleagues. My betwixt-and-between status forced me to reflect upon the relationship between ‘anthropological’ and ‘native’ discourses of knowledge and upon the local understandings of the anthropological discourse. This autobiographical paper argues for the impossibility of presenting clear-cut distinctions between ethnographers, natives, native ethnographers and ethnographic natives.

‘At this millennial transition, the human capacity to envision imaginary worlds seems to be shifting into high gear. For anthropologists and others, greater concern with how ideas and power converge seems eminently warranted.’

Eric R. Wolf, Envisioning power, 1999

The arrival in 1999 of Eric Wolf's last book Envisioning power. Ideologies of dominance and crisis generated much excitement. Long the standard bearer for political economy in anthropology and often credited with bringing Marxism to anthropology, Wolf had not published a major monograph since Europe and the people without history, which in 1982 defined Marxian anthropology. A very different book, in a very different time, Envisioning power represented Eric Wolf's attempt to highlight the importance of ideology in the exercise of power through looking at three societies in crisis: the post-contact Kwakiutl, the pre-contact Tenochca and National Socialist Germany.

From the editor

This new section of Social Anthropology/Anthropologie sociale – one of the experiments with different genres and formats referred to in the editorial for this issue – is meant to report on recent initiatives within the global field(s) of social anthropology or on recent trends traceable in different anthropological traditions (the less well known in particular). Consisting of relatively short statements (approximately 2500 words), the format allows for reports on plans and efforts rather than achievements, reviews of the scholarly paradigms and events of the past decade rather than the books of last year, and opinions about the directions in which global events are, or should be, pushing social anthropologists. We are proud that the World Anthropologies Network is the first initiative to be presented within this new framework.

Robert Gibb has accepted the invitation of the executive committee to succeed Andrew Dawson as book review editor of Social Anthropology/Anthropologie sociale. This issue provides a brief statement of the direction in which it is hoped to develop the reviews section, along with a current list of the books received by the journal. A full reviews section will re-appear with the next issue.