Editors’ Introduction by John Conley, Kathryn Henne, and Justin B. Richland

When we started planning for this issue, our first to house a Symposium organized by a guest editor (and organized excellently, we may add), we were not only seeking out new content but also exploring new ways for delivering that content to your door. Those among our readership who are also members of our host organization, the Association for Political and Legal Anthropology (APLA), will know that this most centrally meant our taking up the possibility of converting PoLAR to a digital-only format. Indeed, on two separate occasions both the APLA Board Members, as well as our members at large, were asked to vote on whether to approve a move to paperless format. On both occasions, the votes were overwhelmingly in favor of supporting the shift. With our marching orders clear, we proceeded accordingly. And yet, as we put a close to our 2012 issues, and begin looking toward 2013, we have come to the conclusion that a move to a paperless PoLAR would not be advisable at this time.

Before describing the content we have lined up for this issue, we’d like to take some space in this Introduction to explain how we came to this conclusion, and also to describe some other exciting changes to both our paper and digital outlets that we have put in place and that we are convinced will continue in the strong tradition of steady refinement and expansion that PoLAR has made over its 35-volume history. [Read more]