The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute produces an annual Special Issue, comprising of a collection of articles as voted for by the RAI Publications Committee.
Call for Proposals
Please note that the submission window for proposals to appear in 2027 has now closed.
The RAI Publications Committee will be accepting proposals for the 2028 Special Issue from late-2025.
Each Special Issue will be distributed by Wiley-Blackwell free of charge to RAI Fellows, and as part of the subscription to libraries taking the JRAI.
For more information on the JRAI Special Issues or proposal submissions, please reach out to publications@therai.org.uk.
Current Special Issue
Editors: Lotte Meinert and Lone Grøn
Associate Editor: Cathrine Degnen
Proposing to understand humans as time beings, this special issue of the JRAI invites readers to explore the intricate relationship between ageing and time through particular experiences of ageing time beings. What can we learn about time and general anthropological theory by taking seriously experiences of ageing time beings from different places in the world? Drawing on ethnographic insights from Canada, Denmark, India, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Uganda, and the USA, the collection challenges conventional representations of ageing by examining diverse modes of experiencing and measuring time. It probes how large-scale historical changes, institutional time regimes, intimate rhythms, and singular moments of lived experience intertwine to reveal the multiplicity – and inherent groundlessness – of temporal realities. By engaging with dominant narratives such as ‘active ageing’ and ‘filial piety’, as well as less conventional values and poetics of ageing and time, the issue foregrounds both the uncertainties and the possibilities of ‘the good’ that may emerge in later life.
First published: 09 May 2025 https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.14159
Previous Special Issues
edited by Sam Victor and Danny Cardoza
Volume 30, Issue S1
April 2024
AFTER FAILURE: TEMPORALITIES AND TRACES
edited by Catherine Alexander
Volume 29, Issue S1
April 2023
edited by Nayanika Mookherjee
Volume 28, Issue S1
April 2022
TOWARDS AN ANTHROPOLOGY OF DATA
edited by Rachel Douglas-Jones, Antonia Walford, Nick Seaver
Volume 27, Issue S1
April 2021
MIND AND SPIRIT: A COMPARATIVE THEORY
edited by Tanya Luhrmann
Volume 26, Issue S1
April 2020
edited by Mette M. High and Jessica M. Smith
Volume 25, Issue S1
April 2019
DISLOCATING LABOUR: ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECONFIGURATIONS
edited by Penelope Harvey and Christian Krohn-Hansen
Volume 24, Issue S1
April 2018
MEETINGS: ETHNOGRAPHIES OF ORGANIZATIONAL PROCESS, BUREAUCRACY, AND ASSEMBLY
edited by Hannah Brown, Adam Reed, and Thomas Yarrow
Volume 23, Issue S1
April 2017
edited by Jessica Barnes
Volume 22, Issue S1
April 2016
THE POWER OF EXAMPLE: ANTHROPOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS IN PERSUASION, EVOCATION, AND IMITATION
edited by Andreas Bandak and Lars Højer
Volume 21, Issue S1
May 2015
DOUBT, CONFLICT, MEDIATION: THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF MODERN TIME
edited by Laura Bear
Volume 20, Issue S1
April 2014
BLOOD WILL OUT: ESSAYS ON LIQUID TRANSFERS AND FLOWS
edited by Janet Carsten
Volume 19, Issue S1
May 2013
THE RETURN TO HOSPITALITY: STRANGERS, GUESTS, AND AMBIGUOUS ENCOUNTERS
edited by Matei Candea and Giovanni Da Col
Volume 18, Issue S1
June 2012
THE AESTHETICS OF NATIONS: ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL APPROACHES
edited by Nayanika Mookherjee and Christopher Pinney
Volume 17, Issue S1
May 2011
Volume 16, Issue S1
edited by Trevor Marchand
May 2010
Volume 15, Issue S1
edited by Filippo Osella and Benjamin Soares
May 2009
THE OBJECTS OF EVIDENCE: ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO THE PRODUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE
edited by Matthew Engelke
Volume 14, Issue S1
April 2008