Through the looking glasses and anthropology comes 'Home': globalising the view on European cultures

Abstract

Shortly after being confirmed as the new co-editor of AJEC, I attended the annual meeting of the East Asian Anthropological Association. With an institutional base in Singapore, there are not many anthropology meetings within easy reach, but EAAA meets most autumns; and the meeting of 2023, held in Hong Kong, was the third meeting I had attended since 2018. This year's meeting started with an open forum, as the existing leadership announced its desire to recruit junior colleagues and set a fresh and vibrant agenda for the coming years. Many hands were raised; and as voices accented from across the globe spoke of the isolation of Asian perspectives on anthropology, and of the marginality of East Asia to the global discipline, I was reminded strongly of the many marginalities so often voiced by anthropologists of Europe.