Introduction
Abstract
ANTspantAnthropological Theory1463-49961741-2641SAGE PublicationsSage UK: London, England10.1177/146349961243645710.1177_1463499612436457EditorialIntroductionReynaStephen PUniversity of Manchester, UK, and Max Planck Institute of Social Anthropology, Haale, GermanyStephen P Reyna, Max Planck Institute of Social Anthropology, Haale, Germany Email: Stephen.Reyna@manchester.ac.uk32012121SPECIAL ISSUE: NEUROANTHROPOLOGY34© The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav2012SAGE PublicationsIt is a liminal time in anthropology when a number of its practitioners imagine new futures. The articles that comprise this issue of Anthropological Theory consider one imminent future by exploring certain implications for the discipline if the investigation of the brain is integrated into the project of understanding human being.Anthropology is the study of human being, realities of humanity. Three actualities stand out: humans have brains; they have experiences; and they have cultures. Juan Domínguez explores a phenomenological future for anthropology. He argues for a cultural neurophenomenology to account for relationships between the three actualities. This phenomenology would be ‘a theory of the experiential and neurobiological aspects of cultural activity’, one that expressed a ‘neural theory of culture and a cultural theory of the brain’. Stephen Reyna investigates a hermeneutic future for the discipline. His article sets neuroanthropology in a broader context. First, it outlines a particular approach to the study of human being, that of critical