Editorial 
With this issue of the Anthropos, the journal 
reaches its 100th year of publication. This is reason 
enough to rejoice and is also an occasion to 
celebrate. Anthropos - the first issue appeared in 
March 1906 - survived two world wars. From the 
beginning until now, Anthropos was blessed with 
good, competent authors, which has resulted in the 
worldwide reputation this journal of anthropology 
and linguistics enjoys. 
Anthropos is a journal which covers all regions 
of the earth and all of the fields of anthropology. Its 
pages are open to discussions of method and theory 
as well as broad ethnographic descriptions and oth 
er documentation. It has maintained its character as 
a storehouse of ethnological materials for libraries 
and institutes. It has become an encyclopedia of 
information about anthropology. The world has 
changed in these years, and so has anthropology, 
but it has remained the science of cultures, while 
becoming more pluralistic regarding its methods, 
contents, and goals. Anthropos also played its part 
in these developments. 
Anthropos was to be international, open to all 
the major languages in the world, e.g., English, 
German, French, Spanish, Italian, etc. Today we 
still think it is useful, whenever possible, to print 
articles and contributions in the language of the 
authors, which today is primarily English. In this 
the Anthropos is unique when compared with other 
journals. The journal is planning to produce a 
CD-ROM, to appear in 2006. This will contain 
an index of the authors of every article, report 
and commentary that appeared between 1906 and 
2005. 
Looking back over the past 99 years, the output 
of the Anthropos is impressive. In roughly 82,600 
pages were published some 3,825 articles and 
10,900 book reviews, miscellaneous comments, 
and brief reports. Every year the journal publish 
es about 700 pages, with about 140 contribut 
ing authors and coworkers. Each year’s produc 
tion averages 40 articles and other contributions, 
120 book reviews, a “review of reviews” indi 
cating important articles from 300 current jour 
nals, and a listing of new publications. Anthro 
pos is published twice a year, in March and 
September, with a circulation of ca. 800 in more 
than 60 countries. Go to the journal’s homepage 
http://www.anthropos-journal.de for more infor 
mation about the Anthropos. 
Wilhelm Schmidt, a member of the Society of 
the Divine Word (SVD), was the founder and first 
editor of the new journal. It was always his inten 
tion and hope to use this journal to foster, in the 
context of the mission work of the Society, what 
we would now call a “multicultural encounter.” 
It was to be a forum in which the missionaries 
could make their precious and largely untapped 
knowledge of strange peoples and cultures avail 
able, and where they could find useful specialized 
information about anthropology. 
It was Father Arnold Janssen, the founder of 
the Society of the Divine Word, who supported 
this daring and unusual enterprise with courage 
and remarkable foresight. The journal is still sup 
ported both financially and with personnel by the 
Society of the Divine Word. It is part of its mis 
sionary self-awareness to foster a comprehensive 
understanding of cultures. As a consequence, this 
congregation has made a fundamental contribution 
to the study of the relationship between religion 
and culture. For this the Society deserves gratitude 
and recognition. 
Anthropos has remained true to its name. It 
deals with people and their cultures, with people 
and the variety of their cultures, with people and 
how they relate to other cultures. A journal which 
has as part of its program the scientific study of 
cultures can facilitate in an important way the 
exchange and contact between cultures. In the 
future the journal will continue in this direction. 
For this it deserves all our good wishes for the 
future. 
Othmar Gáchter