In this last issue of this year, we look back to a year of change and challenges. A year of farewells to stalwarts of Ethnography: we opened the year with saying goodbye to one of the founding editors, Paul Willis, and one of the longstanding executive editors, Peter Geschiere. And this summer it was time to say goodbye to Robert Davidson, our longstanding Assistant Editor and Managing Editor, who for almost half of the life span of the journal itself has ensured that the manuscripts we receive are treated with the care they deserve. Robby, as we endearingly call him, has become synonymous with Ethnography. As he has successfully defended his PhD earlier this year, and now seeks to pursue an academic career as a sociologist, he is continuing his scholarly path. We wish him the best of luck.

Every farewell should be accompanied with a new welcome. We are pleased to announce that Dastan Abdali will join the Ethnography team and will be the new main contact person for authors who submit a manuscript and during the process of preparing an accepted manuscript for publication. Dastan is also the Assistant Editor of the journal Conflict and Society, as such he comes well recommended and ready to serve. We warmly welcome Dastan and look forward to working together.

We knew this year was set to be one of changes and challenges for the journal but couldn’t foresee that illness within the editorial team would be additional factor to consider. As a result of all these challenges and changes, we have been dealing with a backlog of many months which, as this final issue of the year goes to press, has mostly been worked away. We would like to sincerely apologize for the long delays that affected some of the manuscripts submitted in Spring and Summer, and thank the authors for their patience. Welcome to Ethnography 2.0.