Italian under-30 team launches ALEA, first cultural anthropology magazine

A team of young Italian anthropologists launched ALEA in June 2021, the first independent magazine dedicated to cultural anthropology. The name 'ALEA' means 'uncertainty' in Latin, reflecting the project's focus on exploring overlooked topics and generating questions rather than providing definitive answers. The magazine is structured like a musical composition: an Ouverture by director Francesco Danesi, followed by Ballate (anthropological essays on waste, new forms of dwelling, music, migrant memory, mural art), Arabesque (interdisciplinary pieces on colonial exhibitions in Italy, Iceland, cotton processing), Fantasia (artistic and photographic interventions), Suite (speculative short texts), Divertimenti letterari, and Antifone. The graphic design, conceived by Diego Oberti, uses an asterisk as a symbol of the marginal, with varied paper colors and weights to create a light, tactile object that resembles both a paperback and a magazine. Sustainability is central: certified papers and inks, waste reduction with the printer, and fair compensation for contributors. The first issue, themed 'Materia' (Matter), was followed by the second issue 'Fatica' (Effort) released on December 17, 2021, with a Vaporwave-style cover and a social media teaser parodying a hacker leak of extraterrestrial files. The magazine aims to bring cultural anthropology out of academic essays and lectures to a broader audience.