Introduction to the Special Issue on Systems Thinking in Anthropology: Understanding Cultural Complexity in the Era of Super-Diversity

The objective of this Special Issue is to highlight the efforts of contemporary anthropologists to integrate the theoretical framework and methods of systems thinking into their research. Systems thinking is approached here as a modeling methodology that facilitates the understanding of complex cultural phenomena, such as the multiple processes shaping social relations in cross-cultural contexts.

Among the various lines of research in this area, this Special Issue focuses specifically on phenomena captured by the concept of superdiversity, first introduced by Dr. Steven Vertovec in his work on the evolution of migration patterns. By showing how “social, cultural, religious, and linguistic phenomena […] combine with others like gender, age, and legal status” to produce a “diversification of diversity” in societies, Vertovec (2022) redirects the anthropological project toward a central concern of systems thinking: the “change of change.” This concept was explored by Gregory Bateson (1972) in his general theory of communication, which aimed to explain the adaptive or transformative movements of the “mind” of human societies.

In addition to discussions on superdiversity, contributions were expected to engage substantively with concepts, principles, theories, or methods rooted in systems thinking, and, where possible, to explore how such approaches might enhance our understanding of social complexity in increasingly diverse urban environments.

As a preamble, the first text offers a curated set of themes illustrating how Vertovec connects systems thinking to the challenges of superdiversity. Tracing the origins of this approach to his training in religious studies, he explains how he interprets and applies systemic concepts such as context, organization, difference, system, double bind, threshold, and systemic boundary in his research.

The main body of the publication is organized into three sections, each progressing toward a higher level of abstraction: the first gathers contributions emphasizing inductive methods (Arsenault, White et al.); the second includes contributions applying systemic concepts or methods to organizational issues (Le Moing, Frozzini, Côté); and the third comprises contributions focused on systems thinking as a heuristic tool for modeling social complexity, particularly regarding the challenges of change (Potvin, Thompson & Pearce). The publication concludes with a contribution by the guest editor, discussing central methodological issues (Genest).

The cover of this edition features a work entitled Déliaisons-2 by Quebec anthropologist Francine Saillant. This piece adds a powerful artistic, feminine, and Francophone tone to the publication. The French term déliaison denotes the play, movement, or early separation within a ship’s structure, metaphorically reflecting the tensions and gradual disconnections that can occur within societies. The depiction of a hand also serves as a strong symbol in support of the systemic anthropology advanced by Gregory Bateson in the 1970s. It invites us to cultivate a radically new way of thinking, without which we risk seriously misunderstanding the very nature of the human being, because, as Bateson said, he may not have five fingers at the end of each limb, but four angles between the fingers.