The countries or regions under study include the United States, Brazil, Chile, China, Mexico, Samoa, and Southwest Africa. In keeping with the journal's commitment to inter-disciplinary as well as historical inquiry, our nine contributors come from a variety of disciplines (sociology, political science, anthropology, and history), all drawing on debates and themes that cross-cut the social sciences. The significance of the inter-disciplinary perspective is seen not only in the range of cases, literatures, and methodologies brought to bear on the key issues under study; it also forms the substantive core of several contributions that call for a rethinking of conventional disciplinary boundaries and methodological frames.