This collection of original essays interrogates the nature of intercultural and intra-cultural encounters through anthropological case studies of Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands. The chapters show that parties involved in intercultural or intra-cultural encounters, each equipped with their own means and motivated by their own ends, reciprocally engage each other in a dynamic, emergent relationship. Through detailed empirical research, this volume seeks to advance the open question of how we may theorize the cultural interface.