Misfits: Towards a critical analysis of the in-between

This introductory article introduces the concepts of misfit and misfitting as a relational prism for analysing social life in conditions of uncertainty and indeterminacy. Drawing on ethnographic materials from ‘in-between’ places in a multipolar world, it examines how elements that no longer – or not yet – fit dominant orders generate awkward relations that reverberate across cognitive, affective, spatial, and temporal domains. Engaging critically with anthropological debates on categorization, liminality, affect, and repair, the article argues that the in-between is neither unstructured nor merely transitional, but textured by power, historical afterlives, and anticipations of uncertain futures. Misfit/misfitting, we argue, is not simply about being ‘out of place’, but a quality that can reveal how social and political fabrics are strained, realigned, rejected outright, or restitched. Thus, attending to moments of misfitting allows us to see society as an ongoing patchwork constantly made and remade through rupture and repair.