Introduction: Changes and Challenges in Expert Witnessing

Abstract This Introduction highlights the dynamic nature of expert witnessing by highlighting some of the major areas of change and challenge: Our understanding of the immigrant and the asylum seeker reflected in changing legal categorizations, changing conditions in sending and receiving countries, and the changing and expanding field of anthropology that provides new critiques, materials, and perspectives for anthropologists as expert witnesses. Expert witnessing is a challenging and rewarding area of application, which may also contribute to anthropological theory and influence the legal framework in which asylum claims are adjudicated.