Anthony Pickles is a social anthropologist and Lecturer in the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia. His published work has ranged from the theorisation of transactions to the intersection of religion and corruption, from the transformative power of pockets to the colonial subjugation of counting systems. He is the author of Money Games: Gambling in a Papua New Guinea Town, and several articles on the anthropology of gambling. Anthony’s ISRF project marries his existing expertise in the study of gambling with his developing interest in global politics.
His current research project is on political gambling and prediction markets as capitalism-friendly technologies for capturing the future. The research is at an early stage and I have not drawn any conclusions.