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AES is pleased to announce the 2012 winners for its Senior Book Prize, awarded every other year for a book by a senior scholar.

Richard Price is the winner for his book, Rainforest Warriors: Human Rights on Trial (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011). Praise from the prize jury, Marisol de la Cadena, Stefan Helmreich and Samuel Martínez, includes “this is detailed, historically grounded ethnography in the finest tradition” and “finds new ways of imagining indigeneity beyond the local.”

An Honorable Mention prize goes to Dorothy Hodgson, for her book, Being Maasai, Becoming Indigenous: Postcolonial Politics in a Neoliberal World (Indiana University Press, 2011), link to which impressed the jury with its sustained, multi-sited ethnographic engagement and sensitive portrayal of the diversity of Maasai voices, in service of an incisive critique of the NGOization of social movement politics.

The Senior Book Prize ($1,000) goes to a work that speaks to contemporary social issues with relevance beyond the discipline and beyond the academy. Ethnographies and critical works in contemporary theory — single-authored or multi-authored but not edited collections. Criteria may include: originality, rigor, and maturity of research; an innovative approach to ethnography; theoretical sophistication and depth; thematic prescience; and an enduring contribution to Anthropology and beyond.  
  The jury for the prize is chaired by an AES councilor, who selects two or three other scholars as jury members. Letters of nominations must come from scholars; self-nominations and nominations from presses are not invited.  Announcements regarding the deadlines and other specifics will be posted on this website, as well as through the Anthropology News “AES Section News” column and other e-mail based publicity.   
The Senior Book Prize is awarded at the AES business meeting at the AAA annual meeting.