Just last week we had some discussion here about whether anthropologists reach out enough to a popular audience, and why there aren’t more public intellectuals who are anthropologists. Well, Lila Abu-Lughod, who incidentally I think is one of our best candidates to have a popular reach based on the clarity and accessibility of her prose (all my students say, “Why can’t more anthropologists write like her?”), just sent me a link to this new competition aimed at “encouraging anthropologically inclined authors to address major public problems and broad audiences” — and the prize is a book contract with a major university press:
The University of California Press, in association with the Center for a Public Anthropology,
is sponsoring two international competitions focused on encouraging anthropologically
inclined authors to address major public problems and broad audiences. Both competitions
will award book contracts at early stages in the research/writing process. The hope is that an
author, knowing that he or she has a book contract in hand prior to conducting research
or writing a manuscript, will move beyond academic styles and write about a
major public concern in a manner that non-academics find valuable.
Go here for more info about how to submit a proposal: http://www.publicanthropology.org/Bookseries/BookCompetition.pdf
–L.L. Wynn
