INTERNATIONALLY SPONSORED COMPETITIONS

While the California Series in Public Anthropology has enjoyed significant success, it also remains very much a work in progress. It has garnered considerable prestige within anthropology with many prominent scholars – from Paul Farmer, Margaret Lock, and Aiwa Ong to Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Philippe Bourgois, and Carolyn Nordstrom – publishing (or soon to publish) books in it. Paul Farmer’s work, in particular, has helped shape how important social concerns are being addressed. But looking at the Series as a whole, it is fair to suggest the series is still struggling to escape the gravitational pull of the academy.

A key reason for this derives from the Series inability to offer six figure advances to prominent public figures that might consider publishing with the Series. The Series receives a number of interesting manuscripts on important subjects. But because the authors who submit them usually are academics, the manuscripts tend to be oriented toward academic audiences.

As a way around this problem, the University of California Press in association with the Center for a Public Anthropology is sponsoring two annual competitions focused on drawing anthropologists to address major public problems and broad audiences. Both competitions will award book contracts at an early stage in the research/writing process in order to influence a manuscript’s subject and style. The hope is that authors, knowing they have a book contract in hand, will prove willing to speak about major public concerns in ways that non-academics find valuable.

Please click on this link to learn more about the competition and how to submit a proposal