Awards and Honors
Anna Tsing awarded book prize from the American
Ethnological Association
Anna Tsing, professor of anthropology, has received the 2005
Senior Book Prize from the American Ethnological Association
(AEA) for her book, Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection
(Princeton University Press, 2004). Tsing shares the prize with
Michael Fischer, professor of anthropology and science and technology
studies at MIT, who was honored for his book Emergent Forms
of Life and the Anthropological Voice. The recipients were
announced at the association's business meeting on December
1.
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In Friction, Tsing challenges the widespread view that
globalization invariably signifies a "clash" of cultures,
and she develops the concept of friction in its place as a metaphor
for the diverse and conflicting social interactions that make
up our contemporary world. She focuses on the Indonesian rainforest,
where local and national environmentalists, international science,
North American investors, advocates for Brazilian rubber tappers,
UN funding agencies, mountaineers, village elders, and urban
students, among others, all combine in unpredictable, messy
misunderstandings, but misunderstandings that sometimes work
out.
The Senior Book Prize is presented every other year by the
AEA to recognize books by senior scholars that "speak to
contemporary social issues with relevance beyond the discipline
and beyond the academy." For the 2005 awards, the selection
committee considered books published in 2003 and 2004. The committee
was cochaired by the recipients of the previous award, Kim Fortun,
associate professor of science and technology studies at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, and Adriana Petryna, assistant professor
of anthropology at the New School for Social Research.
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