ANTHROPOLOGY OF TECHNOLOGY PRIZE

Call for submissions, Spring 2006

The UCSB Department of Anthropology invites submissions by graduate students in the department for its Anthropology of Technology prize for 2002-2004. The prize fund of $10,000 was established in 2000 ($5,000 donated by Francesca Bray, $5,000 by the Dean of Graduate Affairs), and the Department will make awards every two years until the funds run out.

In each round one or two awards of $500 to $1,000 will be made for the best papers published, or accepted for publication, addressing one of the following themes:

1) The role of technology in the production of scientific or other forms of authoritative knowledge. This category would include papers that discuss the impact of research technologies on our own disciplines, as well as papers on the role of technology in knowledge production more generally. (Examples of the first
might be how GIS has affected archaeological research, or the ethics of photography in ethnography; a good example of the second is Rabinow's study of how the polymerase chain reaction was conceptualized and of its revolutionary effects on research.)

2) The role of technology (in general or in the case of a specific technology) in the production of material culture. This very broad category would cover analyses ranging from prehistory to the age of globalization, or-to give examples of different ends of the technical spectrum in just one domain of human activity-from how
traditional farming methods affected diet, to the impact of biotechnology on modern food systems.

Submissions from graduate students in all three wings of our graduate program are encouraged, including from former students who were still in our program when they submitted the paper. Eligible papers must be
published, or have been accepted for publication, in an academic journal or edited collection. Papers published more than twenty-four months before the deadline will not be considered.

The prize committee will consist of three scholars from beyond our department with appropriate expertise.

Papers should be submitted to the Chair of Anthropology by Friday April 14, 2006. Please provide four copies of the paper, and if it has not yet been published, please also provide a copy of the letter of acceptance for
publication. The awards will be announced by Friday, May 26, 2006. The committee reserves the right to make fewer than two awards depending on the quality of submissions.

A history of the Prize

Contact Webmaster for maintenance issues or ADA Accessibility