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Winner of the Victor Turner Prize for Ethnographic Writing, 2002

THE 2002 VICTOR TURNER PRIZE

Winner

At the November meeting of the American Anthropological Association in New Orleans, 2002, the Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing was presented to Henry S. Sharp, independent scholar from Texas, for his extraordinary book, Loon:  Memory, Meaning, and Reality in a Northern Dene Community (University of Nebraska Press).  The Prize is designed to recognize those who carry forward the best of the tradition established by Victor Turner:  assiduous ethnographic description that gives rise to theory that is generalizable beyond a site or a place as well as work providing a lens through which to view one's own data and field experiences and, finally, writing that is impeccable and evocative.  Sharp's book is all this and more.  Moving among events, anthropological theory, theory from the so-called hard sciences, to myth and memories that construct lived reality, Loon is remarkable whether the writing concerns the physical or metaphysical worlds.

Honorable Mentions

The two honorable mention awards were also presented: Mary Weismantel of Northwestern University for her book, Cholas and Pishtacos:  Stories of Race and Sex in the Andes, University of Chicago Press; and Catherine Lutz of the University of North Carolina for her book, Homefront:  A Military City and the American 20th Century, Beacon Press.  Weismantel deals with icons from folklore that have been recast to allow commentary on contemporary issues of gender, power, sexual relations, race,  cultural hegemony, and economic status; and it contributes new insights into each of the categories.  Lutz's book is particularly timely, although the research for it was completed prior to 9/11/01.  Her exegesis covers the experiential, performative, and commercialized aspects of Fayetteville, a community that stands for many others in our contemporary world.

Frederic W. Gleach

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Last updated: March 01, 2006.