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David Hakken Graduate Student Paper Prize

Since 2015, the Committee on the Anthropology of Science, Technology, and Computing (CASTAC) has awarded a graduate student paper prize in recognition of excellent work by rising scholars. In 2016 the prize was renamed in honor of the memory of David Hakken, for his pioneering work at the intersection of ethnography and cyberspace.

The prize is awarded to a paper that exemplifies innovative research at the intersection of anthropology and science and technology studies, demonstrating theoretical sophistication and an appreciation of the methodological challenges facing the anthropology of science and technology.

The winner of the prize will be recognized during the AAA meetings, and will receive a certificate and $100 cash award, sponsored by the AAA’s General Anthropology Division. They will also receive written feedback from the Prize Committee’s review of their paper.

2021 Submission Guidelines

  • Papers should be blinded, with the author’s name and any implicating citations removed. Please remember to include your name and affiliation in the email with your submission.
  • Papers should have numbered pages.
  • Papers must be between 7,000 and 8,000 words, not including references, and they must be unpublished and not yet accepted for publication at the time of submission (papers that have been submitted for publication but which are still under review are permitted).
  • Authors must be graduate students at the time of submission.

The committee will be unable to consider any paper that does not follow these guidelines.

Please send papers for consideration to co-chairs@castac.org, as email attachments in Word format. Submissions must be received by Friday, July 31 to be considered for this year’s prize. Any questions can be directed to Co-Chairs Rebekah Cupitt and Patricia Lange at co-chairs@castac.org.

2020 Prize Winners

The Prize Committee and CASTAC is proud to announce that this year’s David Hakken Graduate Student Paper Prize winners have been selected.

Liliana Gil’s “A Fablab in the Periphery: Decentering Innovation from São Paulo” as the winner of the 2020 David Hakken Graduate Student Paper Prize. Liliana is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at The New School for Social Research, NY.

Jia-Hui Lee’s “Rodent Trapping and the Imagination of the Just Possible in Tanzania” has been selected for an honorable mention. Jia-Hui is a doctoral candidate at HASTS, MIT.

The awards will be officially presented at the CASTAC Business meeting on Friday 13 November, 12:00-1pm EST and more information (including a link) will be distributed via the mailing list soon.

For more information about CASTAC, please visit our website. CASTAC also awards the Forsythe Prize, for the best book or series of published articles in the spirit of Diana Forsythe’s feminist anthropological research on work, science, or technology, including biomedicine. For more information on the Forsythe Prize, see the Forsythe Prize page.

Previous Prize Winners

2019

Alexandra Middleton for “The Datafication of Pain: Trials and Tribulations in Measuring Phantom Limb Pain.”

Stephen Paff (Hon. Mention) for “Anthropology by Data Science: The EPIC Project with Indicia Consulting as an Exploratory Case Study.”

2018

Timothy McLellan for “Comparing Theories of Change: The Temporal Transformation of Scientific Practice.”

Laura Meek (Hon. Mention) for “The Grammar of Leprosy: Temporal Politics and an Impossible Subject.”

2017

Nicole Welk-Joerger for “Achieving Eden in the Amish Anthropocene”

Héctor Beltran (Hon. Mention) for “Staging the Hackathon”

2016

Kellie Owens for “Too Much of A Good Thing?: American Childbirth, Intentional Ignorance, and the Boundaries of Responsible Knowledge.”

Shreeharsh Kelkar (Hon. Mention) for “Platformizing Pedagogy: MOOC Infrastructures and the Transformation of Roles.”

2015

Risa Cromer for “Saved: Stem Cell Science, Christian Adoption, and Frozen Embryo Politics in the United States.”

Beth Reddy (Hon. Mention) “Misfires and Missed Opportunities: Personal and Population-Oriented Technologies Interface to Disseminate Mexico’s Earthquake Early Warning System Alerts.”