The History of Anthropology Interest Group (HOAIG)
Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Prize
HOAIG is an interest group of the AAA’s General Anthropology Division that provides a gathering place for discussions of the history of anthropology and the human sciences. The award for Outstanding Graduate Student Paper in the History of Anthropology is awarded annually and carries a $100 prize.
This prize is awarded to a paper about the history of anthropology, broadly construed. We encourage students to submit papers they have written based on original, primary-source research, or that analyze ideas, texts, contexts, or figures (whether marginalized or centralized) in the discipline’s history. Papers may reflect the influence of global anthropologies, Indigenous studies, Black studies, Science and Technology Studies, information science, the history, sociology, or philosophy of science, or other scholarly fields on the history of anthropology. They may challenge conventional histories of the discipline and its traditional geographic and institutional centers.
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The History of Anthropology Interest Group (HOAIG) of the AAA’s General Anthropology Division (GAD) invites submissions for the 2026 Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Prize in the History of Anthropology.
The winning author will receive a $100 award and recognition by HOAIG at the 2026 Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association (November 18–22 in St. Louis, MO).
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must be in a degree-granting program (including master’s and doctoral programs) or have graduated during the 2025 or 2026 calendar years.
Papers must be the original work of the author. Course papers, dissertation chapters, and journal articles in preparation, under review, or accepted/published during the 2026 calendar year are eligible for consideration.
Papers must be 5,000–12,000 words, including bibliography and references. Images should be embedded within the document itself, and citations and references should be consistent with Chicago style.
Papers should be submitted as a Word document (.doc/docx) along with a 1–2 page CV for the author.
Submission (paper and CV) must be emailed by September 1, 2026, to Andrew Newman (Andrew.Newman@wayne.edu). Please use the same email for questions about the award. HOAIG looks forward to your contributions!
Nala K. Williams
2025 Awardees
Winner: Nala K. Williams
The 2025 Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Prize was awarded to Nala K. Williams, doctoral candidate in anthropology and Black Studies at Yale University, for the paper “‘Feather-Bed Resistance’ and Racial Vindication in Eslanda Goode Robeson’s African Journey.” In an exceptionally well-researched and well-argued paper, Williams profiles the intellectual and professional journey of Eslanda Robeson, a Black expatriate American anthropologist who trained at the London School of Economics in the 1930s and subsequently authored a multi-genre ethnography entitled African Journey.
In a nuanced analysis, Williams examines the innovative yet fraught efforts by Robeson to develop an anthropological approach towards race and racism at the LSE during a period when Malinowski was at the height of his powers. William’s history reminds us of the ways that anthropology has been a paradoxical tool that reinscribes its own authority while also serving the subversive political projects of others.
Runner-Up: Maria Murad
Doctoral candidate in anthropology at Oxford University, Maria Murad, received an honorable mention for her paper, “The Life of Kaatxwaaxsnéi: A Biography of Florence Shotridge.” Murad’s paper examines the work of Kaatxwaaxsnéi or Florence Shotridge, the first known Indigenous American woman to lead an anthropological expedition, the Wanemakar expedition, in the 1910s.
Through a careful analysis of Shortridge’s varied forms of work as a Chilkat blanket weaver, cultural exhibition performer, and an assistant at the Penn Museum, Murad restores indigenous agency in the history of anthropology and unsettles received narratives of knowledge production.