AFA is pleased to provide Dissertation Grant. In its mission to support graduate students to successfully complete their dissertations, each year AFA offers one $2000 grant to support a feminist scholar. We invite ABD students from all subfields of Anthropology, whose dissertations use a feminist analytic lens, or center feminist anthropological theory or feminist research methodology.

Eligibility Criteria:

The doctoral candidate must be pursuing an anthropology or interdisciplinary doctoral degree and must be at the dissertation completion phase at the time of the American Anthropological Association Annual Meetings.

Evaluation Criteria:

• Use of, and engagement with, feminist anthropology in research topic, design, methods, analysis, and/or findings
• Significance to feminist anthropology
• Originality of dissertation topic or analytic lens

Note: The AFA is committed to offering mentoring for those applicants who request feedback on their submissions for the dissertation award.

Application Process:

Complete applications must include the following:

• • 1. Dissertation project proposal of five double-spaced pages, plus bibliography.
    2. Short CV (no more than two pages).
    3. One-page statement detailing the contribution of the dissertation project to, and engagement with, feminist anthropology.
    4. Cover letter indicating applicant’s subfield, current status, and dissertation adviser.
    5. Letter of recommendation from the dissertation adviser. The letter should frame the dissertation work within feminist anthropology, speak to the value of the theoretical and methodological approaches of the student's project and work and the potential for the research to contribute to dialogues within feminist anthropology. The adviser should also certify that the graduate student will be in the dissertation writing phase at the time the award is given (November 2025, AAA meeting). The letter should be sent directly to the Committee chairperson listed below.
    6. Proof of AFA membership (section memberships are documented in your AAA membership information; a print out or excerpt from this webpage is acceptable)

Assemble application materials (except letter of recommendation) into one PDF file and name your pdf as such: “firstname_lastname_dissafa2025” submit via e-mail to: Brady G’sell at brady-gsell@uiowa.edu.

Application Deadline: June 1, Annually

2025 Sylvia Forman Prize

AFA is pleased to invite graduate and undergraduate students to submit essays in feminist anthropology for the Sylvia Forman Student Paper Prize competition, named for the late Sylvia Helen Forman, one of the founders of AFA, whose dedication to both her students and feminist principles contributed to the growth of feminist anthropology. We encourage essays in all four subfields of anthropology. Essays may be based on research on a wide variety of topics including (but not limited to) feminist analysis of women’s work, education, reproduction, sexuality, religion, and expressive culture, language, family and kin relations, economic development, gender and material culture, gender and biology, women and development, globalization, and intersectionalities of gender, race, sexuality, and class. The Prize carries an award of $250 to the undergraduate winner and $500 to the graduate winner. The AFA is committed to offering mentoring for winners interested in receiving feedback on their submissions.

Application Deadline: June 1, 2025

Eligibility Requirements

1. Candidates must be undergraduates or graduate students, and members of AFA, at the time of submission; there are two separate competitions, one for undergrads and one for grads.
2. Paper manuscripts accepted for publication or published are not eligible.
3. Only one submission per student will be accepted.
4. Candidates cannot receive the same AFA award more than once.

 Evaluation Criteria

Essays will be judged on:
1. Significance to scholarship in feminist anthropology
2. Use of feminist anthropological scholarship to analyze research findings 3. Soundness of methodology
4. Effective use of both theory and data
5. Timeliness, relevance, and originality of research topic
6. Organization, quality, and clarity of writing

 Application Process

1. Submit a cover letter identifying whether you are an undergraduate or graduate student; provide your institutional affiliation, mailing address, telephone number and e-mail address for summer notification.
2. Submit a manuscript that is not more than 35 double-spaced pages, including references cited.

 Note: If you have questions or if your essay has been submitted for publication but is not yet accepted, please contact the 2025 Forman Prize Chair, Brady G’sell (brady-gsell@uiowa.edu) well before the submission deadline.

Prior to review of award submissions, your AFA membership will be verified. Best of luck and thank you for your support of the Association for Feminist Anthropology!

Please compile your documents into a single PDF file with the name: last name/ Forman/ undergrad or grad.

Please email your submission as a single PDF file with the subject line “Sylvia Forman Prize 2025 Submission” to: brady-gsell@uiowa.edu.

Awards of $500 each for conference travel or conference registration for remote participation will be awarded for the 2024 Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association. Any remaining award funds can be applied to registration for Spring 2025 meetings of AAA affiliated sections; the award must be used by May 1, 2025.

Eligibility:

Eligibility is restricted to graduate students and recent PhDs (2023 or later) from underrepresented groups, whose work reflects the goals of feminist anthropology. Applicants must be giving a paper, organizing a session, or seeking employment at the Annual Meetings.

Application Process: Complete applications must include the following:

1. a CV
2. a presentation abstract or, if not presenting, a statement explaining your goals for attending the meeting
3. an email verifying registration for the AAA annual meeting.

Please email your submission as a single PDF file with the subject line “Hurston Travel Award” to: femanth@gmail.com Please name your submitted file: last name/ Hurston. Application Deadline: Sept 15, 2024

Best First Book in Feminist Anthropology

The Association for Feminist Anthropology (AFA) is pleased to invite nominations for the Association’s Michelle Z. Rosaldo Prize.  Michelle Z. Rosaldo was one of the earliest theorists in feminist anthropology. With Louise Lamphere, she was the co-editor of Woman, Culture and Society, the 1974 volume that helped launch the field, and in other writings shaped critical thought in feminist anthropology for decades to follow. The prize is awarded to a first book that draws on and makes a significant contribution to feminist anthropology.

Eligibility Requirements:
Submissions must be first books, monographs that exemplify feminist anthropological theory and feminist analytic perspectives in any sub-fields of anthropology, and that help to move the field in bold new directions. Books must have been published between 1 May, 2023 and 1 May, 2025, and must be published in English.

Evaluation Criteria:

1. Ethnographic richness (quality of writing and analysis)
2. Theoretical sophistication (use of feminist theory and feminist research methodologies)
3. Originality and timeliness
4. Potential to impact the field of feminist anthropology and the discipline of anthropology
5. Nominating letter(s) that detail the book’s contributions to feminist anthropology.

Application Process:

Authors, publishers, or other scholars and advocates may nominate a book. Authors must be members of the AAA and AFA to apply. Please send a signed letter of nomination specifying how the book meets the criteria to the chair of the prize committee. The nomination letter may be sent by e-mail to the committee chair, Elise Andaya (eandaya@albany.edu) or may accompany the book in hard copy.  Books submitted without an accompanying letter of nomination cannot be considered.

Application Deadline: May 1, in odd calendar years.

The nomination letter and three copies of the book must be received by May 1, 2025. Please contact Elise Andaya with an email heading, "Michelle Rosaldo Book Prize” to obtain the mailing addresses of the three committee members.

The Association for Feminist Anthropology (AFA) is pleased to invite nominations for the Association’s Senior Book Prize. The prize awards a senior scholar for a book that advances the theory, method, and epistemological scope of feminist anthropology. The Senior Book Prize recognizes a scholar’s second (or subsequent) books that exemplify feminist anthropological theory and that help to move the field in bold new directions. We encourage feminist scholarship in all subfields of anthropology.

Application Deadline: May 3, 2024

Eligibility Requirements
Submissions must be beyond the first book; books published in English between May 1, 2021 and May 1, 2023; and published in English. Edited volumes will not be considered.

Evaluation Criteria
Candidate materials will be evaluated according to:

1. ethnographic richness
2. theoretical sophistication
3. impact on the field of feminist anthropology (and beyond)
4. Optional: nomination letter

Application Process

1. Send a signed letter of nomination specifying how the book meets the criteria to the Selection Committee Chair at mgabrielatorres.phd@gmail.com with the subject line “Senior Book Prize Nomination.” Please note that self-nominations and nominations from presses are not eligible. Books submitted without an accompanying letter of nomination cannotbe considered.
2. Arrange to have the publisher send an electronic copy of the book that can be distributed to each member of the Selection Committee to the Selection Committee Chair at mgabrielatorres.phd@gmail.com with the subject line “Senior Book Prize Submission.” The Search Committee Chair must receive both the letter of nomination and books by the deadline of May 3, 2024.

Prior to review of award submissions, AFA membership will be verified.  Thank you for supporting our section!

Senior Prize Selection Committee

Maja Jeranko, Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Public Health, University of Washington Clara Han, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, John Hopkins University
Gabriela Torres (Chair), Associate Provost and Professor, Wheaton College