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Announcing The Herskovits Prize

for Best Dissertation in Africanist Anthropology

 

Herskovits Award Announcement at the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies

Announcement event for the Herskovits Prize for Best Dissertation in Africanist Anthropology at the Herskovits Library, May 5, 2026.  Courtesy of Vanessa Bly.

 

This year the Department of Anthropology was excited to announce the launch of the Herskovits Prize for Best Dissertation in Africanist Anthropology, to be housed at Northwestern. 

The award was announced on the occasion of a visit by an official delegation from Kenya's Ministry of Water, Sanitation, and Immigration, which was also in Chicago to learn about the work of NU Water and Anthropology Professor Sera Young's work. The prize will be awarded on a biannual basis to the scholar who produces the most groundbreaking dissertation in the field of Africanist Anthropology. It will bear the name of one of the early giants in the field of Anthropology, who was also a key figure in the University’s history.