The Society for Humanistic Anthropology announces our annual poetry competition as a means to encourage scholars to use alternative literary genres to explore anthropological concerns. These concerns may be any of those associated with any of the five fields of anthropology: Archaeological, Biological, Linguistic, Sociocultural and Applied.
Deadline: June 20, 2019.
There is no entry fee for this competition. Please email your entry of no more than three unpublished poems as a single pdf document to: shapoetrycompetition@gmail.com without the author’s name (anonymized), along with a separate cover page with the following information: 2019:
- NAME, TITLE, INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION (S) /
- CONTACT INFO (ADDRESS, PHONE, EMAIL) /
- POEM TITLE (S) /
- ETHNOPOETRY STATEMENT*
The anonymous entry pdf must include an *ethnographic statement (of no more than 400 words) which connects the poem(s) submitted to anthropology which will be taken into account as the judges make their award selections. Examples of ethnographic statements can be found in the poems published in Anthropology and Humanism: (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/anhu.12058/full).
Before you submit a manuscript to the competition, please consider exploring the work of the ethnographic poets we have published. We’re drawn to technical virtuosity combined with abundant imagination, vivid imagery, and musical approaches to fresh language, risk-taking, and an ability to convey penetrating insights into human experience. We seek a layer of trust concerning the writer’s experience and perspective as both anthropologist and creative writer, one who is ethically responsible in terms of representing the other, one who is able to locate his or her reader in the context of the ethnographic study and reveal anthropological themes associated with any of the fields of anthropology.
Winning entries and honorable mentions will be recognized at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, November 20-24, 2019. The first-place winner(s) will receive a certificate and award of $100. All entries will be considered for publication in the Society’s journal, Anthropology and Humanism. (Note that Membership in AAA or an institutional subscription is required for digital access to the journal and SHA membership with the paid print option is required to receive a print issue.)
JUDGES: Ather Zia, Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor, Leah Zani & Nomi Stone
