Call for Nominations: 2026 AMEA Book Award

by | Mar 7, 2026 | Awards

The Association of Middle East Anthropology (AMEA) is accepting nominations for its bi-annual book award. This award is given to an anthropological work (single- or co-authored, but not edited volumes) that features creative ethnographic writing, innovative data collection strategies, and/or sophisticated analysis. We solicit books that make significant contributions to anthropological knowledge and that advance our understanding of the complex forces that shape life in the Middle East and North Africa and/or among diaspora communities.

Books submitted for the 2026 award must have a publication date in 2024 or 2025.

Submissions for this award should include a brief letter of nomination or self-nomination to the AMEA Book Award Chair. Please send this letter, along with a copy of the book, to each of the three committee members listed below. The letter and book may arrive separately (nominators/authors can contact the editorial office of their press to have books shipped directly to committee members).

Awardees will be announced at the fall meeting of MESA in Boston, MA in 2026.

All submissions must be received by June 1, 2026.

Send any inquiries to the AMEA Book Award Chair, Dr. Farha Ghannam, at fghanna1@swarthmore.edu.

Committee Members:

Chair, Dr. Farha Ghannam

          Department of Sociology and Anthropology 

          Swarthmore College

          500 College Ave

          Swarthmore, PA 19081 

Dr. Christopher Dole

          137 Baker Hill Rd 

          Florence, MA 01062

Dr. Peter Habib

          61 Kirkland St

          Cambridge, MA 02138