Deadline: All submissions must be received by May 15, 2026.
The Middle East Section invites nominations for its annual book award, which recognizes outstanding anthropological scholarship – single or co-authored (but not edited volumes) – of significance to the field of Middle Eastern Studies.
Evaluation Criteria:
The committee will consider books that are:
- Ethnographically rich
- Theoretically generative, advancing knowledge of the anthropology of the Middle East
- Relevant beyond the subfield of Middle East anthropology
- Clearly argued, with well-substantiated interventions
- Original in their contributions to anthropology and/or Middle Eastern studies
- Well-written
Eligible books must be published in 2025. Submissions should include a brief note indicating that the book is being nominated, so that the committee can track nominations. Please send this note, along with a copy of the book (hard copy or digital), to each committee member. The nomination note and the book may arrive separately – nominators or authors can contact the press directly to arrange delivery.
Awardees will be announced in Fall 2026.
Inquiries and Committee Member Mailing Address Requests:
Aslı Zengin
Assistant Professor, Rutgers University
MES Book Award Chair
Maya Wind
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California Riverside
Omnia Khalil
Doctoral Lecturer, the City College of New York, and affiliated professor at the Graduate Center.
2025: Violent Intimacies: The Trans Everyday and the Making of an Urban World, Aslı Zengin
Zainab’s Traffic: Moving Saints, Selves, and Others across Borders, Emrah Yıldız
2023: Pinelandia: An Anthropology and Field Poetics of War and Empire, Nomi Stone
2021: Waste Siege: The Life of Infrastructure in Palestine, Sophia Stamatopolou-Robbins
Sacrificial Limbs: Masculinity, Disability, and Political Violence in Turkey, Salih Can Açiksöz [Honorable Mention]
2019: Islands of Heritage: Conservation and Transformation in Yemen, Nathalie Peutz
Bureaucratic Intimacies: Translating Human Rights in Turkey, Elif Babül [Honorable Mention]
2017: The Pearl of Dari: Poetry and Personhood Among Young Persons in Iran, Zuzanna Olszewska
Sovereignty in Exile: A Saharan Liberation Movement Governs, Alice Wilson
2015: Refugees of the Revolution: Experiences of Palestinian Exile, Diana Allan