The Middle East Section Book Award is awarded biennially to an anthropological work (single- or multi-authored, but not edited volumes) that speaks to issues in a way that holds relevance beyond our subfield. Criteria may include: innovative approaches, theoretical sophistication, and topical originality. The award jury is chaired by a member of the MES board, who appoints two additional jurors: a fellow scholar from the MES board and the most recent recipient of the award.
2023 MES Book Award Winner
Nomi Stone
MES Book Award Winner
Pinelandia: An Anthropology and Field Poetics of War and Empire (University of California Press, 2022)
2021 MES Book Award Winners
Sophia Stamatopoulou-Robbins
MES Book Award Winner
Waste Siege: The Life of Infrastructure in Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2019)
Salih Can Açiksöz
Honorable Mention
Sacrificial Limbs: Masculinity, Disability, and Political Violence in Turkey
(University of California Press, 2019)
2019 MES Book Award Winners
Nathalie Peutz
MES Book Award Winner
Islands of Heritage: Conservation and Transformation in Yemen (Stanford University Press, 2018)
Elif M. Babül
Honorable Mention
Bureaucratic Intimacies: Translating Human Rights in Turkey
(Stanford University Press, 2017)
2017 MES Book Award Winners
Zuzanna Olszewska
MES Book Award Winner
The Pearl of Dari: Poetry and Personhood Among Young Persons in Iran
(Indiana University Press, 2015)
Alice W