Congratulations to the winner of the Best Dissertation Prize , Joshua Mayer, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut for Conjuring Territory: Afro-Indigenous Authority and Settler Capitalism in Nicaragua, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California at Los Angeles, 2023. Joshua Mayer’s Conjuring Territory: Afro-Indigenous Authority and Settler Capitalism in Nicaragua combines original research and sound methodology to produce an eminently readable narrative. The dissertation, largely based on 20 months of fieldwork in Nicaragua among the Rama and Kriol, shows how, in their quest to build an Interoceanic Canal to rival the one in Panama, speculators, cattle ranchers, miners and ultimately, the state under Daniel Ortega perpetuate colonial legacies of exploitation, extraction, and marginalization of these Afro-Caribbean communities. Dynamic contestation lies at the heart of this dissertation, in which Mayer stresses that the Rama and Kriol formed a fundamental alliance against settler colonialism. He explicitly notes the intersectional and fluid nature of identity in these communities, which defies easy categorization and supersedes hegemonic racial identities usually dictated by outsiders. He argues that territoriality is created through long processes of claims and counter-claims, which also produce freedom and autonomy. Nicaragua is no longer a welcoming environment for international scholars who are critical of state policy or support autonomous, community mobilization. Our committee was deeply impressed by the sustained and embedded nature of Mayer’s field research. In a darkening political and social context, he took the necessary time to become part of the day-to-day routine and to connect with individuals on a deeply meaningful level. Their stories and visions drive the narrative and make this dissertation essential reading. (fb)

Congratulations to the winners of the D. Scott Palmer Best Edited Book Prize given by NECLAS every two years, David Bindman, Alejandro de la Fuente, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. editors of The Image of the Black in Latin America and Caribbean Art, Harvard University Press, 2023. The two-volume study brings together over a dozen scholars of the Afro-Latin American experience. Smartly organized with essays covering a wide range of topics related to the representation of people of African descent in Latin America, the volumes provide 200 illustrations, including maps, drawings, painting, and more. The volumes will become an indispensable resource for students and scholars studying the history of “the Black” in Latin American and Caribbean art. (fb)