MIT Anthropology announces the 2024 James Howe Prize Winners!

MIT Anthropology is pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 James Howe Prize.

Our winner is Ella Trumper. She wrote "Za’atar: Culinary Embodiments of Occupation and Resistance in Palestine" for 21A.155 Food, Culture, and Politics in Fall 2023. Ella is in the class of 2024, majoring in Course 20 (Biological Engineering).

Honorable mentions go to two students:

• Cindy Xie wrote "The Politics and Poetics of Asian American Mental Health" for 21A.301 Disease and Health: Culture, Society, and Ethics in Fall 2023. Cindy will graduate this spring with major in Course 11 (Department of Urban Studies and Planning). She will graduate with two minors, Anthropology and Biology, and she won the Howe Prize last year!
• Leon Hernandez wrote "Palestinian Cuisine: Gastronationalism as Resistance" for 21A.155 Food, Culture, and Politics in Fall 2023. Leon is a second-year student majoring in Course 10 (Chemical Engineering).

L to R: Leon Hernandez, Ella Trumper, Cindy Xie

About the James Howe Prize:

The annual James Howe Prize honors the contributions of Professor of Anthropology James Howe, who retired in 2012. Howe's scholarship has focused on the history and political struggles of the indigenous Kuna population in Panama. He has also promoted human rights throughout his distinguished career. A renowned photographer and political activist, Howe has undertaken ethnographic work to support the rights of the Kuna people.

He is also a longstanding board member of Cultural Survival—an organization that provides support to and advocates on behalf of the linguistic, cultural, and property rights of indigenous populations around the world.

Guidelines for Submission:

Current MIT undergraduates or cross-listed students from Harvard or Wellesley may submit multiple entries. The topic is open.

Since remote teaching started in Spring 2020, some instructors have substituted other media projects for term papers. To reflect the diversity of formats in which students have explored Anthropology topics, this year we are accepting Howe Prize submissions in the form of podcasts, short videos, websites, photo stories, and other media, in addition to papers.

Eligible papers must have been written for MIT Anthropology classes or as part of an undergraduate anthropology thesis (i.e., a thesis chapter). They may be revisions of essays written and graded for MIT Anthropology subjects. They should be at least 10 double-spaced pages in length but must not exceed 25 pages.

Other media works should be of comparable size and scope. If in doubt, go ahead and submit!

Works that have been previously published are not eligible.

Submissions must include a title, as well as a consistent and thorough citation style and bibliography. The student’s name should not appear anywhere on the paper or in the media file.

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Each entry should be submitted with a cover sheet that includes:

• Student name:
• Submission title:
• Anthropology subject for which the submission was produced:
• Major:
• Expected year of graduation:
• Email address:
• Phone number:
• Student ID number:

Please submit entries and cover sheets to: jhprize@mit.edu.

Please address questions to jhprize@mit.edu.

PAST WINNERS:

2023: Negin Amouei, Cindy Xie
2022: Jaclyn Thi, Alexandra Poret
2021: Luísa Apolaya Torres, Lia Hsu-Rodriguez, and Varsha Sridhar
2020: Elena Andree and Marissa McPhillips
2019: Maryam Pervaiz and Leanne Wang
2018: Jackie Liu and Gabriella Zak
2017: Ankita Reddy and Haley Strouf
2016: Paige Omura
2015: Andrei Kilshin and Peter Haine
2014: Sofia Essayan-Perez
2013: Iris Sheu