University of Aberdeen Anthropology PhD graduate Dr. Penny McCall Howard has won the American Anthropological Association's Society for the Anthropology of Work Book Prize for 2018.
The prize is awarded to books published within the past three years, based on the significance of the research, relevance for the anthropology of work, clarity and effectiveness of the presentation, and appeal to a wider audience in anthropology and beyond. The prize was formally awarded at the American Anthropological Association annual meeting in San Jose, California on 17 November.
The book is titled Environment, Labour and Capitalism at Sea: ‘Working the ground’ in Scotland, published by Manchester University Press. It is based on research that Howard carried out for her PhD at the Anthropology Department of the University of Aberdeen. It explores how fishers make the sea productive through their labour, using technologies ranging from wooden boats to digital GPS plotters to create familiar places in a seemingly hostile environment. It shows how their lives are affected by capitalist forces in the markets they sell to, forces that shape even the relations between fishers on the same boat. The book makes a unique contribution to understanding human-environment relations, examining the places fishers create and name at sea, as well as technologies and navigation practices. It combines phenomenology and political economy to offer new approaches for analyses of human-environment relations and technologies.
To celebrate the prize, the publisher is offering 50% off the book using the code OTH115 at checkout on the publishers website (until 31 December 2018), here: http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781784994143/#
Penny is now an Honorary Associate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Sydney, and combines her anthropology with work in the union movement as the National Research Officer of the Maritime Union of Australia.