Society Announces 2020 Margaret Mead Awards

The Society for Applied Anthropology is pleased to announce the that the Boards of Directors of the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) and the American Anthropology Association (AAA) have selected Prof. Narges Bajoghli and Prof. Ashanté M. Reese to receive Margaret Mead Awards for 2020. Prof. Bajoghli was selected for her book “Iran Reframed: Anxieties of Power in the Islamic Republic,” published by Stanford University Press (2019). Prof. Bajoghli is currently an Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies in the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. Prof. Reese was selected for her book “Black Food Geographies: Race, Self-Reliance, and Food Access in Washington D.C.,” published by University of North Carolina Press (2019). Prof. Reese is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

The Mead Awards will be presented to Profs. Bajoghli and Reese on March 26, 2021, at the 81st Annual Meeting of the Society in Norfolk, Virginia.

The Mead Award was initiated by the Society in 1979 and with the approval of Margaret Mead. Since 1983, the Award has been sponsored and presented jointly with the American Anthropological Association. The Award is presented annually to a young scholar for a particular accomplishment, such as a book, which employs anthropological data and principles in ways that make them meaningful and accessible to a broadly concerned public. The Award honors the memory of Margaret Mead, who in her lifetime was the most widely known woman in the world, and arguably the most recognized anthropologist. Mead had a unique talent for bringing anthropology into the light of public attention.

Dr. Bajoghli received a Ph.D. in Anthropology in 2016 from New York University. Her research and teaching interests include the Middle East, Iran, revolution and media, political anthropology, anthropology of media, paramilitary and military organizations, war, visual culture, documentary films and documentary filmmaking.

Dr. Reese received a Ph.D. in Anthropology from American University in 2015. Her research and teaching interests include Geographic Areas: Washington, D.C., Urban United States, Rural East Texas; Themes: Food Access, Black Geographies, Anti-Blackness and Cities, Race/Gender/Black Feminist Anthropology, Race and Neighborhoods/Food Justice Movements/Carcerality.

Additional information on the Mead Award and prior recipients may be found on the SfAA website – https://www.appliedanthro.org/about/awards-prizes.