Claire Wendland nominated for national book prize

Claire Wendland, faculty affiliate of the African Studies Program and Professor and Chair of UW’s Department of Anthropology, has been nominated for two national prizes from the African Studies Association. Wendland has been nominated for both the ASA Best Book Prize and the Bethwell A. Ogot Book Prize, which gets awarded to the author of the best book on East African studies published in the previous calendar year. The African Studies Association is the leading organization of African Studies in North America, and is set to announce the winners of these awards at their annual meeting in San Francisco this fall.  

Wendland’s book, Partial Stories: Maternal Death from Six Angles, discusses maternal death in Malawi, while considering their implications in the broader arena of medical knowledge. Wendland looks at three potential causes for maternal death, showing how they reflect visions of the past and shared concerns about social change. She discusses the danger of legitimizing a single story and only telling a part of a whole. 

To see the official list of awardees and finalists, click here.