51ĀŅĀ×

Four African Studies books published by the 51ĀŅĀ× Press have earned significant accolades this fall, including award winners and finalists. 

by Elizabeth Giorgis (Addis Ababa University), a part of the , is the 2020 winner of the African Studies Associationā€™s (ASA) annual . This award is given annually to the author of the best book on East African Studies that was published in the previous calendar year. 

The prize committee shared in a statement, ā€œThis is the first book length study of modernist art in Ethiopia and it shines with intelligence. The works discussed are beautifully displayed, and the book is a delight to read. By employing feminist, literary, economics, philosophical, and historical methods, Giorgis is able to meticulously demonstrate the many ways in which the periodā€™s major artists affirmed or resisted Western ideas.ā€

Modernist Art in Ethiopia was also named a finalist for the annual ASA Book Prize, which recognizes the most important scholarly work in African Studies, published in English and distributed in the United States the previous year. It was also shortlisted for the ASA of the UKā€™s Oliver and Fage Prize, which is awarded to an author of outstanding original scholarly work published on Africa during the previous two years.

by Ndubueze L. Mbah (SUNY at Buffalo), a part of the NAH series, was also a finalist for the ASA Book Prize. 

ā€œThis work not only transforms our understanding of the role of gender in precolonial Africa, it also deepens our understanding of the impact of the slave trade and European colonialism. It has broad ramifications beyond the Bight of Biafra to the vast areas affected by the Atlantic systems in Africa and the Diaspora,ā€ the ASA Book Prize committee said in a statement.

Emergent Masculinities was also co-winner of the 2020 Rosalyn Terborg-Penn Prize for Outstanding Original Scholarship on Gender and Sexuality in the African Diaspora from the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD) and finalist for the ASWAD Outstanding First Book Prize. 

, edited by Oluwakemi M. Balogun (University of Oregon), Lisa Gilman (George Mason University), Melissa Graboyes (University of Oregon) and Habib Iddrisu (University of Oregon), part of the , won the inaugural African Studies Review Prize for the best Africa-focused Anthology or Edited Collection. 

African Studies Review is the flagship scholarly journal of the ASA. The award recognizes the editors and contributors of works published in the previous calendar year of original scholarship that also advances African studies in new theoretical or methodological ways. 

This book was published in association with 51ĀŅĀ×ā€™s Center for International Studies, with which 51ĀŅĀ× Press also publishes series on , and .

, by David Morton (University of British Columbia), part of the NAH series, was also a finalist for the ASAā€™s Bethwell A. Ogot Prize. 

ā€œEarning four ASA nominations in one year is an incredible honor, and winning the additional accolades marks a great year for 51ĀŅĀ× Press. Three of these books are part of our New African Histories series, and we hope this will bring more awareness to the imperative work that series highlights,ā€ Rick Huard, acquisitions editor for 51ĀŅĀ× Press, said.

The NAH series mission is to redefine the field of African history with books that ā€œbring the practice of history to unlikely places, ask unsettling questions, and adopt unorthodox methodologies.ā€ 

The seriesā€™ editorial team aims to ā€œpush the discipline of African history in new directions by publishing works that challenge the fieldā€™s conventions.ā€ Imperative to this mission, the team notes, is the commitment to publishing cutting-edge work of historians based at African institutions, manuscripts by first-time authors and the work of established scholars who are breaking new ground.

51ĀŅĀ× Press is the oldest academic publisher in Ohio, with a long and distinguished history of publishing in African studies. To learn more, visit .