The Popular Music Section of the Society for Ethnomusicology is pleased to announce the 2018 Richard Waterman Prize competition. The prize was created to recognize the best article by a junior scholar in the ethnomusicological study of popular music published within the previous year, in any publication (please note the prize date reflects the year in which the article is published and not the year awarded). The Prize comes with a cash award of up to $200.
About the Award
Purpose
To recognize the best article by a junior scholar in the ethnomusicological study of popular music published within the previous year (in any publication).
Prize
A cash prize in an amount decided annually by the PMSSEM chair; the amount will not exceed $200.
Regularity
Annually. The prize may be withheld by the decision of the committee.
Eligibility
For the purposes of this award, junior scholar is defined as any scholar, regardless of employment status, who received his or her Ph.D. no more than seven years prior to the submission year. (i.e. Ph.D. must have been received in 2011 or later to qualify for this year’s competition). An applicant may send more than one article for consideration per year, and may send items for consideration each year. Award recipients are ineligible to compete for the award in subsequent years.
Administration
The selection committee shall be made up of three to four senior members of PMSSEM, with members chosen for the next year's competition by the section at its annual business meeting or by mail-in vote. The previous year’s winner will be invited to serve on the committee if they now qualify as a senior member. For the purposes of this award, senior is defined as any scholar, regardless of employment status, who received their Ph.D. more than seven years prior to the submission deadline.
Application Process
Send a copy of your article(s) in PDF format to moc.liamg|ezirpnamretawmessmp#moc.liamg|ezirpnamretawmessmp by 12:00 PM (eastern time) on April 5, 2019.
Past Recipients
2020
David VanderHamm
"I’m Just an Armless Guitarist’: Tony Melendez, Disability, and the Social Construction of Virtuosity"
2019
Braxton Shelley
"Analyzing Gospel"
2018
William Cheng
"Black Noise, White Ears: Rap, Resilience, and the Killing of Jordan Davis," Current Musicology 102, 115-189
2017
Beau Bothwell
"State, Song, and Shabāb in Syria’s Prewar Radioscape," Asian Music 49(1), 80-119
2016
Catherine Appert
“On Hybridity in African Popular Music: The Case of Senegalese Hip Hop,” Ethnomusicology 60(2), 279-299
2015
John Paul Meyers
“Still Like that Old Time Rock and Roll: Tribute Bands and Historical Consciousness in Popular Music,” Ethnomusicology 59(1), 61-81
2014
Noriko Manabe
"Music in Japanese Antinuclear Demonstrations: The Evolution of a Contentious Performance Model" The Asia-Pacific Journal Vol. 11, Issue 42, No. 3, October 21, 2013
2013
Andrew Eisenberg
"Hip-hop and Cultural Citizenship on Kenya’s Swahili Coast" Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute 82(4), 556-578
2012
Ellen Gray
"Fado's City" Anthropology and Humanism, 36(2) (December 2011), 141-163
Jonathan Ritter
"Chocolate, Coconut, and Honey: Race, Music, and the Politics of Hybridity in the Ecuadorian Black Pacific" Popular Music and Society 35(5) (December 2011) 571-592
2011
Matt Sakakeeny
"'Under the Bridge': An Orientation to Soundscapes in New Orleans"
2010
Kiri Miller
"Schizophonic Performance: Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Virtual Virtuosity"
2009
David Novak
"2.5 x 6 Metres of Space: Japanese Music Coffeehouses and Experimental Practices of Listening"
Jeremy Wallach
"Living the Punk Lifestyle in Jakarta"
2008
Teresa Magdanz
"'Sobre las olas': Cultural Synecdoche of the Past"