Category: Awards

EPA to Honor UH Press Author

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Chip FletcherDr. Charles (Chip) Fletcher will be among the “environmental heroes” recognized today at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 12th annual Environmental Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles. Fletcher, a professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Hawai‘i, is a co-author of Living on the Shores of Hawaii: Natural Hazards, the Environment, and Our Communities, published this month by UH Press. The EPA is honoring Fletcher for his work in climate change science with UH’s Center for Island Climate Adaptation and Policy.” Read the Honolulu Star-Advertiser article here.

Photo: Windward Community College, University of Hawai‘i

Gossip and the Everyday Production of Politics Honored

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GossipGossip and the Everyday Production of Politics, by Niko Besnier, received an honorable mention for this year’s Edward Sapir Prize. The prize was established by the Society for Linguistic Anthropology in 2001 and is awarded in alternate years to a book that makes the most significant contribution to the understanding of language in society or the ways in which language mediates historical or contemporary sociocultural processes.

Shamans, Nostalgias, and the IMF Wins Yim Suk Jay Prize

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Shamans, Nostalgias, and the IMFShamans, Nostalgias, and the IMF: South Korean Popular Religion in Motion, by Laurel Kendall, has been awarded the Yim Suk Jay Prize.

The prize is awarded by the Korean Society for Cultural Anthropology to a Korean or foreign scholar who has contributed to the development of Korean cultural anthropology by authoring a book-length scholarly work of high quality and originality.

Gossip and the Everyday Production of Politics Wins the BAAL Book Prize

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GossipGossip and the Everyday Production of Politics, by Niko Besnier, has been awarded the BAAL Book Prize for 2010. BAAL (the British Association for Applied Linguistics) is a professional association based in the United Kingdom, which provides a forum for people interested in language and the applications of linguistics. It offers the annual prize for an outstanding book in any field of applied linguistics.

The Adventures of Vela Wins Commonwealth Writers’ Prize

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The Adventures of VelaThe Adventures of Vela, by Albert Wendt and published last fall by UH Press and Huia Publishers, was awarded the 2010 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for the Southeast Asia/Pacific region.

At the award ceremony in April, Huia’s Robyn Bargh commented: “We were honored to . . . see Albert’s work recognized in this way. [The award] shows he is one of the worlds leading indigenous writers.” Among this year’s finalists were J. M. Coetzee, Peter Carey, and Thomas Keneally.

For more information, go to http://www.huia.co.nz/?sn=31&pg=557&st=1.

Making Transcendents Receives Award for Excellence

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Making Transcendents: Ascetics and Social Memory in Early Medieval China, by Robert Ford Campany, has been selected to receive the American Academy of Religion’s Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion (historical studies category). The award will be presented during the 2010 AAR Annual Meeting in Atlanta, on October 30–November 1, 2010.

“If one day we arrive at a more profound understanding of the hidden agendas behind so much of Chinese writing, hagiographical as well as historical, Making Transcendents will undoubtedly have played a significant role in that process.” —Journal of Asian Studies

“Invaluable for anyone who wishes to understand the phenomenon of sanctity in general and the Chinese cult of xian in particular.” —Religious Studies Review

Tomoko Aoyama Honored for Reading Food in Modern Japanese Literature

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Reading FoodTomoko Aoyama is the most recent recipient of the Asian Studies Association of Australia’s Mid-career Researcher Prize for Excellence. Dr. Aoyama received the prize for her work in Reading Food in Modern Japanese Literature, published by UH Press in 2008.

“At first glance, this seems an unlikely subject, but the originality of the topic is fully sustained by the clarity of exposition, the profound knowledge of modern Japanese literature (both in the original and in translation) and the assurance of the author’s voice. A wide-ranging interest in theory never obscures its application to the discussion of particular works and themes. With a broad interdisciplinary approach, the author offers many sharp and relevant insights from anthropology, history, cultural studies, feminism, etc., and her cross-cultural insights are well-based. A feature of the book is the skill with which the English reader is led to appreciate linguistic subtleties in the Japanese.” —Citation from the Prize Committee

2010 Ka Palapala Po‘okela Awards

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This year’s Ka Palapala Po‘okela Awards Ceremony was held on April 30 at the Bishop Museum. The awards are presented by the Hawai‘i Book Publishers Association to recognize the finest books published during the previous year.

Two UH Press titles received the Honorable Mention in their respective categories: Ethnobotany of Pohnpei: Plants, People, and Island Culture, edited by Michael J. Balick, earned the award for Excellence in Text and Reference Books, and Talking Hawai‘i’s Story: Oral Histories of an Island People, edited by Michi Kodama-Nishimoto, Warren S. Nishimoto, and Cynthia A. Oshiro, for Excellence in Nonfiction.

Three books distributed by UH Press also garnered honorable mentions: the National Tropical Botanical Garden’s Plants of the Canoe People: An Ethnobotanical Voyage through Polynesia, by W. Arthur Whistler, for the Natural Science category, Pacific Images: Views from Captain Cook’s Third Voyage (2nd ed.), by Eleanor C. Nordyke, for Illustrative or Photographic Books, and Copley Square Press’ Ben Norris: American Modernist, 1910–2006 for the “Aloha from beyond Hawai‘i” category, which is for entries from publishers based outside Hawai‘i.

A complete list of winners is available here.

The Adventures of Vela Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize

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The Adventures of VelaThe Adventures of Vela, by Albert Wendt and published last fall by UH Press, has been shortlisted for the 2010 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Southeast Asia and Pacific Best Book division).

The critically acclaimed Commonwealth Writers’ Prize is in its 24th year and offers an exceptional opportunity for new writers to demonstrate their talent and for authors already on the literary scene to strengthen their reputation. The prize is presented by the Commonwealth Foundation with support from the Macquarie Group Foundation. The final program, starting on April 7, 2010, in Delhi, India, will bring together the finalists from the different regions of the Commonwealth, and the two overall winners will be announced there on April 12.

Choice Magazine’s Outstanding Academic Titles for 2009 Announced

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Each year Choice Magazine, the official publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries, compiles a distinguished list of Outstanding Academic Titles. The following two UH Press books were recognized for 2009. A complete list of titles will be available in Choice’s January 2010 issue.

Tour of Duty: Samurai, Military Service in Edo, and the Culture of Early Modern Japan
by Constantine Nomikos Vaporis

“Vaporis has written a magnificent book on the sankin kotai, or alternate attendance system. . . . Long considered the central political control mechanism of the Tokugawa period, the system has received surprisingly little scholarly attention until now. Filling a major gap in the understanding of Japanese history, the author provides a detailed account of the mechanics of the system and demands placed on daimyo and retainers on tours of duty in Edo. Exploiting the latest archaeological and archival sources, Vaporis makes clear the economic burden of the system on the daimyo, as well as its role as an engine of cultural, intellectual, and material exchange, from the center in Edo and between regions. The author also provides intimate details of the lives of samurai, both on the road to and from Edo and while serving their time in Edo. For all interested in early modern history. . . . Highly recommended.” —Choice (July 2009)

Kabuki’s Forgotten War: 1931-1945 by James R. Brandon

“Brandon offers new and intriguing research on the development of Kabuki through the turbulent 1930s and into the 1940s. . . . A vital addition to existing literature on what one thinks of as ‘traditional’ Kabuki, this book will be fascinating reading for those interested in Japanese theater, history, or politics. . . . Essential.” —Choice (April 2009)

Manoa Honored in The Best American Essays 2009

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Gates of ReconciliationGates of Reconciliation: Literature and the Ethical Imagination (issue 20:1 of Manoa: A Pacific Journal of International Writing) has been named a Notable Special Issue in The Best American Essays 2009, edited by Mary Oliver. The 2009 edition of the anthology series, which selects outstanding nonfiction published in the country’s most prestigious magazine and literary journals, also includes two selections from Gates of Reconciliation: “Pollen: An Ode” by Christopher Cokinos and “One Story House” by Rebecca Solnit.

This is the seventh time Manoa has been recognized nationally for excellence. It has been honored in the annuals The Best American Poetry, The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Science and Nature Writing, and The O. Henry Awards: Best Stories of the Year. Manoa is published by University of Hawai‘i Press and sponsored by the University of Hawai‘i’s Department of English.

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