Departmental Awards

For an Anthropology senior who has shown significant achievement in their undergraduate career, both academically as well as through extraordinary engagement and/or service relevant to their study in Anthropology.

For an Anthropology junior who shows great promise at this stage in their undergraduate career, both academically as well as through extraordinary engagement and/or service relevant to their study in Anthropology.

Funded by multiple donors, the Trevor E. Stokol Scholarship honors the life of Trevor E. Stokol (C' 02), an Emory alumnus and anthropology major who was preparing to enter medical school when he went missing on Mt. Everest in July 2005. The Stokol Scholarship is made annually to one or more Emory undergraduate anthropology juniors based on the merits of their research projects. The awards will be designated by the Anthropology Undergraduate Awards Committee.

A memorial for Trevor stated: "Trevor Eric Stokol died "living his dream" with camera in hand near Mt. Everest Base Camp in Nepal. Tenacious and resilient, strong physically, emotionally and in truth, he lived an impassioned and full life. Trevor was a graduate of RMA and Emory University and was about to start medical school, no doubt to serve the disadvantaged. He lived his 25 years with gusto, knew no stranger and died at peace with himself and the world around him."

2024 Call for Applications (due date TBD)

In 1998 The Department of Anthropology announced the establishment of the "Marjorie Shostak Award" to be awarded each year to an Emory student whose work reflects original ethnographic research on some aspect of human life experience.

The prize commemorates the life and work of Marjorie Shostak, author of Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman (Cambridge Mass., Harvard University Press, 1981, republished 2000) and the sequel Return to Nisa (Harvard, 2000). These works were highly praised for the immediacy of the writing, the personal character of the ethnographic encounters, and the complete absence of jargon, without any sacrifice of anthropological accuracy or validity.

The presence of the ethnographer as an individual in these books gave the reader an opportunity to take her perspectives and biases into account in evaluating the descriptions and interviews. In addition, Shostak's photographs were an important part of the presentation. One of the important qualities of the work was its ability to engage audiences outside the academy.  

The award is accordingly bestowed on papers, theses, photography, film, sonic projects, graphic design/illustration, installations, theater/performance projects, and multimedia works that take a direct, personal approach to ethnography, without sacrificing validity or analysis, in keeping with the spirit of Shostak's work.

In the best submissions, human beings will come alive on the page and/or in other media, giving the reader a strong experience of the people's humanity and the culture they belong to. The ethnographer will also attempt to analyze or interpret the experience, but with a minimum of jargon.  Submitted work should also have the potential to reach a wide range of audiences.

The prize, established by Shostak's family, entails a financial gift and will be awarded to the authors of the winning undergraduate and graduate ethnographies, provided that there are submissions that meet the standards set by Shostak's work. Each award may be shared in some years and absent in others.

This annual award is to recognize graduate students in Anthropology who have demonstrated excellence in undergraduate teaching during their time at Emory. One goal of our graduate program is to develop the teaching skills of all doctoral students. This award is given based on a student's record in teaching and contributions to the undergraduate program over the entire span of their career at Emory.

The award is funded through an endowment set up by the late Professor George Armelagos – a distinguished scholar, teacher, and mentor. It was his desire that the department recognizes graduate students who are exceptional teachers, and that this recognition might help them on the job market.

Dr. Delores P. Aldridge, EMERITUS (Ph.D. Purdue University) is the Grace Towns Hamilton Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Emory University, the first distinguished chair named for a living African American woman and in African American Studies at a major institution. Dr. Aldridge was the first African American woman faculty member at Emory where she became the founding director of the first Black Studies degree granting program in the South in 1971 which she administered until 1990. In 2003, the Delores P. Aldridge Excellence Awards were inaugurated at Emory. This is one of three awards named for her, another being the Excellence Faculty/Staff Award at one of her alma maters, Clark Atlanta University. And., a third is the Delores P. Aldridge Academic Achievement Award inaugurated in 2010 by the National Black Herstory Taskforce.

The Phi Beta Kappa trained sociologist and clinical social worker, civil rights activist is the recipient of more than 100 awards including the premier Thomas Jefferson Award (recognizing distinguished service to Emory and to the development of Black/Africana Studies as one of its pioneers) from Emory University with Russian premier Mikhail Gorbachev participating in the presentation. Also, the recipient of the Georgia Governors Award in the Humanities for contributions to Georgia, and six teaching awards from Emory including a Great Teacher of the Century Award as well as the Association of Black Sociologists’ Teaching, Mentoring and Service Award. And, she was listed in Lisa Birnbach’s Guide to American Colleges on three separate occasions as one of Emory’s three best teachers.