MARTIN DISKIN dissertation award

Deadline: November 1, 2008

The Martin Diskin Dissertation Award is a new LASA initiative, made possible through the generosity of Oxfam America, LASA, and LASA members. This award, which will be presented for the first time at LASA2009, will be subsequently offered at each LASA International Congress to an outstanding junior scholar who combines Professor Diskin’s commitment to the creative combination of activism and scholarship.

The award will be presented to an advanced doctoral student or recent PhD. All advanced PhD candidates must demonstrate that they will complete their dissertation prior to the LASA International Congress, and we limit recent PhD recipients to those individuals who received their degrees after the LASA convention prior to the one at which the award is to be received. We welcome dissertations written in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

The Award Committee will evaluate three criteria: 1) Overall scholarly credentials, based upon the candidate’s CV; 2) The quality of the dissertation writing, research, and analysis as determined by the dissertation outline and sample chapter submitted; 3) The primary advisor’s letter of recommendation. The definition of activist scholarship shall remain broad and pluralist, to be discussed and interpreted by each selection committee.

Application Instructions

We ask that applicants submit the following materials:

• A current CV;

• A dissertation abstract of 250 words, the dissertation outline or table of contents, and one sample chapter, which exemplifies your approach to activist scholarship;

• A letter of recommendation from the candidate’s primary advisor which focuses explicitly on the candidate’s qualifications for the Martin Diskin Dissertation Award.

All application materials must be submitted electronically, and received at the LASA Secretariat by November 1, 2008. The email address is lasa@pitt.edu.

The Martin Diskin Dissertation Award recipient will receive a $1,000 stipend.

We encourage you to distribute this call for nominations as widely as possible with particular attention to circulating it among your colleagues and students.