SSRC Update

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Benedict Anderson Awarded 2011 Hirschman Prize

Benedict Anderson received the 2011 Albert O. Hirschman Prize of the Social Science Research Council at a special session of the 40th World Congress of the International Institute of Sociology in Delhi, India, where he delivered the annual Hirschman Lecture, discussing Era, Culture, Absence, and Comparison. The award was presented by SSRC President Craig Calhoun, who notes that “Benedict Anderson's work shows the broad interdisciplinary scope and public engagement—as well as the intellectual brilliance—that Albert Hirschman exemplified and the SSRC treasures.” The Council’s highest prize, the Hirschman carries an award of US$10,000. Previous recipients include Dani Rodrik and Charles Tilly.

New SSRC program the African Peacebuilding Network will support independent African research on conflict-affected countries and neighboring regions of the continent and the integration of African knowledge into global policy communities.

The British Council and the SSRC have launched Our Shared Past, a collaborative grants program to encourage new approaches to world history curriculum and curricular content design in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and North America. Applications are due May 31.

Education Research Program findings on collegiate learning, presented in their influential book Academically Adrift and follow-up report Documenting Uncertain Times: Post-graduate Transitions of the Academically Adrift Cohort, continue to reverberate among academics and policymakers. See coverage in the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, The Week UK, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Leading scholars comment on Rick Santorum’s remarks on religion and politics for The Immanent Frame: just how naked is the American public square?

New on African Futures: “Values vs. Interests: The US and African Elections,” by Anthony W. Gambino, and “The ICC and Lubanga: Missed Opportunities,” by Pascal Kambale.

Daniel H. Nexon is recognized by Jack Donnelly as an interesting and exciting creative New Voice in the discipline of international relations for his book The Struggle for Power in Early Modern Europe: Religious Conflict, Dynastic Empires, and International Change.

Drugs, Security, and Democracy 2011 Fellow José Miguel Cruz writes on "The Transformation of Street Gangs in Central America: Organized Crime, Mano Dura Policies and Lost Opportunities" for Harvard’s ReVista.

A number of SSRC fellowship and grant competitions are now open: the Eurasia Program’s Summer Workshops in Quantitative Methods (deadline: April 10); the Rachel Tanur Memorial Prize for Visual Sociology (April 20); the Korean Studies Dissertation Workshop (May 1); and the China Environment and Health Initiative's Summer Institute (May 15) and Grants for Collaborative Research (August 28).