The Toyin Falola ATWS Africa Book Award, established in 2005 in honor of Toyin Falola, one of Africa’s outstanding historians and intellectuals, was initially given in 2006 for the best book on Africa, published in 2005-2006. The first award was presented at the Twenty-Fourth Annual Meeting of ATWS (November 2-4, 2006) at Winston-Salem State University. The 2006 winner was Adam Ashforth, Visiting Associate Professor of Social Sciences at Princeton University, for his excellent work, “Witchcraft, Violence, and Democracy in South Africa,” published by the University of Chicago Press in 2005. Professor Falola generously funds the award.
CALL FOR BOOKS FOR 2024-2025 TOYIN FALOLA AGSS AFRICA BOOK AWARD
The Toyin Falola Africa Book Award is named in honor of Toyin Falola, one of Africa’s outstanding historians and intellectuals. The award is given for the best book on Africa, published in 2024-2025. Book submissions must be issued from January 1, 2024, through August 15, 2025. The deadline for the submission of entries is August 15, 2025. The award will not automatically be given each year but only when the committee decides to submit a book of considerable merit. AGSS members are encouraged to enter their publications into the competition. The recipient will receive a plaque, citation, and a $500 cash award.
Qualifications are:
- Only monographs and similar original studies will be considered. Please do not submit anthologies or edited works.
- An individual who wishes to be considered must send a letter of application to the committee chair, Dr. José Arimatéia da Cruz, jdacruz@georgiasouthern.edu
- Publishers can nominate an author’s book if the above rules are observed. Send a copy of the book to each committee member.
- An individual seeking the award is responsible for sending each committee member a copy of their book.
Please send three copies of the book to:
Dr. Jose de Arimateia da Cruz, Committee Chair
Georgia Southern University, Armstrong Campus
11935 Abercorn Street
Dept. of Political Science & International Studies
Savannah, GA 31419
Dr. Ishmael I. Munene
2840 N Elk Run St.
Flagstaff, AZ 86004
Col. James T. Gire, Ph.D.
403 Carroll Hall
Virginia Military Institute
Lexington, VA 24450
Rubric for Decision:
- Originality in terms of the research area and interpretation
- Contribution to the intellectual debates within the subject area in which they are framed and
- Present well-substantiated arguments.
Previous Award Winners
2006 – Adam Ashforth, Witchcraft, Violence, and Democracy in South Africa
2007 – Assefaw Bariagaber, Conflict and the Refugee Experience: Flight, Exile, and Repatriation in the Horn of Africa
2008 – Ogbu Kalu, African Pentecostalism: An Introduction and Collins O. Airhihenbuwa, Healing Our Differences: The Crisis of Global Health and the Politics Of Identity
2009 – Bayo Holsey, Routes of Remembrance: Refashioning the Slave Trade in Ghana
2010 – Patrick Manning, The African Diaspora: A History through Culture
2011 – Richard Beltrop, Darfur and the International Community: The Challenges of Conflict Resolution in the Sudan
2012 – Raymond Jonas, The Battle of Adwa: African Victory in the Age of Empire
2013 – Zubairu Wai, Epistemologies of African Conflicts: Violence, Evolutionism, and the War in Sierra Leone
2014 – Cati Coe, The Scattered Family: Parenting, African Migrants, and Global Inequality
2015 — Timothy Raeymaekers, Violent Capitalism and Hybrid Identity in the Eastern Congo: Power to the Margins
2016 — Mohamed Zayani, Networked Publics and Digital Contention
2017 — not awarded
2018 — not awarded
2019 – Rosalind C. Fredericks, Garbage Citizenship: Vital Infrastructures of Labor in Dakar, Senegal
2020 — not awarded
2021 – not awarded
2022- Cati Coe, Changes in Care: Aging, Migration, and Social Class in West Africa