The Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group (ACYIG) is delighted to announce our inaugural prize for best new book representing the anthropology of childhood or youth goes to… Camilla Morelli, for her book Children of the Rainforest: Shaping the Future in Amazonia (Rutgers 2023).

Morelli’s remarkable ethnography traces how Indigenous Matses children are actively driving cultural change in their communities in a globalising world, addressing old questions about children’s agentive roles in generational cultural shifts and suggesting provocative new questions about what anthropology may have been overlooking about the cultural and global significance of children’s imaginings, affective attachments, and aspirations. The prize committee agreed that Morelli’s monograph exemplified the criteria of originality, relevance to the anthropology of childhood and/or youth, potential for significant impact on the field, and readability. In addition, Morelli’s book is rich with ethnographic detail, children’s drawings and photographs, making this an engaging and accessible text for a wide readership. Morelli’s clear and compelling storytelling makes it appear as though ethnographic research with children in a remote forest setting is easy. To so effectively trace the processes of cultural change from local to global levels from children’s perspectives takes an ethnographer of impressive skill and demands tremendous emotional and physical labour. Congratulations, Camilla on your achievement.

Link to Morelli’s book

The Anthropology of Childhood and Youth Interest Group (ACYIG) is pleased to announce our inaugural Book Prize competition. The ACYIG Book Prize Committee will award $300.00 to an anthropologically-focused book published in 2022-2023 that is cutting-edge, well-written, and contributes significantly to our understanding of children and youth.

Those nominated (self-nominations accepted) must be members of ACYIG. Nominations should be accompanied by four copies of the book, and a letter from the nominator (no longer than 500 words) addressing the book in terms of: (1) originality; (2) relevance to the anthropology of childhood and/or youth; (3) potential for significant impact on the field. No edited volumes or textbooks will be considered.

The awardee will be chosen in Fall 2023, and the Book Prize Committee review of the winning volume will be included in the Spring 2024 edition of NEOS, the flagship publication of ACYIG.

Nomination Letter Deadline: Monday, September 25, 2023

Committee confirmation email will be sent by: Monday October 9, 2023

Books must be sent to Prize Committee by: Monday, October 16, 2023

• Please send nomination letter by email to

Ida Fadzillah Leggett, AYCIG Book Committee Chair

Ida.Leggett@mtsu.edu         

• Within the nomination confirmation email, nominators will receive instructions on where to send four copies of the book.
• The ACYIG Book Prize winner will be announced in Fall 2023.

Questions? Please email Ida Fadzillah Leggett at Ida.Leggett@mtsu.edu