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======================================================= Dear Colleagues, As you all know, in 2006 the American Historical Association authorized the establishment of an African History Book Prize to be awarded annually to the best book in African history as selected by a jury of scholars in the field. Since that time we have made some progress towards fulfilling the goal however we must put in more effort to reach the $50,000 that the Association requires to endow the prize. The meeting in New York in January represents the third year since the announcement. We MUST raise this money so that the prize competition can be announced at the 2009 meeting. It is incumbent upon us, the scholars in the field and our other colleagues, to raise this required amount. While we have made good progress towards the goal we need to make one last push to get the funds to complete the campaign. We need your support! Our target is to be able to announce success at the January AHA meeting in New York. I know we can reach this goal with renewed effort. To our colleagues outside the U.S., your contribution (thanks to the weak dollar!!!) will be especially valuable to our campaign! For the British pound, the dollar rate would be double that of the pound and for those in the Euro system, at least a quarter more. Many of you may have noticed that the AHA has demonstrated an unprecedented commitment to supporting African history as a field represented both in the annual meetings and in the American Historical Review, the journal. Each year more and more African historians attend the conference and participate in panels. This increased inclusion of Africa represents an important shift in the Association?s eagerness to reach out to non-Western fields. In this respect there are even more signs of African historians? involvement: * The permanent designation of a slot for an African history scholar on the program committee * Increased numbers of panels on African history and inclusion of African historians on interfield panels. For several years we?ve had over 50 African historians in attendance. This year promises to continue the trajectory of our increased presence with a group of panels continuing discussions about the slave trade that have garnered impressive audiences in 2006, 2007 and 2008 * Additionally, a number of Africanist or scholars of the diaspora are running for office: (1) VP Research Ned Alpers (UCLA) and Iris Berger(SUNY Albany); (2) Councilor ? Profession ? Carolyn Brown (Rutgers) ; (3) Councilor research ? Laurent M. Dubois (Duke) and John Thornton (Boston); (4) Nominating Committee ? Alexander Byrd. (Rice) The AHA African Book Award acknowledges this initiative for more inclusion of non-western historical fields and will give more visibility to the best contributions of scholarship in African history. Please make checks out to the American Historical Association, with ?African Book Prize? in the memorandum line and mail it to the American Historical Association, 400 A Street, SE, Washington, D. C. 20003-3889. All contributions are 100% tax deductible. Please circulate this to your colleagues in other fields and in your departments. We have been pleased that many colleagues in other fields have contributed significantly to the campaign in recognition of the importance of African history to the field of history. For further information, feel free to contact me, Cbrown@panix.com or other members of the campaign committee listed here below: 1. Jean Allman ? Washington University, (jallman@WUSTL.edu ); 2. Ralph Austen - University of Chicago, (wwb3@uchicago.edu ); 3. Carolyn Brown - Rutgers University, (cbrown@panix.com); 4. Judith Byfield ? Cornell University , (jab632@ Cornell.edu); 5. Lee Cassanelli - University of Pennsylvania, (lcassane@sas.upenn.edu); 6. Mamadou Diouf ? Columbia University, (md2573@Columbia.edu ); 7. Steve Feierman - University of Pennsylvania, (feierman@sas.upenn.edu); 8. Sandra Greene - Cornell University, (seg6@cornell.edu); 9. Allen Isaacman - University of Minnesota, (isaac001@umn.edu); 10. Paul Lovejoy ? York University, (plovejoy@yorku.ca ); 11. Pat Manning - University of Pittsburgh, (pmanning@pitt.edu); 12. Richard Roberts- Stanford University, ( rroberts@stanford.edu); 13. Ahmad Sikainga ? Ohio State University, (sikainga.1@osu.edu); 14. Barbara Y. Welke - University of Minnesota, (welke004@umn.edu); Please help us with one last push to make the AHA African Book Prize Award a reality. I know we can do it!! Sincerely, Carolyn A. Brown, Chair AHA African Book Prize Campaign (Ph) 732-932-8522/7905 (F) 732 932-6763 -- Laura Ann Pechacek Department of History Rutgers University
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