Like many, I’m on all kinds of email lists and list servs for academic publishing. Usually I don’t pay them much attention. But the one below caught my eye for reasons that will probably be obvious: a public anthropology series being promoted by the University of California Press (the publisher of the first decade of Contexts) that includes an award-winning book by Paul Farmer (the subject of Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains which I use every time I teach Senior Projects). Anyway, I’m not trying advocate for the series or anything (I don’t even know anything else about what I’ve just read here), but thought folks would be interested to know the kind of public engagement being encouraged in other, related social science fields. All of the necessary information and places to find more are listed below.

Cheers!

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The California Series in Public Anthropology encourages professional scholars in a range of disciplines to discuss major public issues in ways that help the broader public understand and address them.

Based on a decade of success, the California Series in Public Anthropology’s International Competition is initiating a new competition for 2012 that emphasizes short books for undergraduates focused on how social scientists are successfully facilitating change. We are looking for accessible, grounded accounts that present compelling stories as well as offer enough interpretation to make these books useful in undergraduate courses.

The books should be relatively short – around 100 pages – with a personal touch that captures the lives of people. They should convey how social scientists have brought (or are bringing) about change. The core of the books will be stories of social scientists as change agents, as making a difference in the world.The books should involve stories that inspire.

The University of California Press, in association with the Center for a Public Anthropology, will award publishing contracts for up to three

such book proposals independent of whether the manuscripts themselves have been completed. The proposals can describe work the author wishes to undertake in the near future.

Interested individuals should submit a 3-4,000 word overview of their proposed manuscript detailing (a) the problem addressed as well as (b) a summary of what each chapter covers. The proposal should be written in a manner that non-academic readers find interesting and thought-provoking.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS MARCH 1, 2012 Submissions should be emailed to: bookseries@publicanthropology.org with the relevant material enclosed as attachments.

Naomi Schneider and Rob Borofsky, Co-Editors, California Series in Public Anthropology

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We would appreciate your forwarding this email on to students and colleagues who might be interested in the Competition. Thank you.

The Center for a Public Anthropology is a non-profit organization that encourages scholars and their students to address public problems in public ways.