The Kenneth W. Payne Student Prize is presented each year by the Association for Queer Anthropology (AQA) of the American Anthropological Association to a graduate or undergraduate student in acknowledgment of outstanding anthropological work on 1) a lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans* topic, or 2) a critical interrogation of sexualities and genders more broadly defined.
Fourteen students submitted papers this year. Submissions were evaluated according to the following criteria: use of relevant L/G/B/T/Q and/or feminist anthropological theory and literature, potential for contribution to and advancement of L/G/B/T/Q studies and our understanding of sexualities worldwide, attention to difference (such as gender, class, race, ethnicity, nation), originality, organization and coherence, and timeliness.
The 2019 recipient of the Payne Prize:
Clara Beccaro (Columbia University/New School), for the paper “Liberté, Égalité, Réfugiés: LGBTQIA+ Asylum Seekers and France’s Category of Worthiness”
The abstract reads:
This work traces the deployment of a category of worthiness in the context of LGBTQIA+ refugees’ claims for asylum in France. It arises from an awareness of a French paradox: while the state claims its position as a model of human rights for sexual minorities and asylum seekers, it also discriminates against LGBTQIA+ refugees. Focusing on the asylum procedure, it examines how LGBTQIA+ asylum seekers are marked as worthy or unworthy of receiving protection from the French state. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate that the French state relies on credibility markers to assess the worthiness of individuals seeking asylum on the basis of sexuality and gender identity. By relying on them, France is able to ensure that LGBTQIA+ refugees who are granted asylum do not threaten France’s political agenda. This work’s purpose is thus to shed light, despite the claims made by France, on the reality of LGBTQIA+ asylum seekers’ situation in France. As such, it both covers, through an anthropological lens, the question of LGBTQIA+ identities in the context of migration, as well as interrogates the way that those identities have been framed through the French asylum system. At a time when refugees are increasingly seeking asylum in France, especially those who hold LGBTQIA+ identities, the questions raised by this research are crucial in order to think and reframe a better asylum procedure for those seeking French protection.
The committee is also pleased to award two honorable mentions, to Stephen Chao (Princeton University) for the paper “Curating Queer of Color Utopia in Queer/Trans Asian American Nightlife,” and to Zhiqiu Benson Zhou (Northwestern University) for the paper “Beyond Tongzhi and the Instability of Sexual Identities in China.”
The 2019 Payne Prize recipients will be recognized at the AQA Business meeting during the annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association in Vancouver, November 20-24.
The 2019 Payne Prize Committee: Brooke Bocast (Montana State University), Timothy McCajor Hall (UCLA), Michael Connors Jackman (Memorial University of Newfoundland), Richard J. Martin (Harvard University – 2019 Payne Prize Committee chair), Michelle Marzullo (California Institute of Integral Studies), Shaka McGlotten (Purchase College-SUNY), and Vaibhav Saria (Earlham College).
For additional information, contact the Payne committee chair, Richard Martin rmartin01@fas.harvard.edu