The James Fisher Prize for First Books on the Himalayan Region
2018 Prize Winners
In honor of the scholarly contributions of Dr. James Fisher to scholarship in the region, ANHS proudly announces the winners of the James Fisher Prize for First Books on the Himalayan Region. The James Fisher Prize for First Books on the Himalayan Region honors books which contribute an innovative and lucid written account of Himalayan studies research.
With a dozen highly competitive submissions, the awards committee is proud to announce the James Fisher Prize to Bérénice Guyot-Réchard of King’s College, London for her remarkable book, Shadow States: India, China and the Himalayas, 1910-1962 (Cambridge, 2017). Dr. Guyot-Réchard’s book, Shadow States, chronicles how India and China have entertained a difficult and tenuous relationship in their state-making endeavors in the Himalayan borderland. Dr. Guyot-Réchard documents the political posturing along the Arunanchal borders using not only multifarious historical documents, but also oral history interviews with local Tani and other communities. Located at the trijunction of Chinese Tibet, Bhutan, and India, Shadow States is a sobering reminder of the competitive dimension of borderland state-making and the role of local residents in shaping politics. That this book is so lucidly written, compassionate, and insightful is a testament the exceptional quality of our next generation of Himalayan scholars.
In addition, the Prize Committee awards Honorable Mention to Anne Mocko of 
Concordia College, Moorhead, MN, for her book, Demoting Vishnu: Ritual, Politics, and the Unraveling of Nepal’s Hindu Monarchy (Oxford, 2016). Dr. Mocko’s book, Demoting Vishnu, is a study of Nepal’s political shift from monarchy to republic through changes in royal public rituals. Based on extensive interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, Demoting Vishnu contends that usurping religious authority by interim administrations during Indra Jatra and other events served to legitimize new political authority in the nascent Republic of Nepal. While academics generally observe and record the more visible political demonstrations, constitutional legislative actions, or other political events, Dr. Mocko opens a whole new ritual landscape for readers to appreciate with keen insight and a lean yet evocative writing style.
May 1, 2019 Deadline for the 2019 James Fisher Book Prize: For those interested in submitting their own or a colleague’s book for consideration, see the announcement on the ANHS website http://anhs-himalaya.org/anhsfunding/. Books under consideration for the 2019 Fisher Book Prize will have been published in the past two years (2017 to present). Books should be an author’s first academic book, be single or co-authored, non-fiction, and written in English. The award recipient receives a $250 prize from ANHS with the book archived at the ANHS library in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Send three copies of books to:
Katharine Rankin
Fisher Book Prize Committee Chair
Department of Geography and Planning
University of Toronto
100 St. George St.
Toronto ON M5S 3G3, CANADA
Contact Katherine Rankin, [email protected], with any queries.
Please join us at the 2019 Annual South Asian Conference in Madison where the 2018 awardees will be formally recognized at the ANHS Annual Meeting.