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 Guyot-Réchard documents the political posturing along the Arunanchal borders using not only multifarious historical documents, but also oral history interviews with local Tani and other communities.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.
2017 Prize Winners
Congratulations to the First Winners of the 2017 James Fisher Prize! In honor of the scholarly contributions of Dr. James Fisher to scholarship in the region, ANHS proudly announces the winners of the first James Fisher Prize for First Books on the Himalayan Region. The Fisher Prize honors books which contribute an innovative and lucid written account of Himalayan studies research. Last year, several highly competitive submissions led the awards committee to nominate a shared prize award.
The prize winners are Lauren Leve (Religious Studies, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) and Sara Shneiderman (Anthropology, University of British Columbia) with honorable mention going to Georgina Drew (Anthropology and Development Studies, University of Adelaide).
Dr. Leve’s book, The Buddhist Art of Living in Nepal: Ethical Practice and Religious Reform (Routledge, 2016), chronicles how Theravada Buddhism has grown to have a significant presence in Nepal, especially among Newar communities of Kathmandu. Besides being a pleasure to read, the book’s significance lies in its ethnographic treatment of families adopting religious tenets which help them adjust to the contemporary changes of late modernity and neoliberal globalization.
Dr. Shneiderman’s book, Rituals of Ethnicity: Thangmi Identities Between Nepal and India (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015), is a study of mobility and ritual action. Through an ethnography of the Thangmi, a community who migrate between Himalayan border zones of Nepal, India, and the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China, the book explores the maintenance of ethnicity in modern Thangmi communities. Set in a time of political conflict in Nepal and separatist movements in India, the book chronicles how democracy, communism, development, and indigeneity have all impacted Thangmi identity over time.
Dr. Drew’s book, River Dialogues: Hindu Faith and the Political Ecology of Dams on the Sacred Ganga (University of Arizona Press, 2017) uses ethnographic methods of journalistic realism to explore the ongoing debate over the Ganga river’s natural and constructed future. A remarkable book, River Dialogues examines how women in particular protest the building of hydroelectric dams on the sacred river and the private industries and government efforts to build them in Uttarakhand, an officially designated conservation zone.
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.
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.