The COSWA Award (formerly the Squeaky Wheel Award), sponsored by the Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology (COSWA), recognizes individuals who have demonstrated the courage to bring to light and investigate practices in anthropology that are potentially discriminatory to women, or have acted to improve the status of women in anthropology through activities that raise awareness of women’s contribution to anthropology or identify barriers to full participation by women in anthropology.
Past Winners
2008 - Margaret Conkey
2007 - Joan Gero
2006 - Sandra Morgen
2005 - Not given
2004 - Adrienne Zihlman
2003 - Sue Kent
2002 - Carole Crumley
2001 - Naomi Quinn
2000 - Roger Sanjek
1999 - Carol Kramer
1998 - Louise Lamphere
1997 - John Yellen
Nominations
A nominee may be from the field of anthropology or outside it. Anyone may submit nominations, including non-AAA members or non-anthropologists. Nominations should include the name, affiliation and title of the individual being nominated and a one- or two-paragraph description of the reason for the nomination and the nature of the person’s contribution to the improvement of the status of women in anthropology. The nomination also should include the name, address, phone number and email address of the nominator. Nominators may be contacted for additional material concerning finalists. Nominations should be sent by Oct 1 to Elizabeth Tunstall (etunst@uic.edu) or Catherine Kingfisher (c.kingfisher@uleth.ca).
Dr. Margaret Conkey is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California-Berkeley, where she has taught since 1986. Dr. Conkey was a member and chairperson of COSWA in 1975. She is also the president-elect of the Society for American Archaeology.
Dr. Conkey has dedicated her career to support and promote women within our discipline as well as truly initiating feminist archaeology with her 1984 article with Janet Spector, Archaeology and the Study of Gender. The article created the place and voice for the study of women in the past as well as initiating the discussion of women's position in our discipline. One of the letter of supports on her behalf calls her "the preeminent American feminist archaeologist of our time."
Another letter of support indicates that "thinking about Meg, "squeaky" is not the first word that comes to mind but a "wheel" is exactly what she is – moving issues, no matter what bumpy road is ahead, always looking forward, having a goal, a sense where the discipline needs to go to be productive, lively, and humane towards its students and practitioners."
Dr. Conkey's life has always been a source of inspiration to women (and men) working toward careers in anthropology and archaeology. She has encouraged her students and colleagues to "spread the word and rattle the cages of complacency in the classroom, in the field, in the profession, and in academia more generally."
The Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology is honored to present the 2007 Squeaky Wheel award to Joan Gero. Joan has dedicated her career to exposing inequality and attention to gender, with particular attention to spotlighting issues of feminist concern within the current practice of archaeology. Her article “Socio-politics and the woman-at-home ideology” (1985, American Antiquity 50(2):342-350), was one of the first publications to highlight the inequities and expectations faced by female archaeologists. Her groundbreaking volume Engendering Archaeology: Women and Prehistory (co-edited with Margaret Conkey), transformed archaeology by destabilizing assumptions about men’s societal contribution, making investigations of ancient women’s marks on the archaeological record and gender in past cultures an accepted part of the sub-field. Specifically, Joan challenged Paleoindian researchers’ ideas about the primacy of hunting and butchering as male activities, as well as their resistance to recognize women’s tools and roles. In addition to her contributions to feminist archaeology, Joan has also been a vocal actor with regard to the global politics of archaeology. Presently, she serves as the World Archaeological Congress’ Senior North American Representative on the congress planning team, as well as Head Series Editor for the One World Archaeology book series. Joan will be retiring this year from American University after ten years of service at American and 13 years teaching at the University of South Carolina. Throughout her tenure, Joan remained an active mentor and valued colleague. Her office door was always open, and her wit, sage advice, and enthusiasm for anthropology never faded.
The Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology is honored to present the 2006 Squeaky Wheel award to Sandra Morgen. Sandi has worked tirelessly for women in society and women in anthropology through her research on women’s health, reproductive justice, welfare and now, on tax politics in the U.S. entitlements. Her first book “Women and the Politics of Empowerment” is a classic volume detailing women’s organizing at work and in the community. Her second volume, published by the AAA, “Gender and Anthropology” represents a collective effort to integrate gender into the anthropological curriculum. Her most recent book “Taxes are a Women’s Issue” builds on extensive policy work on welfare reform and has profound implications for policy in this country. She also brought together welfare researchers to produce the AAA statement on welfare reform. Sandi has served as a founding member and President of the AFA (Association for Feminist Anthropology) and is now President-Elect of the SANA (Society for the Anthropology of North America). Sandi is currently a faculty member in Women’s Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. She previously served as Director of the Center for the Study of Women and Society at the University of Oregon. She is highly regarded as an excellent mentor and supportive colleague
2005 - Not given
The Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology (COSWA) is pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2004 Squeaky Wheel Award is Adrienne Zihlman of the University of California Santa Cruz. The award will be presented at the 2005 meetings. In her many publications, including over 50 articles and a volume edited with ME Morbeck and A Galloway entitled The Evolving Female: A Life History Perspective, Zihlman directed attention to an examination of women in evolution. She has written extensively on gender differences in many aspects of physical anthropology including morphology and locomotion; women in human origins; woman as gatherer; life history of great apes; and the roots of sociality. Her continued efforts have been responsible for ensuring that an evolutionary perspective of humans includes women’s contributions.
Zihlman is a former chair of her department and vice president of the California Academy of Sciences. She is a fellow of the AAAS and the California Academy of Sciences. In addition to her scholarly work, Zihlman has received the UC Santa Cruz award for excellence in teaching. Many students have benefited greatly from Zihlman’s excellent teaching and mentoring. COSWA is honored to recognize the contributions of Adrienne Zihlman with this award.
The Squeaky Wheel Award is to be awarded posthumously this year to Susan Kent. Kent's research on foraging societies focused on both equalities and structural inequalities of all kinds, including gender. As an ethnoarchaeologist she was always aware of the nuances of differences between different classes of people. She organized a session on gender in African prehistory and edited a book from the session papers (Gender in African Prehistory) at a time when this topic was just beginning to become respectable. For many who contributed papers, it was a new topic and an exciting challenge to organize and consider data in a new way. Her service in AAA included membership in COSWA, to which she gave her usual devoted attention. Kent was a mentor to women students at many universities, not just Old Dominion University where she taught, and was always generous with her time, experience and advice. Her own personal network of anthropologists in all subfields was vast, and she helped connect students into it. The award will be presented at the COSWA session presentation on Children in Anthropological Studies and Mothers in Academia on Friday from 8:00-11:45 am at the Annual Meeting in Chicago.
COSWA is pleased to announce that Carole Crumley is the recipient of the 2002 award, which was presented at the 2002 AAA Annual Meeting in New Orleans.
Crumley is a professor at UNC at Chapel Hill, where she has spent her career examining evidence of social inequality in the archaeological record. Through her extensive fieldwork in the US, France, Israel, Italy, Ireland and Spain, she has examined hierarchy and stratification, and done groundbreaking work in climate and paleoenvironments, a field overwhelmingly dominated by male researchers. Former students comment on Crumley's role in shaping their success, and commend her as a dynamic and charismatic mentor, especially helping women graduate students succeed in areas where few women have dared to tread. She has a good record of grantsmanship and publication, recently editing Historical Ecology, Heterarchy and the Analysis of Complex Societies and New Directions in Anthropology and Environment: Intersections. She recently was elected to the archaeology seat on the AAA Executive Board, and formerly served the AAA as the secretary of the AAA Executive Board and chair of the Nominations Committee. For her service to the AAA, her advocacy on behalf of generations of students and her pioneering research, COSWA is pleased to honor Carole with the 2002 Squeaky Wheel Award
(from AN Feb 2002)
Squeaky Wheel Award
Miriam Chaiken, COSWA Chair
The Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology (COSWA) is pleased to announce that the 2001 Squeaky Wheel Award has been presented to Naomi Quinn of Duke U. The Squeaky Wheel Award was established to recognize the contributions of individuals to promoting gender equity and parity in anthropology, and to acknowledge their role in educating members of the profession concerning gender issues. On both counts, Naomi Quinn represents an ideal candidate to receive the Squeaky Wheel Award.
For 20 years, Naomi Quinn has sought to improve gender and social equity within the discipline of anthropology and in university employment in general. She served on a National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Employment of Women and Related Social Issues (1981-87) and participated in the AAA Committee to Study the Academic Employment of Women in Anthropology (1982-1993), which resulted in the publication of two major examinations of gender relations in anthropology: "A New Resolution on Fair Employment Practices for Women Anthropologists," published in Signs (co-authored with Carol Smith); and "Academic Employment of Women in Anthropology," published in the Oct 1994 Anthropology Newsletter (co-authored with Michael Burton, Patty Jo Watson and Cynthia Webster). She led a COSWA-sponsored informational session for department chairs on the issues of sexual harassment in academia at the 1998 AAA Annual Meeting and published a subsequent piece in the Anthropology Newsletter.
In her own scholarly activity, Naomi Quinn has helped to make the focus of psychological anthropology more gender-sensitive. She also has promoted feminist psychological anthropology and increased our understanding of reproduction issues in their social context. She has helped ensure that feminists have a voice in anthropology and was the co-founder of the Association of Feminist Anthropology, a thriving section of the AAA.
In addition to her role as a researcher, scholar and advocate, Naomi Quinn has been a personal mentor and champion for other women in the discipline, including in contexts where overt hostilities and subtle sexism have created tense working conditions for her peers. Her personal courage has been a model to others; her generosity of spirit has helped younger colleagues persevere through difficult times. One of her nominees noted the inadequacy of the name "Squeaky Wheel" as an award for Quinn, for "Naomi Quinn deserves a 'Great Blazing Trumpet and Fiery Chariot Award.'" However, until such an award is created, we are pleased to make this modest commendation on behalf of grateful colleagues.
from AN Feb 2001)
Sanjek Honored
The Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology (COSWA) is pleased to announce that Roger Sanjek (Queens College, CUNY) is the recipient of its Squeaky Wheel Award for 2000, which was presented at the November meeting of the AAA. The Squeaky Wheel Award is given by COSWA to recognize individuals who bring to light and investigate practices in anthropology that are potentially discriminatory to women, who act to improve the status of women in anthropology by raising awareness of women's contributions, or who identify barriers to full participation by women in anthropology.
Throughout his career, Roger has worked to improve gender equity in our profession. As an early member of COSWA, he advocated the status of women in anthropology and evaluated the position of women in the 1978 American Anthropologist article, "The Position of Women in Major Departments of Anthropology 1967-1976." He helped formulate the 1979 AAA resolution mandating COSWA to periodically monitor and report on the status of women in American departments of anthropology. In 1981 he co-authored an AAA resolution - which was adopted by the AAA - to Implement the 1971 Resolution on Fair Practices in Employment of Women.
In his own scholarship he has been equally mindful of issues of gender, ethnic and class equity, whether as part of his earlier work in West Africa or his more recent work with Gray Panthers and in Elmhurst-Corona, Queens. As editor for Cornell University Press he has played an active role in acquiring and publishing the work of female anthropologists.
Nominations are now being solicited for the 2001 Squeaky Wheel Award. A nominee may be from the field of anthropology or outside it. Anyone may submit nominations. Nominations should include the name, affiliation and title of the individual being nominated and a one or two paragraph description of the reason for the nomination and the nature of the person's contribution. The nomination should also include name, address, phone number and e-mail address of the nominator. Nominators may be contacted for additional material concerning finalists. Nominations should be sent by September 1, 2001 by mail or e-mail to Michelle D. Dominy, Dept. of Anthropology, Bard C, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504; dominy@bard.edu.
(from AN Jan 2000)
Kramer is 1999 Squeaky Wheel
The Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology has presented the Squeaky Wheel Award for 1999 to Carol Kramer (U of Arizona). The Squeaky Wheel Award is presented by COSWA to recognize individuals who have demonstrated the courage to bring to light and investigate practices in anthropology that are potentially discriminatory to women or have acted to improve the status of women in anthropology through activities that raise awareness of women's contribution to anthropology or identify barriers to full participation by women in anthropology. Over the past several years the award has recognized John Yeller and Louise Lamphere.
Carol Kramer is awarded the Squeaky Wheel award in recognition of her career long commitment to equity for women in anthropology. Carol Kramer has been a leader with a clear but quiet voice in issues involving gender equity within anthropology for more than 20 years. She was also a member of the Ruth Benedict Collective in the 1970s. In 1979, while teaching at Lehman College, CUNY, she was a part of a group that drew up a resolution calling on the AAA board to reverse their disavowal of the 1972 Resolution on Fair Practices in Employment of Women. The group, also including Roger Sanjek, Rayna Rapp, Carole Vance and Glenn Peterson, was able to enlist over 150 sponsors of the resolution was passed with an overwhelming voice vote in the AAA meeting of December 1980. This resolution was narrowly passed in a mail ballot. The resolution was responsible for immediately censoring five departments. Departments continue to be reviewed, with unfair practices still being noted in the AN.
In 1986-87, drawing on resources available in an NSF funded Visiting Professorship for Women at the U of Arizona, Kramer initiated and conducted the first survey of gender equity on women within archaeology, covering the period between 1976-86. Miriam Stark, then a student at the U of Arizona, worked as a research assistant in this project. The survey demonstrated that whereas the number of women was increasing in archaeology graduate programs and as tenured faculty members, there was a decline in the number of women at each subsequent career stage, with significant drops from graduate school admission to completing the doctoral degree, to being hired in tenurable positions and achieving tenure. The results of the survey were published in the December 1988 AN, (p.11-12). The effective methods taken in this study inspired a number of subsequent studies in other aspects of archaeology, at Arizona and elsewhere.
COSWA is delighted to be able to recognize the contributions of Carol Kramer with this award. Nominations for the Y2K Squeaky Wheel Award are now being accepted please see this month's Anthro Awards column in the Career Development sections for submission information.
(from AN March1999)
Lamphere Earns Squeaky Wheel Award
The Squeaky Wheel Award is presented by the Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology (COSWA) to recognize individuals who have demonstrated the courage to bring to light and investigate practices in anthropology that are potentially discriminatory to women or have acted to improve the status of women in anthropology through activities that raise awareness of women's contribution to anthropology or identify barriers to full participation by women in anthropology.
This year the Squeaky Wheel Award was presented to Louise Lamphere (U New Mexico) for her lifelong work for the equality of women in anthropology. Lamphere was the co-editor, with Michele Zimbalist Rosaldo, of Women, Culture, and Society the first volume to address the anthropological study of gender and women's status. In the 1970s, after being denied tenure at Brown U, Lamphere brought a class action suit against Brown. She won an out-of-court settlement that served as a model for future suits by others. Roger Sanjek, in his review of the history of the AA's resolution on the employment of women, cites her tenure suit as one of the key events that clarified issues in the employment of women in anthropology and led to the resolution. Her nominator for this award notes that her actions were "extraordinary time-consuming and personally costly for her... and as such, it represents a great personal sacrifice in the interests of improving employment conditions for women in our field." Lamphere's suit has been immortalized in drama. Lamphere has continued to be a leader in advocacy for women in anthropology. She has taken a number of opportunities to highlight the contribution of women to anthropology, including her 1989 Distinguished Lecture for the American Ethnological Associate reviewing the legacy of Elsie Clews Parson. Now that Louise Lamphere is a big wheel in the AAA we expect she will continue to squeak for equal opportunities for women in anthropology.
Nominations are now being solicited for the 1999 Squeaky Wheel Award. A nominee may be from the field of anthropology or outside it. Any one may submit nominations. Nominations should include the name, affiliation and title of the individual being nominated and a one or two paragraph description of the reason for the nomination and the nature of the person's contribution to the improvement of the status of women in anthropology. The nomination should also include the name, address, phone number, and e-mail address of the nominator. Nominators may be contacted for additional material concerning finalists. Nomination should be sent by September 1, 1998 by mail or e-mail to: Kathleen DeWalt, Department of Anthropology, 3H01 Forbes Quadrangle, U of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260; 412/648-7551, kmdewalt+@pitt.edu.
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2008 - Margaret Conkey