Dr Samuel Derbyshire wins Vilakazi Prize

toggle menu

Date 4 October 2021

Sam Derbyshire, Junior Research Fellow, was awarded the Vilakazi Prize 2019 (this year) for his article ‘Trade, Development and Destitution: A Material Culture History of Fishing on the Western Shore of Lake Turkana, Northern Kenya’, published in African Studies 78 (3).

Dr Sam DerbyshireThe piece is a ‘ground-breaking account of fishing communities on the western shores of Lake Turkana in north-western Kenya, close to the border with Ethiopia and south-east DRC’ and tackles questions of social change, trade networks and identity, arguing for a new historical understanding of the communities studied. The Vilakazi Prize is dedicated to the memory and intellectual achievements of Benedict Wallet Bambatha Vilakazi, in support of new and young scholars in African Studies.  

Excitingly, Dr Derbyshire has also recently been announced as a finalist for the African Studies Association’s 2021 Bethwell A. Ogot Book Prize with his book Remembering Turkana: Material Histories and Contemporary Livelihoods in North-Western Kenya (Routledge, 2020). The prize is awarded annually at the ASA Annual Meeting to the author of the best book on East African Studies published in the previous calendar year. The winner will be recognized during the 64th Virtual Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association, date TBC. 

Please join us in congratulation Dr Derbyshire on his successes!