Jeff Juris Memorial Prize for the Best Article using Ethnographic Methods
We dedicate this memorial prize to Jeffrey S. Juris (1971-2020), a remarkable social movement scholar who influenced a generation in the short time he was with us. Jeff was a committed ethnographer, who demonstrated in every article or book that acute analysis and theoretical brilliance need not be at odds with committed activism and critical engagement with social movements. He demonstrated this in his own work, but also furthered the case for what he called "militant ethnography."
This prize recognizes that commitment and Jeff’s legacy by honoring the best article published in the journal in the past three years that exemplifies that spirit and endeavor. I am very grateful to our jury, which consisted of Marianne Maeckelbergh (Ghent University), Natalia Ruiz-Junco (Auburn University), and Lorenzo Mosca (State University of Milan), for careful reading of the many articles in the running. Any social movement scholar would do well to read his work, but it is de rigueur for anyone engaging in ethnography of social movements. Networking Futures stands as one of the definitive books on the Global Justice Movement, and his chapter on militant ethnography in Constituent Imagination is recommended reading for any graduate students or scholars venturing into the field. Jeff was also an excellent and generous reviewer, a fact I discovered first when he “outed” himself following the publication of one of my articles in Social Movement Studies-much improved thanks to his insightful input, and later as an editor who witnessed his peer reviewing first-hand. Many established researchers simply stop reviewing for journals after a certain point, but Jeff’s generosity and reciprocity extended to all areas of his work and life, and he was a great supporter of social movement studies (the field and the journal).
To learn more about Jeff's legacy and the memorial prize, please click here.