AFSAAP Postgraduate Prizes

The Cherry Gertzel / AFSAAP Prize

AFSAAP has sponsored the Postgraduate Prize since 1998.  At the 2015 AGM of AFSAAP, members renamed the annual AFSAAP Postgraduate Prize in honour of the late and former President of AFSAAP and Editor of the Australasian Review of African Studies, Professor Cherry Gertzel.  

The winner will receive $500 and have their revised essays published in the The Australasian Review of African Studies.

Any student enrolled in a tertiary institution in the Australasia-Pacific region may submit a paper read at the AFSAAP Postgraduate Workshop or the annual conference for consideration for the AFSAAP Annual Conference Postgraduate Prize.
– The paper must be related to African Studies.
– The paper should not exceed 4500 words (references and bibliography not included in the word count).
– The paper must be a complete essay, with references and bibliography. Footnotes or in text citations are acceptable.
– Papers must be sole authored.
– Research proposals are not eligible.
– Papers must not have been submitted for formal review by or for an editor of a book, journal or working paper series, nor should they be previously published.

Final papers must be submitted as electronic copies (in Word format) on the same day of your presentation at the conference – email to secretary@afsaap.org.au – see submission details below.

Papers will be judged by a panel selected by the Executive Committee, to include at least two senior academic members of the Association. The decision of the panel is final, and if in their opinion, no entry is regarded as of high enough standard, they may decide not to award a prize.

Papers will be assessed according to the following criteria:

• definition and justification of the topic and/or problem within the broader context;
• understanding of the topic – including use of appropriate references;
• analysis of key issues – including presentation of argument, discussion and conclusion;
• level of scholarship – including originality and/or contribution to knowledge;
• clarity of writing and structure;
• accuracy – including completeness and consistency in presentation and referencing.

All entrants will be advised of the winner, and a notice will be placed in the AFSAAP Newsletter Habari kwa Ufupi subsequent to a decision having been made by the judges.

The 4500 word essay should be prepared in Word format – A4 size with double or one- and-half point line spacing and a 12 point Arial or Times new Roman font typeface.
Standard conventions for academic publishing should be followed.
All papers should be accompanied by the following declaration-

“I certify that the text, research, ideas, analysis and conclusions drawn in this essay are entirely my own work, except where acknowledged by citation. I also certify that this essay has not been previously submitted for any other publication. Signature of Student_____________ date_____________”

An electronic copy of your submission must be forwarded to the AFSAAP Secretary (secretary@afsaap.org.au) on the same day as your presentation at the Annual AFSAAP Conference.

We strongly encourage students to discuss a draft of their paper with their supervisor before submission, to ensure that submissions meet rigorous academic standards.

2016

Hanna Jagtenberg (University of Adelaide) – The AFSAAP-CHERRY GERTZEL PRIZE
Afrikaner émigrés in Australia: Perception vs. Reality in Human Decision-Making

2015

Charlotte Mertens (University of Melbourne) – The MONASH / AFSAAP PRIZE
Sexual Violence in the Congo Free State: archival Traces and Present Reconfigurations

Naomi Thompson (Macquarie University) – The Cherry Gertzel / AFSAAP Prize
Surviving vs. Living: the Importance of resilience in the Transformative Redefinition of Ghanain Breast Cancer Survivors

2014

Christopher Hills (Sydney University) – THE MONASH / AFSAAP PRIZE
Gendered reintegration in Liberia: A civilized ‘(Kwi)’ failure? – Read Chris Hills’ Final Report on his Trip to Monash South Africa here

Thomas McNamara (University of Melbourne) – THE AFSAAP PRIZE
The intersection of witchcraft and development in Malawi

2013

Christina Kenny (Australia National University) – THE MONASH / AFSAAP PRIZE
The ‘liberatory value of indigenous institutions’? Cultural practice as resistance in the British Colony of Kenya

Solomon Peter Gbanie (University of New South Wales) – THE AFSAAP PRIZE
‘The diamond of Western Area is land’: Narratives of land use and land cover change in post-war Sierra Leone

Stephen O’Brien (University of Queensland) – THE MONASH / AFSAAP PRIZE
A qualitative study of impressions and experiences of HIV in Zimbabwe
A summary of Stephen’s trip to South Africa to present his paper can be found here.

Samuel Muchoki (La Trobe University) – THE AFSAAP PRIZE
‘[In Australia] what comes first are the women, then children, cats, dogs, followed by men’: Exploring narratives of men from the Horn of Africa

2011
Michael Oliver (Flinders University) – THE MONASH / AFSAAP PRIZE
Standing up, reaching out and letting go: Experiences of resilience and school engagement for African high schoolers from refugee backgrounds

Clare Buswell (Flinders University) – THE AFSAAP / UNISA Prize
Moral authority, power and women’s identity in colonial Kenya

2010
Samantha Balaton-Chrimes (Monash University) – THE MONASH / AFSAAP PRIZE
The Nubians of Kenya and the emancipatory potential of collective recognition

2009
Susana Saffu (Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education) – THE AFSAAP PRIZE
Adult education and community capacity building: The case of African-Australian women in the Northern Territory

2008
Matthew Doherty (La Trobe University) – THE AFSAAP PRIZE
Subsistence amid turmoil: Daily life in Central Africa during the rubber plunder

Tarekegn Chimdi (Monash University) – THE AFSAAP PRIZE
Systematic repression and rampant human rights abuses against the Oromo people in Ethiopia

2007
Ruth Jackson (Deakin University) – THE AFSAAP PRIZE
The three delays as a framework for examining safe motherhood in Kafa Zone, SNNPR, Ethiopia

Jennifer Badstreubner (Australian National University) – THE AFSAAP PRIZE
Rape and the Tikoloshe. Sexual violence and fear in a South African township

Samantha Balaton-Chrimes (Monash University) – THE AFSAAP PRIZE
Challenging the state in Africa

2004 – 2006
No prize awarded

2003
Edith Miguda (University of Adelaide) – THE AFSAAP PRIZE
Global impulses / Local politics: Comparing two eras of constitution-making in Kenya

2002
Clare Buswell (Flinders University) – THE AFSAAP PRIZE
Women’s power and farming in Colonial Kenya 1830-1950

2001
Carlos Arnaldo (Australian National University) – THE AFSAAP PRIZE
Provincial differences in age at marriage in Mozambique

May Raidoo (University of KwaZulu-Natal) – THE AFSAAP PRIZE
Rebuilding local economies: The case of foreign importers in Durban’s CBD

2000
Elizabeth Le Roux (The Africa Institute of South Africa) – THE AFSAAP PRIZE
Breaking through the text: Women writers in Francophone Africa

1999
Jacob Malungo (Australian National University) – THE AFSAAP PRIZE
Institutional responses to HIV/AIDS epidemic: Care for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and health seeking behaviour in Zambia

1998
Andrew Honey (University of New South Wales) – THE 1st AFSAAP PRIZE
Apartheid South Africa and the White Australia policy: Domestic jurisdiction versus Human Rights