The Society for the Anthropology of Work (SAW) awarded the 2020 SAW Book Prize to Ieva Jusionyte for Threshold: Emergency Responders on the US-Mexico Border. The book, published by the University of California Press in 2018, was recognized by the prize jury as “the product of some of the most rigorous, humane, and original fieldwork in the anthropology of work.”

Earlier this year, in recognition of the important role that early-career researchers play in the life of our section and the future of our field, SAW invited a diverse group of graduate students to read and compose brief responses to Jusionyte’s award-winning book. This book forum gathers responses by Ishani Saraf (University of California, Davis), Rebecca Richart (University of California, Irvine), Lawrence Ramirez (University of California, Riverside), and Elisabetta Campagnola (University of Toronto), as well as a generous reply by Jusionyte.

Our hope is that these forums will both extend the reach of scholarship that has been recognized by SAW and contribute to the intellectual exchange across career stages that has long been a hallmark of the section.

Editor Bio

Mauri Systo recently completed her Ph.D. in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kentucky. From 2019 to 2021, she served as a student representative to the board of the Society for the Anthropology of Work.