Ana Viseu, Maka Suarez, Duygu Ka?do?an, Lesley Green (Chair)
The Fleck Committee received 56 books and shortlisted 10 works for this year’s prize, from which the 2021 Fleck Prize was awarded to Thom van Dooren for his book The Wake of Crows: Living and Dying in Shared Worlds (Columbia University Press 2019).
From the Prize citation:
The Wake of Crows is a playful invitation for reimagining the possibilities of human and nonhumans’ shared lives on earth. It is a call for learning to live (and die) well with each other in rapidly changing worlds. The book weaves stories of crows and their encounters with humans in Brisbane, Hawaii, the Netherlands, Mojave Desert (USA), and the Pacific Island of Rota (Mariana Islands) taking seriously the ways in which humans’ very existence on the earth are so fundamentally interlinked with nonhuman living and non-living beings—perhaps never more pertinent than in the current times.
The Wake of Crows is a beautifully written book both of and for a time characterised by loss and death. Thom Van Dooren’s practice of the wake for living and dying worlds is an opportunity for “creative, reparative, collective world making. Indeed, a wake is also an opportunity to celebrate a life and to move forward well with those who remain” (p. 7).
For its reframing imaginaries of what life worlds can be, the Society for Social Studies of Science is honored to award The Wake of Crows the Ludwik Fleck Prize of 2021.
A number of issues were dealt with by the committee this year and we present them here. Some without full resolution remain important for next year’s incoming committee to take into account.
Regarding rephrasing of the nomination text for Fleck Prize books:
We have discussed at length the need to rephrase the current text for the Fleck prize as it is unclear to those nominating books the most salient differences between the Carson and Fleck prizes. Currently more than half of the books nominated for these prizes coincide. We understand this is not something the Fleck committee can modify without Council’s approval. After various conversations between the committee and virtual approval by Council, the following text has been agreed upon:
The Ludwik Fleck Prize is awarded annually for an exemplary book in Science and Technology Studies that contributes to the global STS community, based on solid empirical or theoretical research, a creative methodology, and/or an innovative transnational perspective. Multi-authored books are eligible if they represent original work. Reprints, second editions, edited volumes, reference works and similar volumes are ineligible. Books must be published in English or newly appearing in translation during the eligibility period. Books with publication dates in the three years prior to the year they are evaluated are eligible. Books published in 2018, 2019, and 2020 can be nominated in 2020 to be evaluated in 2021 for the 2022 prize. Books may be re-nominated until their eligibility expires. Hard copy will be requested at a later date.
The Fleck Prize is named after microbiologist Ludwik Fleck (1896-1961), author of The Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact. Fleck’s case history of the discovery of the Wassermann reaction to syphilis was originally published in German in 1935, and republished in English in 1979 after having been cited by Thomas Kuhn as an important influence on his own conception of the history of science. Both Fleck’s history of discovery, and the history of his book’s re-discovery, exemplify a view of progress that continues to inform research in Science and Technology Studies.
Regarding who can nominate books to the society’s prizes:
Starting in 2020 there was the intention of accepting nominations only from/by 4S members. Nonetheless many presses still sent books for consideration and these were accepted to the initial list of submissions. The committee has discussed whether to allow members outside the society (including presses) to nominate books to the Fleck and Carson prize. Taking into account that the number of books nominated in the past (when open to all) was above 80 books, but also that books that have made the final shortlist have been submitted by presses rather than members. This issue was not resolved within this year’s committee but remains something next year’s committee should work to define this more clearly.
Regarding digital vs hard copies of books:
The committee discussed and agreed that requesting hard copies of all nominated books creates unnecessary ecological burden and paper waste. For this reason we developed a process to limit waste:
We received all (56) books in digital version. Our first review was based on those copies.
We selected a short list of 22 books. Those books were then requested as hardcopies for anyone in the committee who wanted/needed them.
The final selection was based on those 22 books
Naming a winner
After 4 rounds of revisions and short listing the committee chose a winner. This year’s prize went to The Wake of Crows by Thom van Dooren.
The committee also suggests nominating a chair for the following year’s prize from the members of the ongoing committee. This year’s nomination was for Ana Viseu to chair next year’s committee.
