The Creative Anthropologies Network (CAN) of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) invites submissions for the first bi-annual Creative Anthropologies Prize. It is an invitation to think, feel, make and trouble anthropology through creative practice.
What we are calling for
We invite works and projects that treat creativity not as decoration but as method, theory and intervention. We are especially interested in work that:
* Experiments with form as a way of thinking anthropologically
* Addresses ethical, political or ecological urgencies through creative means to
* Questions what counts as knowledge, evidence, authorship or expertise
* Engages the senses, bodies, affects and material infrastructures of research
* Works collaboratively, collectively or across uneven terrains
* Makes anthropology public, intimate, awkward, playful or unsettling
Formats
There is no preferred format. Possible forms include (but are not limited to): film, soundscape, performance, installation, digital or interactive work, speculative design, fiction, poetry, visual or sensory ethnography, games or any other creative practices that resist naming.
Who can submit
The prize is open to anthropologists at any career stage, working inside or outside academia. We also welcome submissions from collectives, collaborators, artists-anthropologists, activists and practitioners. Early-career, precarious and institutionally unaffiliated contributors are especially encouraged.
What the prize does
The Creative Anthropologies Prize is not only a reward but a platform. The recipient(s) will receive:
* An invitation to share the work as practice, not just as presentation, at a CAN event
* Visibility through CAN channels
* An opportunity to contribute to ongoing conversations about what creative anthropology can do, undo and become
How to submit
Rather than asking for a “proper” application, we invite you to send us a gesture of your work. This may include:
* A description, score, script or reflection (up to 1,000 words) or documentation, fragments, links, images, sounds or recordings (up to 30 min)
* A short note on context: its engagement with urgent, critical issues, its ethics and its relations (who is involved, how and why) (max. 300 words)
* A brief biography or collective statement (150 words max.)
Please send it all together in one PDF to: creativeanthropologiesprize@gmail.com
How we will consider your work
Submissions will be engaged by a jury convened by the Creative Anthropologies Network. We will attend to:
* Anthropological attentiveness and critical engagement with urgent issues
* Creative risk, experimentation and imagination
* Reflexivity around ethics, collaboration and power
* The capacity of the work to open questions rather than close them
Timeline
* Call closes: May 1, 2026
* Prize announced: During the Ethnographic Salon at EASA in Poznan 21-24 July 2026
