{"id":1006,"date":"2020-02-13T18:32:31","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T18:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/interpretationandmethod\/?page_id=1006"},"modified":"2023-09-05T14:54:00","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T14:54:00","slug":"the-grain-of-sand-award","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/interpretationandmethod\/the-grain-of-sand-award\/","title":{"rendered":"The Grain of Sand Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drawing inspiration from the opening lines of William Blake\u2019s \u201cAuguries of Innocence\u201d and Wislawa Szymborska\u2019s \u201cView with a Grain of Sand,\u201d the Grain of Sand Award honors a scholar whose contributions demonstrate creative and sustained engagement with questions of enduring political importance from an interpretive perspective. Echoing Szymborska\u2019s \u201cWe call it a grain of sand,\u201d the award underscores the centrality of meaning-making in both the constitution and study of the political; recalling Blake\u2019s \u201cTo see a world in a grain of sand,\u201d the award recognizes scholars who expand the capacity of interpretive scholarship to embody and inspire imaginative theorizing, while cultivating new lines of sight by enriching our literary and experiential resources and nourishing the playfulness of mind so necessary to the vitality of social science.<\/p>\n

The award will be announced and presented at the annual APSA conference during the business meeting or reception of the Interpretive Methodologies and Methods Conference-related Group (IMM).<\/p>\n

With the exception of the first two years, each year\u2019s award committee will be determined at that meeting or shortly thereafter and will work together with the IMM CG\u2019s outgoing program chair(s).\u00a0 The award committee will, however, be under no obligation to make an award every year.<\/p>\n

Nominations should include a copy of the nominee\u2019s curriculum vitae and a minimum of two supporting letters summarizing the nominee\u2019s contributions and explain the merit for this award. Please e-mail nomination materials (individually or as a unit) to the outgoing Program Committee chair (see the People page<\/a>) no later than March 1<\/strong> of each year.<\/p>\n

Members of the award committee are the IMM Executive Committee, serving as a committee of the whole.<\/p>\n

For information on contributing to the funding of this award, please contact the current IMM Executive Committee Chair.<\/p>\n

The <\/span>2023 Grain of Sand Award<\/strong> has been awarded to Timothy Mitchell, the W<\/span>illiam B. Ransford Professor of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies, Columbia University.As a trail blazer in the fields of political science and postcolonial theory, Mitchell\u2019s widely cited research has explored the place of colonialism in the making of modernity, the material and technical politics of the Middle East, and the role of economics and other forms of expert knowledge in the management and disciplining of collective life. Please see the full citation here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Auguries of Innocence [excerpt]<\/strong>
\nby William BlakeTo see a World in a Grain of Sand
\nAnd a Heaven in a Wild Flower
\nHold Infinity in the palm of your hand
\nAnd Eternity in an hour\u2026.
\nWe are led to Believe a Lie
\nWhen we see not Thro the Eye\u2026
\nBut does a Human Form Display
\nTo those who Dwell in Realms of day<\/td>\n		View with a Grain of Sand
\n<\/strong>by Wislawa SzymborskaWe call it a grain of sand,
\nbut it calls itself neither grain nor sand.
\nIt does just fine without a name,
\nwhether general, particular,
\npermanent, passing,
\nincorrect, or apt. Our glance, our touch mean nothing to it.
\n<\/span>It doesn\u2019t feel itself seen and touched.
\nAnd that it fell on the windowsill
\nis only our experience, not its.
\nFor it, it is not different from falling on anything
\nelse with no assurance that it has finished falling
\nor that it is falling still.The window has a wonderful view of a lake,
\nbut the view doesn\u2019t view itself.
\nIt exists in this world
\ncolorless, shapeless,
\nsoundless, odorless, and painless.The lake\u2019s floor exits floorlessly,
\n<\/span>and its shore exists shorelessly.
\nThe water feels itself neither wet nor dry
\nand its waves to themselves are neither singular nor plural.<\/p>\n

They splash deaf to their own noise
\non pebbles neither large nor small.<\/p>\n

And all this beneath a sky by nature skyless
\n<\/span>in which the sun sets without setting at all
\n<\/span>and hides without hiding behind an unminding cloud.
\n<\/span>The wind ruffles it, its only reason being
\n<\/span>that it blows.<\/p>\n

A second passes.
\n<\/span>A second second.
\nA third.
\nBut they\u2019re three seconds only for us.<\/p>\n

Time has passed like a courier with urgent news.
\nBut that\u2019s just our simile.
\nThe character is invented, his haste is make-believe,
\nhis news inhuman.<\/p>\n

[transl. Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh]<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Previous recipients of the Grain of Sand Award:<\/h3>\n

2023.\u00a0<\/strong>Timothy Mitchell. The citation is here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

2022. <\/strong>Partha Chatterjee. The citation is here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

2021. <\/strong>Mary Fainsod Katzenstein. The citation is here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

2020<\/strong>: Hanna Fenichel Pitkin. The citation is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2019<\/strong>: No award given.<\/p>\n

2018: <\/strong>Lee Ann Fujii (posthumously). The citation is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2017<\/strong>: Peregrine (Peri) Schwartz-Shea and Dvora Yanow. The citation is here<\/a>\u00a0and a\u00a0photo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2016<\/strong>: Mary Hawkesworth, Rutgers University. The citation is here<\/a>\u00a0and a couple<\/a> of photos<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2015<\/strong>:\u00a0 No award given.<\/p>\n

2014<\/strong>: Deborah A. Stone,\u00a0Dartmouth College. The citation is here<\/a>; her comments on receiving the award are here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2013<\/strong>: James C. Scott, Yale University. The citation is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2012<\/strong>: No award given.<\/p>\n

2011<\/strong>: Anne Norton, University of Pennsylvania. The citation is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2010<\/strong>:\u00a0Bud Duvall, University of Minnesota. The citation is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2009<\/strong>: Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, University of Chicago. The citation and their replies, published in\u00a0PS: Political Science and Politics<\/em>, are here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drawing inspiration from the opening lines of William Blake\u2019s \u201cAuguries of Innocence\u201d and Wislawa Szymborska\u2019s \u201cView with a Grain of Sand,\u201d the Grain of Sand Award honors a scholar whose contributions demonstrate creative and sustained engagement with questions of enduring political importance from an interpretive perspective. Echoing Szymborska\u2019s \u201cWe call it a grain of sand,\u201d … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11520,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1006","page","type-page","status-publish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/interpretationandmethod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/interpretationandmethod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/interpretationandmethod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/interpretationandmethod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11520"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/interpretationandmethod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/interpretationandmethod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/interpretationandmethod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}