UChicago Press awards top honor to Sarah Newman for Unmaking Waste

The University of Chicago Press awarded the 2026 Gordon J. Laing Award to Associate Professor Sarah Newman for her book Unmaking Waste: New Histories of Old Things. President Paul Alivisatos presented the award at a gala reception on April 8 at the David Rubenstein Forum. Each year, the Laing Award is presented to the faculty author, editor, or translator whose book has brought the greatest distinction to the Press. Books published in 2023 and 2024 were eligible for the 2026 award.

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SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA: History, Tragedy, and Renewal

Undergraduate students are invited to spend the September 2026 term at Wat Damnak, a tranquil, historically significant Buddhist monastery that houses the campus of the Center for Khmer Studies (CKS) in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Over the course of three intensive weeks, Professor Alan Kolata will take students outside the classroom on excursions to explore archaeological, historical, and environmental sites and landscapes that shaped the course of Khmer civilization.

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Learn more about Anthropology’s 2025-26 Teaching Fellows. Jiyea Hong is a scholar of media, environment, and ethnic politics in contemporary China. Myungji Lee is a sociocultural anthropologist from Seoul whose research explores the intersection of religion, politics, and gender in contemporary Türkiye/Turkey. Hanna Pickwell is a sociocultural anthropologist whose work investigates consumption, value(s), ethics, affect, and environmental sensibilities in urban China. Shubham Shivang is an anthropologist and a media scholar of contemporary South Asia.

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