The Social History Society Book Prize rewards the best original works of social and cultural history by established authors. The prize was launched in 2018 and has become a key part of the society’s calendar and conference. Books are nominated by their publisher and judged by an independent panel of judges.
The Society is delighted to announce that this year’s winner is Dr David Doddington’s Old Age and American Slavery (Cambridge University Press, 2023). It explores how antebellum southerners, Black and white, adapted to, resisted, or failed to overcome changes associated with old age, both real and imagined. In connecting old age to the arguments of Black activists, abolitionists, enslavers and their propagandists, the book reveals how representations of old age, and experiences of aging, spoke to wider struggles relating to mastery, paternalism, resistance, and survival in slavery.
The judges described the book as:
A highly original, thoroughly researched, densely detailed discussion of experiences of and attitudes to slavery in the American south from the original perspective of ageing and old age as experienced both by slaves and their owners, male and female. It reveals the extent of ‘abuse, exploitation and neglect’ of aged slaves by their owners.
David Doddington is Senior Lecturer in North American History at Cardiff University. His research focuses on issues of slavery, race, age, and gender in the US South, and he has a particular interest in examining generational relations, violence, and community dynamics in the antebellum and postbellum South. In response to being awarded the prize, he said that:
“I am beyond honored to receive this award. The Social History Society promotes an academically rigorous and truly supportive environment, for both research and teaching, and for academics at all career stages. To receive such recognition from this community is just absolutely wonderful. I am grateful beyond words.”
This year’s runner up is Dr Patricio Simonetto’s A Body of One’s Own; A Trans History of Argentina
(University of Texas Press). This book places the histories of trans bodies at the core of modern Argentinian history. Based on extensive archival research in public and community-based archives, it explores the mainstream medical and media portrayals of trans or travesti people, the state policing of gender embodiment, and the experiences of those transgressing the boundaries of gender.
The judges said that this book is:
A highly original, deeply researched, very detailed history of transgender experiences in Argentina from the early 20th century to the present, linked with Argentina’s national history. It explores and deepens understanding of the extreme complexity and diversity of how trans people perceived and presented themselves and how they were perceived and treated by others, often violently, including the police, the press, medics and the political and legal systems.
Patricio Simonetto is an Associate Professor in Gender and Social Policy at the University of Leeds. His scholarship explores the embodied everyday experiences of LGTB+ people and how they transform mainstream conceptions of citizenship, as well as queer and trans movements’ radical political thinking and archival community practices. In response to being awarded the prize, Simonetto said that:
Thanks to all those colleagues who considered my monograph for this prize. A Body of One’s Own aims to retell the story of modern Argentina by focusing on the embodied experiences of those who lived beyond the normative understanding of gender of their time. This book is an effort to recentre their historical experience in the making of citizenship, nationhood, sovereignty, and the state. In a grim world that seems every day more hostile towards the trans community, historical narratives have a powerful power to make people feel less lonely, and reconnect them with multiple creative ways in which, in the face of adversity, many crafted a life of their own.