Scholarly SocietySchool for Advanced Research · March 2022The School for Advanced Research (SAR) presents the J. I. Staley Prize to a living author for a book that exemplifies outstanding scholarship and writing in anthropology. The award recognizes innovative works that go beyond traditional frontiers and dominant schools of thought in anthropology and add new dimensions to our understanding of the human species. It honors books that cross subdisciplinary boundaries within anthropology and reach out in new and expanded interdisciplinary directions.
By recognizing groundbreaking books and their authors through the J. I. Staley Prize, SAR seeks to stimulate the best in anthropological research and writing. Authors other than anthropologists are eligible to receive the Prize if their work has had a significant impact on scholars and practitioners in the field of anthropology.
The J. I. Staley Prize carries a cash award of $7,500.More about this award
Senior Book Prize
InternationalAwarded Biennially by the American Ethnological Society · November 2020For The Fetish Revisited (2018)
Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion: Analytical-Descriptive Studies
NationalAmerican Academy of Religion · 2019Awarded in recognition of the excellence of Professor Matory's book The Fetish Revisited: Marx, Freud and the Gods Black People Make (2019)More about this award
Alexander von Humboldt Prize, 2013
OtherAlexander von Humboldt Stiftung, Foreign Ministry, Federal Republic of Germany · June 2013
Distinguished Alumni Award, The Maret School, Washington, DC, 2013
NationalThe Maret School, Washington, DC · 2013
Distinguished Africana Award
StateUniversity of North Carolina, Charlotte · October 2012
James Marsh Professorship-at-Large
NationalUniversity of Vermont · 20122012-2017
Distinguished Africanist Award
NationalAmerican Anthropological Association, Association for Africanist Anthropology · November 2010
Thomas Langford Lectureship Award
UniversityDuke University · March 2010
Association for Africanist Anthropology-Distinguished Lecture
NationalAmerican Anthropological Association · 2010
Favorite Professors of the Harvard College Class of 2009.
NationalHarvard Yearbook · May 2009
Lewis Henry Morgan Lectures
NationalUniversity of Rochester · October 22, 2008
Outstanding Africana Service Award
NationalAfrican-New World Studies, Florida International University · March 2008
S. Allen Counter Award for Excellence in Faculty and Administration
UniversityAssociation of Black Harvard Women · April 15, 2006
Dr. Brandon Fradd Research Fund
National? · 2006Donated to support my research on African diaspora religions: Spring 2006-present.
Melville J. Herskovits Prize
NationalAfrican Studies Association · 2006Best book of 2005 - Black Atlantic Religon: Tradition, Transnationalism and Matriarchy in the Afro-Brazilian Candomblé. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Notable Book of the Year Award (1994)
NationalChoice Magazine · 2005For Sex and the Empire That Is No More (University of Minnesota Press, 1994)
NationalNational Endowment for the Humanities · 1995Awarded for overseas archival research and writing on Afro-Brazilian religion and politics, 1995-1996.
W. E. B. Du Bois Fellowship for Afro-American Research
NationalW. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute, Harvard University · 1992Support of field research and writing on Afro-Brazilian culture: January-December.
Post-doctoral Research Fellowship in Anthropology
UniversityPrinceton University · 1991
Charles Gaius Bolin Fellowship
UniversityWilliams College, Univesity of Chicago · 1990Teaching and dissertation write-up.
Fulbright-Hays Fellowship
NationalU.S. Department of Education · 1988Pre-dissertation research in Nigeria: 1988 to 1989.
International Studies Fellowship
InternationalCommittee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) · 1987Research in Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, Brazil: August-December.
Roy D. Albert Prize for Excellence in the Graduate Study of Anthropology
UniversityUniversity of Chicago · 1986
CIC International Studies Fellowship
InternationalCommittee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) · 1986Research in Nigeria: Summer 1986.
National Science Foundation Fellowship
NationalNational Science Foundation · 1985Funding for graduate study at the University of Chicago:1985 to 1989.
Danforth-Compton Fellowship for Graduate Study
UniversityUniversity of Chicago · 19841984 to 1991
CIC Graduate Fellowship for Minorities
InternationalCommittee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) · 1984Study at the University of Chicago:1984 to 1985.
Rotary Scholarship for Graduate Study Abroad
InternationalRotrary Foundation · 1982Study in Nigeria: 1982 to 1983.
