Lionel Cliffe Prize 2019 for the best Leeds undergraduate dissertation in African Studies

The Leeds University Centre for African Studies is delighted to announce the winner of the 2019 Lionel Cliffe Prize for the best undergraduate dissertation on a topic relevant to African Studies at the University of Leeds.

After careful consideration, the prize has been awarded this year to Jessica Newgas, for her dissertation in English entitled “Life after Trauma: Spirit Children in Fictions of the African Diaspora”, which was supervised by Dr Brendon Nicholls. The prize consists of £100 and the opportunity to publish an article on the basis of the dissertation in the Leeds African Studies Bulletin.

An honourable mention this year goes to the runner-up, Georgina Morris, for her dissertation in History, entitled “The Diagnostics of Dreaming: A Historical Appraisal of ‘Mass Hysteria’ in Adolescent Zulu Women”, which was supervised by Professor Shane Doyle.

Many congratulations to Jessica and Georgina, for this achievement!

Lionel R. Cliffe (1936–2013) was Professor of Politics at the University of Leeds, and a founding member of what became the Leeds University Centre for African Studies (LUCAS) and of the journal Review of African Political Economy. A prolific and internationally recognised scholar, his work focused on the struggle for land rights and freedom in Africa. In 2002, the African Studies Association of the UK marked his career with the Distinguished Africanist award.