Venezuelan Studies | News & Notes

News & Notes

Fernando Coronil Prize 2026 - Best Book on Venezuela

With the goal of promoting high-quality research on Venezuela, the Section of Venezuelan Studies (SVS) of LASA announces a call for nominations for the Fernando Coronil Prize for Best Book on Venezuela.

The Fernando Coronil Prize is awarded every two years by the Section of Venezuelan Studies (SVS) of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA). This prize rewards the author or authors of the best book on Venezuela in English or Spanish, in Humanities or Social Sciences, published during the two previous years (2024, 2025). This prize honors the contributions of the late Fernando Coronil to the study of Venezuela, his dedication to multidisciplinary research, and his efforts to fully integrate Venezuela into important theoretical,
academic, and political debates.

Books nominated will be evaluated according to the innovative character and theme, the quality of the research and writing, and their impact on the study of Venezuela. Co-authored books are eligible for submission. This year’s jury members are Sean Nesselrode Moncada (Rhode Island School of Design), Raúl Sánchez-Urribarri (La Trobe University), and Beatriz González- Stephan (Rice University).

Compilations and re-editions will not be considered, and comparative studies that do not have Venezuela as their central case are not eligible.

The nomination period opens on August 10 and closes on September 15, 2026 (11:59 pm, Venezuelan time). In addition to a formal Certificate of Recognition, the winning author will receive, for one year, payment of dues for membership in LASA and the SVS, and the costs of registration for the LASA Congress. In the case of co-winning authors, the decision on how to share the
prize benefits is up to the recipients of the award.

To be eligible, all authors must be members of the LASA Venezuelan Studies Section. Previous winners of the Fernando Coronil Book Prize may nominate their books only after two consecutive calls have passed.
Books may be nominated by the authors (self-nominations are accepted), third parties, or publishers. Those wishing to nominate a book are responsible for providing authorization from the author along with contact details for the author or authors (name, telephone, email address, and postal address). Those advancing a nomination are also responsible for forwarding three copies of the book (or an electronic copy) to the members of the jury. To arrange submission, please contact the Chair of the Section on Venezuelan Studies,
Claudia Cavallin (lasavenezuela2017@gmail.com).

We will announce the verdict by mid-December of 2026.

___________________________________________________________________

Estimadas y estimados colegas de la Sección de Estudios Venezolanos de LASA,

Quisiera compartir con la sección dos publicaciones recientes que pueden ser de interés para quienes trabajan sobre Venezuela, el Caribe, pueblos indígenas, patrimonio, memoria, violencia política y humanidades públicas.

La primera, publicada en Antiquity, se titula “Visualising uses of the past: an art contest with the Guaiquerí of Margarita Island, Venezuela”, y fue escrita junto con mi colega Oliver Antczak. El artículo analiza los resultados de un concurso de arte que desarrollamos con jóvenes de la isla de Margarita, mostrando cómo la identidad indígena contemporánea se articula a través de memorias, paisajes, prácticas pesqueras, espiritualidad y patrimonio. También reflexiona sobre los desafíos de una arqueología colaborativa en contextos caribeños marcados por narrativas persistentes de “extinción” indígena.

Oliver Antczak y Fidel Rodríguez Velásquez, “Visualising uses of the past: an art contest with the Guaiquerí of Margarita Island, Venezuela”, Antiquity, First View, 2026. DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2026.10367. Link

La segunda, publicada en Public Humanities, se titula “Slouching towards Caracas, Venezuela: Contested Fishermen’s Identities during the 2025 U.S. Bombings in the Southern Caribbean”, también en coautoría con Oliver Antczak. En este texto discutimos la instrumentalización política de la identidad de los pescadores del Caribe Sur en el contexto de la reciente crisis militar en torno a Venezuela, combinando una perspectiva histórica de larga duración, etnografía digital e investigación patrimonial.

Oliver Antczak y Fidel Rodríguez Velásquez, “Slouching towards Caracas, Venezuela: Contested Fishermen’s Identities during the 2025 U.S. Bombings in the Southern Caribbean”, Public Humanities 2, e25, 2026. DOI: 10.1017/pub.2026.10140. Link

Ambos textos buscan contribuir a una discusión más amplia sobre Venezuela desde el Caribe, atendiendo tanto a las historias indígenas y marítimas de larga duración como a las disputas contemporáneas por la memoria, el territorio, la soberanía y la representación pública de las comunidades costeras.