Dr. Douglas Harper, professor and chair of the sociology department at Duquesne University, has won two awards for his book “Changing Works: Visions of a Lost Agriculture.”
Harper received the 2003 Scholarly Achievement Award from the North Central Sociological Association (NCSA), which is given for a published research monograph that makes an outstanding contribution to the advancement of sociological knowledge. The NCSA is an organization that works to further the development of sociology as a scientific and scholarly discipline through various ways.
“Changing Works” also received the Collier Prize for Still Photography from the Society for Visual Anthropology (SVA). This prize recognizes work that exemplifies the use of still photography for research and communication of anthropological knowledge. According to the SVA, Harper “is recognized for his use of archival photographic evidence from 50 years ago, combined with his contemporary photography to visually compare the way dairy farming in upstate New York is done now to an earlier stage of mechanization and consolidation in that occupation…The book…is an elegant volume that privileges the visual record as integral to telling the story.”
Harper’s book was published by The University of Chicago Press, which states that “Harper brings into view a social world altered by machines and stuns us with gorgeous visions of rural times past.”
A visual sociologist, Harper is well known for his expertise in using visual imagery in social research and analysis. He received his bachelor of arts in anthropology and political science from Macalester College and his Ph.D. in sociology from Brandeis University. Harper and his wife Suzan reside in Squirrel Hill, Pa. |
