Prof. Rebeka Pite‘s book, Sharing Yerba Mate: How South America’s Most Popular Drink Defined a Region (UNC Press, Sept. 2023), was awarded Best Social Science Book Prize for 2024 by the Southern Cone Studies Section of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) in June 2024. The prize recognizes scholars from any social science discipline who study the region today that includes Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay. The prize was announced at LASA’s annual meeting in Bogotá, Colombia.
In March 2024, the book was also awarded the Mid-Atlantic Arthur P. Whitaker Prize from the Middle Atlantic Council on Latin American Studies (MACLAS) for “best book published in the previous two years by a MACLAS member.” This prize is completely open in terms of discipline and region, which includes all of Latin America. To be considered, authors must be a member in good standing of MACLAS for the past two years. The winner of the Whitaker prize presents the Whitaker keynote address at the following MACLAS conference. The 2025 conference will be held March 28 and 29, 2025, at a location to be announced.