The Bergen-based Ludvig Holberg Memorial Fund has awarded its annual Holberg International Memorial Prize for 2013 to anthropologist and sociologist Bruno Latour, a professor at Sciences Po in Paris. Latour was credited for his “ambitious analysis and reinterpretation of modernity.”
The prize, which carries a cash award of NOK 4.5 million (EUR 610,000), will be presented to Latour in a ceremony at the historic Håkons Hall in Bergen on June 5.
Latour was described as a “creative, humorous and unpredictable researcher” who has “challenged fundamental concepts such as the distinction between modern and pre-modern, nature and society, human and non-human.” The impact of his research, according to the fund’s academic committee, is evident internationally.
The prize is named after Ludvig Holberg, who was born in Bergen in 1684, went on to distinguish himself at the University of Copenhagen and became an important author and historian. Holberg played an important role in bringing the Enlightenment to the Nordic countries and introducing international law as a field of study in Norway and Denmark. He also was a satirist whose work was translated into several European languages at the time.
newsinenglish.no staff
