Jenny Trinitapoli receives top honor from UChicago Press

The University of Chicago Press awarded the 2025 Gordon J. Laing Award to Prof. Jenny Trinitapoli for her book An Epidemic of Uncertainty: Navigating HIV and Young Adulthood in Malawi. President Paul Alivisatos presented the award at a gala reception on April 9 at the David Rubenstein Forum. 

“An Epidemic of Uncertainty exemplifies the kind of scholarship the Laing Prize was created to honor—empirically rich, methodologically rigorous and conceptually bold,” Alivisatos said. “In exploring HIV-related uncertainty as a measurable and consequential social force, Trinitapoli has produced a thought-provoking work of global relevance.”

Each year, the Laing Award is presented to the faculty author, editor, or translator whose book has brought the greatest distinction to the Press. Books published in 2022 and 2023 were eligible for the 2025 award.

In An Epidemic of Uncertainty, Trinitapoli emphasizes something social scientists routinely omit—what people know they don’t know. At any given point in time, half of Malawian young adults don’t know their HIV status. Despite admirable declines in new HIV infections and AIDS-related mortality, an epidemic of uncertainty persists. Within the bustling trading town of Balaka, Trinitapoli argues that HIV-related uncertainty is measurable, pervasive and impervious to biomedical solutions, with consequences to relationship stability, fertility and health. 

In its review, the journal Social Forces praised the book’s “rich, innovative” data—a mix of historical accounts, demographic research and ethnographic vignettes—to form a “compelling and complex analysis” of the role of uncertainty in Malawi. 

Joel Isaac, chair of the Board of University Publications, lauded Trinitapoli’s work as a “remarkable feat of scholarship.”  

"Brilliantly, Trinitapoli combines micro-level analysis of how individuals confront social decisions with macro-level findings about the impact of this uncertainty on fertility, marriage, divorce, family structure, income and poverty,” Isaac said. “An Epidemic of Uncertainty does nothing less than crystallize an emergent field that Trinitapoli calls ‘uncertainty demography.’” 

“It’s an honor to be recognized by the university community; it’s especially gratifying to know that the work we did in Balaka is spurring a more expansive conversation about the role of uncertainty in social life,” said Trinitapoli, a professor of sociology at the University of Chicago. “Demographic research is only as good as the data it is based on, and An Epidemic of Uncertainty rests on the good work of the Tsogolo La Thanzi (TLT) study team. Leading TLT for more than a decade has been, without a doubt, the most rewarding experience of my career.”

“We are very proud to support Professor Trinitapoli’s work, which reveals the sociological importance of studying unknowns and treats uncertainty as a significant determining factor in understanding human experience,” said Garrett Kiely, director of the Press.

The award is named in honor of Gordon J. Laing, who served as general editor of the University of Chicago Press from 1909 until 1940, firmly establishing it as the premier academic publisher in the United States. 

Trinitapoli joins a distinguished list of previous recipients that includes, most recently, Margareta Ingrid Christian, Elisabeth C. Clemens, Lisa Wedeen, Michael Rossi, Eve L. Ewing, and Deborah Nelson.