Anthropology

"The efficacy and success of medical advances must always be evaluated within a larger social context,” says Ankita Reddy ’19, who aims to be a physician-anthropologist. “In order to do the most good for individual patients and to slow the spread of disease, our interventions need to take into consideration the public health capacity of communities as well as local ideas of health and sickne...

Ankita Reddy ’19 blends anthropology and biology to improve public health

Recent graduate says culturally-aware approaches lead to more-effective medical interventions.

July 3, 2019

MIT grad student Steven Gonzalez is showing that the cloud is neither distant nor ephemeral: It’s a massive system, ubiquitous in daily life, that contains huge amounts of energy, has the potential for environmental disaster, and is operated by an insular community of expert technicians.

Communities in the cloud

PhD student Steven Gonzalez studies cloud computing with the eye of an anthropologist.

June 5, 2019

Susan Silbey earns faculty’s prestigious Killian Award

Innovative sociologist of law granted MIT’s highest faculty honor.

May 15, 2019

"This historic gathering brought leaders and stakeholders in anthropological knowledge-sharing into the same room to compare notes,” said Heather Paxson, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Anthropology, and interim head of Anthropology at MIT. “We emerged with the outline of a pilot project to move scholarly journals to Open Access publishing, at a disciplinary scale."

Q&A: Heather Paxson on a new model for open-access publishing in anthropology

Interim head of MIT Anthropology explains the plan's vision and challenges, plus progress made at an historic MIT workshop.

May 10, 2019

Professor Susan Silbey provided a rousing defense of the humanities during her lightning talk at the 2019 MacVicar Day symposium.

Celebrating passionate teachers and enthusiastic learners

At this year's MacVicar Day symposium, faculty and students reflect on the challenges and joys of education in the 21st century.

March 29, 2019

Illustration-four-hands-around-computer-chip

Ethics, computing, and AI: Perspectives from MIT

Faculty representing all five MIT schools offer views on the ethical and societal implications of new technologies.

March 18, 2019

Left to right: Erik Demaine, Graham Jones, T.L. Taylor, Joshua Angrist

2019 MacVicar Faculty Fellows named

Professors Angrist, Demaine, Jones, and Taylor receive MIT's highest honor in undergraduate teaching.

March 4, 2019

The 2018 Election Insights series includes: Research-based commentaries by MIT experts on key issues for the country; a "Music for the Midterms" playlist; and an annotated election booklist.

Analyzing the 2018 election: Insights from MIT scholars

SHASS faculty members offer research-based perspectives with commentaries, plus a Music for the Midterms playlist, and an election book list.

October 30, 2018

Graham Jones and the cover of "Magic’s Reason" (University of Chicago Press)

A magician’s imperial mission

MIT scholar’s book illuminates how magic became a tool for Western “reason” — and helped form the field of anthropology.

March 27, 2018

MIT anthropologist Stefan Helmreich on the boom of the FLIP ship in October 2017.

Stefan Helmreich conducts fieldwork aboard the unique FLIP ship

MIT anthropologist is researching how scientists understand waves.

February 16, 2018

“I would say that a surprisingly large number of my students at MIT are juniors and seniors, and they often say to me, ‘Oh, I wish I had found out about anthropology sooner,’” anthropologist Graham Jones remarks. “And I say, ‘Oh the same thing happened to me in college.’ Not many people come to college knowing what anthropology is.”

Magic, a microcosm of modern culture

Anthropologist Graham Jones has turned a fascination with magic into a career.

September 25, 2017

Course 21A.157 (The Meaning of Life), examines how a variety of cultural traditions approach the question of how to live with purpose. Here Brother David Vryhof explains the beliefs followed by brothers at the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, a monastery on Memorial Drive.

In search of a meaningful life

Popular MIT anthropology course offers contemplation and dialogue on life's big questions.

June 15, 2017

2017 SHASS Infinite Mile Award recipients pose with Dean Melissa Nobles. Left to right: Daniel Irvine, Albert Wang, Luis "Cuco" Daglio, Melissa Nobles, Ana Ludwig, and Barbara Keller.

Melissa Nobles announces recipients of the 2017 SHASS Infinite Mile Awards

Awards presented to five exceptional staff members of the MIT community.

May 12, 2017

"This initiative is something that is right at the heart of what MIT stands for," said Professor Thomas Kochan, moderator for the launch event of a new project known as Mens et Manus America. "We believe in solving important problems, contributing collectively wherever we can."

Mens et Manus America initiative launches with documentary event

Over 200 students and faculty attend kickoff as SHASS and Sloan begin an exploration of current U.S. social, political, economic challenges.

March 3, 2017

Mongolian anthropologist Manduhai Buyandelger’s career path took shape when she received a Fulbright scholarship to study in the U.S. This allowed her to start graduate school at Harvard, where scholars such as Nicola di Cosmo and Michael Herzfeld took note of her remarkable linguistic range — Buyandelger could then do research in traditional and contemporary Mongolian, Russian, English, and a...

Steppe by steppe

Mongolian anthropologist Manduhai Buyandelger studies a society in transition.

November 30, 2016

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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