In the midst of Covid-19’s unfolding and unequal death tolls and of ongoing police, state, and everyday violence against Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous communities in the United States and elsewhere, we in MIT Anthropology stand against racist white supremacy, believing, with anthropologist Leith Mullings, that "anthropology is uniquely positioned to make a decisive contribution to the critical interrogation of contemporary racism...

"In shamanic rituals and in computer-mediated virtual reality, a mask conceals one identity to reveal new possibilities. Seen in this light, virus protection masks offer an opportunity to replace a visage of fear with a public expression of strength as a community."

— Manduhai Buyandelger, Associate Professor of Anthropology

Graham Jones and Stefan Helmreich are two of the thirty-one MIT instructors awarded.

The mask is one of the most important human artifacts in all of anthropology. It is a tool of transformation that allows its wearers to transcend themselves, taking on timeless roles in ritual dramas. Repositories of power, masks are sacred objects, crafted with ingenuity.

Amah Edoh, associate professor in anthropology, has received the Everett Moore Baker Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.

Post-doctoral Fellow Héctor Beltrán is interviewed for Data and Society's series, "#unsettle: Strategies for Decolonizing Tech Research".

Associate Professor Amy Moran-Thomas is the recipient of a 2020 James A. and Ruth Levitan Prize. The prize is awarded to instructors in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) in recognition of their outstanding contributions to teaching.

Associate Professor Amy Moran-Thomas' research is featured on MIT News. Her research on the global diabetes epidemic is the focus of her new book, Traveling with Sugar (Univ. of CA Press).

Associate Professor Graham Jones and Seth Riskin, Manager of the MIT Museum Studio and Compton Gallery, are offering a new class, Paranormal Machines: Technologies of Enchantment in Science, Art, and Culture. The class "explores the human experience of the disconcerting and the uncanny in relation to technology" and how "people and cultures build stories and beliefs around out-of-the-ordinary experiences".