MIT's SHASS Diversity Predoctoral Fellowship Program announces its 2023-24 cohort
Revamped Perspective on the 2023-24 SHASS Diversity Predoctoral Fellows
The jackpot: MIT's School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) has unveiled the lucky scholars gracing its 2023-24 Diversity Predoctoral Fellowship program. This brilliant bunch is all set to take the academic world by storm, with their diversity-driven research and thirst for knowledge that transcends conventional boundaries.
The goal behind this program? To pump up the diversity vibes in SHASS and bolster these scholars as they embark on their academic career adventures. The fellowships offer tailor-made professional support and mentorship to ensure their success in the field.
Let's dive into the incredible stories of these academic nomads-in-the-making:
Danah Alfailakawi, Literature
Prepare to get queer-y with Danah's-thought-provoking dissertation titled, "The Abject Queer: Barely being, nonhumans, and death worlds on the Arabian Peninsula." She merges psychoanalysis, queer of color critique, and critical race theory and ponders the historical processes breathing life into a normative Gulf subjectivity. Her research also delves into the abject and queer bodies, spaces, and worlds supporting such subjectivity. Remember, she's not just unfurling the Arabian Peninsula's narrative; she's challenging the normative status quo on a grander scale globally. Drawing inspiration from Indigenous poetics, Black radical feminists, and women of color feminisms, she's blending erotica, storytelling, memory work, and citational practice to revolutionize academic research and shape a body of scholarship destined to reshape the research landscape.
Nina Dewi Toft Djanegara, Anthropology
Nina's life's work? To govern U.S. borders with facial recognition, interrogating the sociocultural significance of the face as a symbol. With a knack for ethnographic and archival research, she's exploring how facial recognition technology makes identity, citizenship, and belonging claims. Armed with a MS in environmental science from Yale University and a BA in international development studies from the University of California at Berkeley, Nina's keen on merging technology and politics to solve pressing issues.
Alessandra Jungs de Almeida, Women's and Gender Studies
In the heat of feminist and anti-feminist organizations' battles in Argentina and Brazil, Alessandra's nails it down by analyzing their efforts to shape the political structure to build international norms around abortion rights. Her main question? How did both groups use political opportunities to promote their agendas? The answers to this global struggle are sure to shed light on variations in results in both countries.
Amber Mackey, Political Science
Mackey's heart beats for policy, race, and ethnic politics in the U.S. Her research explores when policies about race make it to the political hotspot and their impact on existing racial inequalities. With the help of text analysis, she's tracking government attention to race and plans to document how it shapes the realities of people of color.
Somayeh Tohidi, Philosophy
It's all about the statistics for Somayeh, who delves deep into how we, as laypeople, react to statistical evidence. By considering our cognitive capabilities and the field's intricacies, she aims to better guide us in interpreting studies that align with (or challenge) social stereotypes. Call her study "Statistical Evidence with a Humane Face."
Vanessa Noemi Velez, Anthropology
Vanessa captures the environmental and political history of metro-Atlanta's rapid economic development, unfurling the story from national urban renewal in 1949 through the Centennial Olympics in 1996. She takes a keen interest in the city's vulnerable communities and local environments, scrutinizing the cost of global hub status.
Biyi Wen, Comparative Media Studies/Writing
At MIT's The Trope Tank, Biyi's developing her dissertation project, "TextBox: an intermedia assemblage on the history of Chinese text processing." The project comprises two parts: a media archive and a dissertation. The archive serves as a web repository for text processing artifacts, while the dissertation investigates the material and epistemic ruptures and continuities across three time periods.
- The 2023-24 SHASS Diversity Predoctoral Fellows program aims to stimulate a vibrant academic environment by supporting scholars who challenge conventional boundaries, as evidenced by the diverse stories of individuals like Danah Alfailakawi and others.
- Danah Alfailakawi, a Literature fellow, seeks to revolutionize academic research through her thought-provoking dissertation, "The Abject Queer," which merges psychoanalysis, queer of color critique, and critical race theory, among other discourses.
- Nina Dewi Toft Djanegara, an Anthropology fellow, combines technology and politics to investigate the societal implications of facial recognition technology in shaping identity, citizenship, and belonging claims.
- Alessandra Jungs de Almeida's Women's and Gender Studies research delves into the strategies employed by feminist and anti-feminist organizations in Argentina and Brazil to shape political structures concerning abortion rights.
- Amber Mackey, a Political Science fellow, explores the impact of policies regarding race on existing racial inequalities in the United States using text analysis.
- Somayeh Tohidi, a Philosophy fellow, focuses on the interpretation of statistical evidence, considering cognitive capabilities and the intricacies of the field to better guide people in evaluating studies that align or challenge social stereotypes.
- Vanessa Noemi Velez, an Anthropology fellow, investigates the environmental and political history of metro-Atlanta's economic development, particularly focusing on vulnerable communities and local environments impacted by global hub status.
- Biyi Wen, a Comparative Media Studies/Writing fellow, is creating an intermedia assemblage on the history of Chinese text processing at MIT's The Trope Tank, comprising a media archive and a dissertation that examines the material and epistemic ruptures and continuities across three time periods.
- The SHASS Diversity Predoctoral Fellowship program not only fosters diverse research but also provides tailor-made professional support and mentorship to ensure the fellows' academic success.
- These fellows undoubtedly possess a wealth of skills, knowledge, and passions that will contribute significantly to various fields of education-and-self-development, personal-growth, career-development, learning, and skills-training, especially within the sphere of science, technology, engineering, computing, and research.
- The public can look forward to the exceptional contributions these fellows will make in climate, education, environment, policy, and mental health-related fields, further enriching and advancing these critical areas for the benefit of all.
