Mercer Times

Ruha Benjamin, the Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, has been awarded a 2024 MacArthur Fellowship. The award recognizes her work in “illuminating how technology reflects and reproduces social inequality and championing the role of imagination in social transformation.”

“By integrating critical analysis of innovation with attentiveness to the potential for positive change, Benjamin demonstrates the importance of imagination and grassroots activism in shaping social policies and cultural practices,” stated the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Benjamin is among 22 individuals chosen as MacArthur Fellows in 2024. Each fellow will receive an $800,000 grant over five years from the MacArthur Foundation. These fellowships are known informally as “genius grants” and are given to those who have shown “exceptional originality in and dedication to their creative pursuits.”

“Ruha Benjamin’s innovative, interdisciplinary scholarship has brought critical new perspectives to our understanding of racial and social inequities in technology, science, and medicine,” said Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber. “Professor Benjamin is a strikingly original and creative thinker, writer, and educator who inspires her students and readers.”

Benjamin's scholarship focuses on the social dimensions of science, medicine, and technology. She joined Princeton’s faculty in 2014 and is currently on sabbatical.

She has received numerous accolades including the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2017 and serves as founding director of the Ida B. Wells JUST Data Lab. Additionally, she was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) from 2016 to 2017.

Her research has appeared in journals such as Science, the American Journal of Law & Medicine, and Science, Technology & Human Values. In 2020, she was part of the inaugural cohort of Freedom Scholars by the Marguerite Casey Foundation and Group Health Fund.

Benjamin is also recognized as an award-winning author and speaker. She has presented on TED stages and contributed to publications like The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and The Guardian.

Her latest book "Imagination: A Manifesto" (Norton, 2024) highlights artists, educators, and activists advocating for imaginative solutions. Her previous work "Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want" (Princeton University Press) won the 2023 Stowe Prize for Literary Activism.

She has authored other significant works including "Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code" (Polity, 2019) and "People’s Science: Bodies and Rights on the Stem Cell Frontier" (Stanford University Press, 2013). Additionally, she edited “Captivating Technology: Race, Carceral Technoscience, and Liberatory Imagination in Everyday Life” (Duke University Press).

Benjamin holds a B.A. in sociology and anthropology from Spelman College along with an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from UC Berkeley. Her postdoctoral fellowships were completed at UCLA’s Institute for Society and Genetics as well as Harvard University’s Program on Science, Technology & Society.

Before joining Princeton University’s faculty roster she served as an assistant professor at Boston University.

Throughout her career she has been awarded various fellowships from organizations including the American Council of Learned Societies, National Science Foundation Ford Foundation California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

“MacArthur Fellows are nominated anonymously by leaders in their respective fields,” according to foundation announcements regarding its selection process.