“At the heart of all my work is the invitation to imagine and craft the worlds we cannot live without, just as we dismantle the ones we cannot live within.” —Ruha Benjamin
Congratulations to author Ruha Benjamin, who has been honored with a 2024 MacArthur Fellowship for her scholarship “illuminating how technology reflects and reproduces social inequality and championing the role of imagination in social transformation.”
The MacArthur announcement of this year’s fellows notes of Benjamin’s work, “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.”
An esteemed and innovative transdisciplinary scholar, Benjamin is The Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of African American studies at Princeton University, where she is the founding director of the Ida B. Wells JUST Data Lab. Benjamin is also the author of several acclaimed books including the pathbreaking Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code (2019). With Princeton University Press, she is the author of Viral Justice: How to Grow the World We Want (2022). Stemming from the twin plagues of COVID-19 and anti-Black police violence, the book poignantly explores the importance of small, individual actions to enact more systemic change. Part memoir, part manifesto, Viral Justice sets forth a sweeping, inspirational, and deeply personal exploration of how we can transform society through the choices we make every day. Praised as, “a true gift to our movements for justice” (Michelle Alexander), Viral Justice received the Stowe Prize, given by the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, among other honors.
MacArthur “genius” grants are awarded annually by MacArthur Foundation to honor individuals across the arts, letters, and sciences who showcase “exceptional creativity” and “demonstrate the ability to impact society in significant and beneficial ways through their pioneering work or the rigor of their contributions.” Benjamin is one of twenty-two individuals honored with a MacArthur fellowship this year, a “no-strings-attached” grant that provides $800,000, distributed over five years.