|
Historian Tiya Miles |
Tonight the
John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation announced its
2011 MacArthur Fellows, popularly known as recipients of "Genius" grants. Congratulations to all of them! As always, the new fellows comprise a mixed group of artists, scientists, activists, and people doing work that doesn't easily fall in any categories. I am familiar with the work of several:
Roland Fryer, a 43-year-old professor of economics at
Harvard University, who studies the relationship between discrimination, social inequalities and educational attainment using economic experiments;
Kay Ryan, the former
US Poet Laureate and winner of the 2011
Pulitzer Prize in poetry; and
Jad Abumrad, co-host of
RadioLab, a radio show and podcast series that explores science and technology-related topics; and poet and translator
A. E. Stallings, whose translation of
Lucretius's
De Rerum Naturum in 2007 received quite a bit of acclaim. It's an amazing group, no doubt.
|
Computer scientist
Schwetak Patel |
|
Several of the more unusual winners this year include metalsmith
Ubaldo Vitali, who uses old and contemporary techniques to restore ancient and classical artifacts and to create new works of art, and "long-form" journast
Peter Hessler, 42, whose work, as the MacArthur Foundation describes it, "whose three books and numerous magazine articles explore the complexities of life in Reform Era China as it undergoes one of the fastest social transformations in history." Especially timely, it strikes me, is the work of
Kevin Guskiewicz, the Kenan Distinguished Professor in the Department of Exercise & Science at the
University of North Carolina, who looks at the causes and effects of brain injuries incurred during sports; and historian and
University of Michigan professor of
Tiya Miles's studies on the complex interrelationships between
African and
Cherokee peoples during the Colonial Era, especially now that the
Cherokee have decided to expel the descendants of slaves from their communities.
The list of all the fellows is available
here. Congratulations again to all of them, and here're 2 videos of 2011 winner, musician
Dafnis Prieto doing what led to his being honored.
Dafnis Prieto Proverb Trio (his solo is off the charts)
Dafnis Prieto at Modern Drummer Fest 2008 (with commentary by him)
No comments:
Post a Comment