Ruha Benjamin

Ruha Benjamin
Born1978
Wai, Maharashtra, India
Academic background
EducationSpelman College (BA)
University of California, Berkeley (MA, PhD)
Academic work
DisciplineSociology
InstitutionsPrinceton University
Main interestsScience, Medicine, and Technology; Race-Ethnicity and Gender; Knowledge and Power
Websitewww.ruhabenjamin.com

Ruha Benjamin is a sociologist and a professor in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University.[1] The primary focus of her work is the relationship between innovation and equity, particularly the intersection of race, justice, and technology. Benjamin is the author of numerous publications, including the books People's Science: Bodies and Rights on the Stem Cell Frontier (2013), Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code (2019), and Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want (2022).

In 2024, she was named a MacArthur fellow.

Early life

Benjamin and her book Race After Technology at the 2019 Black in AI event

Benjamin was born to an African-American father and a mother of Indian and Persian descent.[2] She describes her interest in the relationship between science, technology, and medicine as prompted by her early life. She was born in a clinic in Wai, Maharashtra, India.[3] She has lived and spent time in South Central Los Angeles; Conway, South Carolina; Majuro, South Pacific, and Swaziland, Southern Africa.[3]

Career

Benjamin received her Bachelor of Arts in sociology and anthropology from Spelman College before completing her PhD in sociology at the University of California, Berkeley in 2008. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA's Institute for Society and Genetics in 2010 before taking a faculty fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School's Science, Technology, and Society Program. From 2010 to 2014, Benjamin was Assistant Professor of African American Studies and Sociology at Boston University.[4]

In 2013, Benjamin's first book, People's Science: Bodies and Rights on the Stem Cell Frontier, was published by Stanford University Press.[5] In it, she critically investigates how innovation and design often builds upon or reinforces inequalities, including how and why scientific, commercial, and popular discourses and practices around genomics have incorporated racial-ethnic and gendered categories.[6]

In 2019, her book Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code was published by Polity.[7] In it, Benjamin expands upon her previous research and analysis by focusing on a range of ways in which social hierarchies, particularly racism, are embedded in the logical layer of internet-based technologies. She develops her concept of the "New Jim Code", which references Michelle Alexander's work The New Jim Crow, to analyze how seemingly "neutral" algorithms and applications can replicate or worsen racial bias.[8]

Race After Technology won the 2020 Oliver Cox Cromwell Book Prize awarded by the American Sociological Association Section on Race & Ethnic Relations, the 2020 Brooklyn Public Library Literary Award for Nonfiction,[9] and Honorable Mention for the 2020 Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology Book Award.[10]

A review in The Nation noted: "What's ultimately distinctive about Race After Technology is that its withering critiques of the present are so galvanizing. The field Benjamin maps is treacherous and phantasmic, full of obstacles and trip wires whose strength lies in their invisibility. But each time she pries open a black box, linking the present to some horrific past, the future feels more open-ended, more mutable…This is perhaps Benjamin’s greatest feat in the book: Her inventive and wide-ranging analyses remind us that as much as we try to purge ourselves from our tools and view them as external to our flaws, they are always extensions of us. As exacting a worldview as that is, it is also inclusive and hopeful."[11]

In 2019, a book she edited, Captivating Technology: Reimagining Race, Carceral Technoscience, and Liberatory Imagination in Everyday Life, was released by Duke University Press.[12]

Benjamin is a Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University. Her work focuses on dimensions of science, technology, and medicine, race and citizenship, knowledge and power. In 2018, she founded the JUST DATA Lab,[13] a space for activists, technologists and artists to reassess how data can be used for justice. She also serves on the Executive Committees for the Program in Global Health and Health Policy[14] and Center for Digital Humanities at the University of Princeton.

On September 25, 2020, Benjamin was named as one of the 25 members of the "Real Facebook Oversight Board", an independent monitoring group over Facebook.[15]

Benjamin has delivered presentations to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination[16] and NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund,[17][18] a 2021 AAAS keynote,[19] 2020 ICLR keynote[20] and the 8th Annual Patrusky Lecture.[21]

Benjamin's work has been featured in popular outlets that include Essence Magazine,[22] LA Times,[23] The Washington Post,[24] The New York Times,[25] San Francisco Chronicle,[26] The Root,[27] Motherboard,[28] The Guardian,[8] Vox,[29] Teen Vogue,[30] National Geographic,[31] STAT,[32] CNN,[33] New Statesman,[34] Slate,[35] Jezebel,[36] Boston Review,[37] and The Huffington Post.[38]

Allegations of antisemitism

In December 2024, Benjamin spoke at a gathering of the National Association of Independent Schools, where representatives from 60 Jewish schools were in attendance;[39] her remarks were condemned as antisemitic by Jewish groups.[40] A student in attendance described her remarks as "allud[ing] to Israelis – Jews – as genocidal,  and portray[ing] them as immoral beings, who ethnic cleanse, and ;annihilate an entire people.' She implied that Israelis lack humanity, that they are individuals who do not believe in the 'seemingly radical notion that all life is sacred.'"[41] Several high school students in attendance felt unsafe, and one student reportedly said they “felt so targeted, so unsafe, that we tucked our Magen Davids [Jewish stars, a historic symbol of Jewish peoplehood] in our shirts and walked out as those around us glared and whispered.”[42]

In response to the criticism, the head of the NAIS issued an apology and said, "There is no place for antisemitism at NAIS events, in our member schools, or in society."[43]

Honors and awards

Benjamin is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including Marguerite Casey Foundation and Group Health Fund Freedom Scholar Award,[44] fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies,[45] National Science Foundation, and Institute for Advanced Study, among others.[46] In 2017 she received the President's Award for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton.[47] In 2024, Benjamin was named a MacArthur Fellow.[48]

On April 11, 2024, at Spelman College's Founders Day Convocation, she received an honorary Doctor of Science degree.[49][50]

Publications

Books

  • People's Science: Bodies and Rights on the Stem Cell Frontier. Stanford University Press. 2013. ISBN 9780804782975.
  • Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code. Polity. 2019. ISBN 9781509526390.
  • (As editor) Captivating Technology: Race, Carceral Technoscience, and Liberatory Imagination in Everyday Life. Duke University Press. 2019. ISBN 978-1-4780-0381-6.
  • Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want. Princeton University Press, 2022. ISBN 9780691222882[51]

Articles

  • (2009). "A Lab of Their Own: Genomic Sovereignty as Postcolonial Science Policy". Policy & Society, Vol. 28, Issue 4: 3.
  • (2011), "Organized Ambivalence: When Stem Cell Research & Sickle Cell Disease Converge". Ethnicity & Health, Vol. 16, Issue 4–5: 447–463.
  • (2012). "Genetics and Global Public Health: Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia". Ch. 11 in Simon Dyson and Karl Atkin (eds), Organized Ambivalence: When Stem Cell Research & Sickle Cell Disease Converge (Routledge).
  • (2015). "The Emperor’s New Genes: Science, Public Policy, and the Allure of Objectivity". Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 661: 130–142.
  • (2016). "Racial Fictions, Biological Facts: Expanding the Sociological Imagination through Speculative Methods". Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience, Vol. 2, Issue 2: 1–28.[52]
  • (2016). "Informed Refusal: Toward a Justice-based Bioethics". Science, Technology, and Human Values, Vol. 4, Issue 6: 967–990.[53]
  • (2016). "Catching Our Breath: Critical Race STS and the Carceral Imagination". Engaging Science, Technology and Society, Vol. 2: 145–156.[54]
  • (2017). "Cultura Obscura: Race, Power, and ‘Culture Talk’ in the Health Sciences". American Journal of Law and Medicine, Invited special issue, edited by Bridges, Keel, and Obasogie, Vol. 43, Issue 2-3: 225–238.[55]
  • (2018). "Black Afterlives Matter: Cultivating Kinfulness as Reproductive Justice". In Making Kin Not Population, edited by Adele Clarke and Donna Haraway. Prickly Paradigm Press.[56] (Republished in Boston Review[37])
  • (2018). "Prophets and Profits of Racial Science". Kalfou: A Journal of Comparative and Relational Ethnic Studies, Vol. 5, Issue 1: 41–53.[57]
  • (2019). "Assessing Risk, Automating Racism". Science, Vol. 366, Issue 6464, pp. 421–422.[58]

References

  1. ^ "Ruha Benjamin | Department of African American Studies". aas.princeton.edu. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
  2. ^ "Ruha Benjamin, Princeton Sociologist and Leading Thinker on Race and Technology, Will Be 2020 Graduation Speaker". Columbia University. May 9, 2020. Archived from the original on December 1, 2023.
  3. ^ a b "About". Ruha Benjamin. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  4. ^ "New Faculty Members to Join Department", Department of Sociology, Boston University, January 30, 2010.
  5. ^ Benjamin, Ruha (June 5, 2013). People's Science: Bodies and Rights on the Stem Cell Frontier {. Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804782968. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  6. ^ "CGS : Talking Biopolitics with Ruha Benjamin". www.geneticsandsociety.org. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
  7. ^ "Book Detail". Polity. March 14, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  8. ^ a b Varghese, Sanjana (June 29, 2019). "Ruha Benjamin: 'We definitely can't wait for Silicon Valley to become more diverse'". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  9. ^ "The Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize". www.bklynlibrary.org. March 20, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  10. ^ "Awards". CITAMS | Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology. August 4, 2018. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  11. ^ Kearse, Stephen (June 15, 2020). "The Racist Roots of New Technology". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  12. ^ "Captivating Technology Race, Carceral Technoscience, and Liberatory Imagination in Everyday Life". Duke University Press.
  13. ^ "The JUST DATA Lab". The JUST DATA Lab. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  14. ^ "Program in Global Health and Health Policy | Undergraduate Announcement". ua.princeton.edu. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  15. ^ Solon, Olivia (September 25, 2020). "While Facebook works to create an oversight board, industry experts formed their own". NBC News.
  16. ^ "Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. General recommendation No. 36. Preventing and Combating Racial Profiling by Law Enforcement Officials" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 15, 2022. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  17. ^ Valenti, Denise (May 15, 2020). "Benjamin's 'Race After Technology' speaks to a growing concern among many of tech bias". Princeton University. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  18. ^ DiSilvestro, Adriana. "Brennan Center for Justice: Policing Race & Technology". MediaWell. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  19. ^ "Plenary Lectures". AAAS 2021 Annual Meeting. Archived from the original on March 26, 2023. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  20. ^ "ICLR: 2020 Vision: Reimagining the Default Settings of Technology & Society". iclr.cc. 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  21. ^ "The Patrusky Lectures | Council for the Advancement of Science Writing". casw.org. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  22. ^ Dorsey, Sherrell (December 6, 2020). "These Black Women Are Fighting For Justice In A World Of Biased Algorithms". Essence. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  23. ^ Khan, Amina (October 24, 2019). "When computers make biased health decisions, black patients pay the price, study says". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  24. ^ Johnson, Carolyn Y. (October 24, 2019). "Racial bias in a medical algorithm favors white patients over sicker black patients". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  25. ^ Preston, Jennifer; Moynihan, Colin (March 21, 2012). "Death of Florida Teen Spurs Outcry and Action". The Lede. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  26. ^ Benjamin, Ruha (April 4, 2013). "Should researchers pay for women's eggs?". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  27. ^ "Bot Bias: Study Finds a Medical Algorithm Favors White Patients Over Sicker Black Ones". The Root. October 25, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  28. ^ Ongweso Jr, Edward (October 25, 2019). "'Significant Racial Bias' Found in National Healthcare Algorithm Affecting Millions of People". www.vice.com. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  29. ^ Katz, Lauren (October 17, 2019). ""I sold my face to Google for $5": Why Google's attempt to make facial recognition tech more inclusive failed". Vox. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  30. ^ "Why I'm Fighting the Tech-to-Prison Pipeline". Teen Vogue. February 3, 2021. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  31. ^ "5 Reasons Gene Editing Is Both Terrific and Terrifying". Science. December 4, 2015. Archived from the original on May 7, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  32. ^ "Scientists endorse research on gene-editing in human embryos". STAT. December 3, 2015. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  33. ^ Enayati, Amanda (February 6, 2014). "The power of prejudice -- and why you should speak up". CNN. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  34. ^ O'Brien, Hettie (September 26, 2019). "'The New Jim Code' – Ruha Benjamin on racial discrimination by algorithm". www.newstatesman.com. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  35. ^ Selinger, Evan (March 1, 2019). "Tech Critics Create a Powerful Response to IBM's Oscars Ad". Slate Magazine. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  36. ^ Wang, Esther (July 2, 2019). "Kim Kardashian and Sophie Lewis's Surrogacy Now". Jezebel. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  37. ^ a b Benjamin, Ruha (July 11, 2018). "Black AfterLives Matter". Boston Review. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  38. ^ "Ruha Benjamin, Ph.D. | The Huffington Post". www.huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  39. ^ Henderson, Cameron (December 16, 2024). "Private schools group apologises for hosting speakers who allegedly accused Israel of 'ethnic cleansing'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
  40. ^ Maslin Nir, Sarah (December 15, 2024). "Private Schools Group Apologizes After Claims of Antisemitism at Event". The New York Times. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
  41. ^ "An Open Letter to NAIS: The Danger of a Single Narrative". Milken Community School. December 20, 2024. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
  42. ^ https://cdn.fedweb.org/fed-1/1/Jewish%2520Community%2520letter%2520to%2520NAIS.pdf. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  43. ^ https://www.nais.org/getmedia/2ed770f6-1cab-4530-9b6b-4bef6516fef0/NAIS_ResponseToADL-AJC-PRIZMAH-JFNA_2-12-24.pdf. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  44. ^ "Introducing the 2020 Freedom Scholars". Marguerite Casey Foundation. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  45. ^ "PROF. RUHA BENJAMIN WINS ACLS FELLOWSHIP » Sociology | Blog Archive | Boston University". www.bu.edu. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
  46. ^ "Ruha Benjamin | Center for Health and Wellbeing". chw.princeton.edu. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  47. ^ "Four faculty members recognized for outstanding teaching". Princeton University. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  48. ^ Blair, Elizabeth (October 1, 2024). "Here's who made the 2024 MacArthur Fellows list". NPR. Retrieved October 1, 2024.
  49. ^ "SPELMAN FOUNDER'S DAY CONVOCATION". Ruha Benjamin. April 11, 2024.
  50. ^ "Ruha Benjamin - Spelman Convocation 2024". Outspoken Agency. April 2024 – via YouTube.
  51. ^ Benjamin, Ruha (October 11, 2022). Viral Justice. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-22288-2.
  52. ^ Benjamin, Ruha (June 17, 2016). "Racial Fictions, Biological Facts: Expanding the Sociological Imagination through Speculative Methods". Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience. 2 (2): 1–28. doi:10.28968/cftt.v2i2.28798. ISSN 2380-3312.
  53. ^ Benjamin, Ruha (June 23, 2016). "Informed Refusal: Toward a Justice-based Bioethics". Science, Technology, & Human Values. 41 (6): 967–990. doi:10.1177/0162243916656059. S2CID 148172468.
  54. ^ Ruha, Benjamin (July 1, 2016). "Catching Our Breath: Critical Race STS and the Carceral Imagination". Engaging Science, Technology, and Society. 2: 145–156. doi:10.17351/ests2016.70. ISSN 2413-8053.
  55. ^ Benjamin, Ruha (2017). "Cultura Obscura: Race, Power, and "Culture Talk" in the Health Sciences". American Journal of Law & Medicine. 43 (2–3): 225–238. doi:10.1177/0098858817723661. ISSN 0098-8588. PMID 29254467. S2CID 40857476.
  56. ^ Making kin not population. Adele E. Clarke, Donna Jeanne Haraway. Chicago, IL. 2018. ISBN 978-0-9966355-6-1. OCLC 1019611298.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  57. ^ Benjamin, Ruha (June 28, 2018). "Prophets and Profits of Racial Science". Kalfou. 5 (1). doi:10.15367/kf.v5i1.198. ISSN 2372-0751. S2CID 149650720.
  58. ^ Benjamin, Ruha (October 25, 2019). "Assessing risk, automating racism". Science. 366 (6464): 421–422. Bibcode:2019Sci...366..421B. doi:10.1126/science.aaz3873. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 31649182. S2CID 204881864.
  1. Official website
  2. Introducing the 2020 Freedom Scholars
  3. 2021 AAAS Plenary Lecture Archived March 26, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  4. 8th Annual Patrusky Lecture
  5. ICLR (International Conference on Learning Representations) Keynote
  6. Dr. Ruha Benjamin is featured in the documentary focused on Black women, entitled “(In)visible Portraits;” directed by Oge Egbuonu, to debut on OWN Network