Marcia Inhorn, MPH, PhD
Biography
Research & Publications
News
Appointments
Biography
Professor Inhorn is the William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs in the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, where she served as Chair of the Council on Middle East Studies (CMES, 2008-11). She is the Founding Editor of the Journal of Middle East Women's Studies (JMEWS), and she has received the 2013 Middle East Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Anthropological Association's Middle East Section. As Past-President of the Society for Medical Anthropology (SMA) of the American Anthropological Association, Inhorn was the Program Chair of the SMA conference on “Medical Anthropology at the Intersections: Celebrating 50 Years of Interdisciplinarity,” (link) held at Yale September 24-27, 2009. In 2010, she was the inaugural Diane Middlebrook and Carl Djerassi Visiting Professor at the the University of Cambridge's Centre for Gender Studies. In 2013, she received the SMA's Graduate Mentoring Award from the Medical Anthropology Students' Association (MASA).
Inhorn’s research interests revolve around the anthropology of reproduction, gender and feminist theory (including masculinity studies), science and technology studies, religion and bioethics, globalization and global health, cultures of biomedicine and ethnomedicine, and stigma and human suffering. Over the past 25 years, Inhorn has conducted multi-sited research on the social impact of infertility and assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) in Egypt, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, and Arab America. She is the author of four books on the subject, The New Arab Man: Emergent Masculinities, Technologies, and Islam in the Middle East (Princeton U Press, 2012), Local Babies, Global Science: Gender, Religion, and In Vitro Fertilization in Egypt (Routledge, 2003), Infertility and Patriarchy: The Cultural Politics of Gender and Family Life in Egypt (U Pennsylvania Press, 1996) and Quest for Conception: Gender, Infertility, and Egyptian Medical Traditions (U Pennsylvania Press, 1994), which have won the American Anthropological Association’s Eileen Basker Prize and Diana Forsythe Prize for outstanding feminist anthropological research in the areas of gender, health, science, technology, and biomedicine. Her newest book, “Cosmopolitan Conceptions: IVF Sojourns in Global Dubai,” will being published by Duke University Press. Inhorn is also the editor or co-editor of nine volumes, including Globalized Fatherhood (Berghahn 2014); Medical Anthropology at the Intersections: Histories, Activisms, and Futures (Duke U Press, 2012); Islam and Assisted Reproductive Technologies: Sunni and Shia Perspectives (Berghahn, 2012); and Anthropology and Public Health: Bridging Differences in Culture and Society (Oxford U Press, 2009).
Education & Training
- PhDUC Berkeley, Anthrop & Med Anthrop (1991)
- MPHUC Berkeley, Epidemiology (1988)
- MAUC Berkeley, Anthrop & Med Anthrop (1985)
- BAU of Wisconsin, Anthrop & Journalism (1980)
Activities
- ResearchUnited Arab Emirates 2007Visiting Research Scholar, Dept of Intl Studies, Amer U of Sharjah (2007)
- ResearchNorway 2006Research Prof. Cent for Women’s & Gender Studies & Cent for Intl Health/consultancies, U of Bergen, Norway, 2006present
- Research and TeachingBeirut, Beirut Governorate, Lebanon 2003Visiting Research Assoc Prof, Dept of Health Behavior & Edu, Faculty of Health Sciences
- ResearchSharjah, Ash Shariqah, United Arab Emirates; Cairo, Al Qahirah, Egypt; Beirut, Beyrouth, Lebanon (1988-2009)U.S. Department of Education Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad and National Science Foundation Cultural Anthropology research projects in: United Arab Emirates (2007-9), Lebanon (2003), Egypt (1996, 1988-89)
Honors & Recognition
Award | Awarding Organization | Date |
---|---|---|
Middle East Distinguished Scholar | Middle East Section, American Anthropological Association | 2013 |
Graduate Mentoring Award | Medical Anthropology Students' Association, Society for Medical Anthropology, American Anthropological Association | 2013 |
Principal Investigator, “Globalization and Reproductive Tourism in the Arab World”, funded by National Science Foundation ($228,000) and US Department of Education Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Grant ($100,000), 2007-10 | 2007 | |
Principal Investigator, “Middle Eastern Masculinities in the Age of New Reproductive Technologies”, funded by National Science Foundation ($150,000) and US Department of Education Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Grant ($78,000), Co-PI’s Jerome Nriagu and Heather Stringham, 2002-05 | 2002 | |
Principal Investigator, “Infertility, In Vitro Fertilization, and Islamic Morality: Egyptian Women’s Responses to ‘Baby of the Tubes’ Technology”; Funded by US Dept. of Education Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Grant ($15,000), 1996 | 1996 |