Dr. Timothy Loh

Biography

Timothy Y. Loh is a sociocultural anthropologist whose work unites medical anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and science and technology studies. His ethnographic research investigates sociality, language, and religion within deaf signing worlds in diverse contexts including Jordan, Singapore, and the United States. Loh's current book project, provisionally titled "Assistive Modernity: Deafness Technology in Contemporary Jordan," delves into the role of assistive technologies such as cochlear implants and sign language-centered mobile applications, and how these technologies influence the understanding and manifestation of disability in the Arabic-speaking Middle East and Southwest Asia. The production and proliferation of these technologies reveal contrasting perceptions regarding what it means to be deaf in Jordan. This book project aims to build upon his dissertation by exploring varying interpretations of modernity as they are conveyed through assistive technologies, and how in turn, these technologies serve as reflections of modernities. Furthermore, Loh has begun a project focusing on the disenfranchisement of deaf individuals in a supposedly multiethnic and multicultural state like Singapore. His writing has appeared in journals such as Medical Anthropology, SAPIENS, and Somatosphere, with forthcoming contributions to American Anthropologist. His research has been recognized with awards from several organizations including the Society for Linguistic Anthropology and the Middle East Studies Association. Loh received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in History, Anthropology, Science, Technology, and Society (HASTS) and holds a B.S. in Foreign Service and an M.A. in Arab Studies from Georgetown University. Prior to his doctorate, he worked in humanitarian assistance and secondary education in Jordan and Lebanon.

Research Interests