May, Mbiti, and Fox are MLK Visiting Scholars for 2010-11    

2010-2011 MLK Visiting Professors 
MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences 
 

Reuben Buford May, MLK Visiting Professor in Anthropology

Reuben May, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, is a Professor in the Sociology Department of Texas A&M University and the recipient of numerous research and teaching awards. An urban ethnographer, he views the city as a laboratory for examining the complexities of social life. Research areas include Urban Ethnography, Race and Culture, the Sociology of Sport, and the Sociology of the Everyday. He was a 2009 Fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University, where he worked on a project titled “Race, Class, Culture, and Urban Social Space.” His books are Talking at Trena’s: Everyday Conversation at an African American Tavern (New York University Press, 2001) and Living Through the Hoop: High School Basketball, Race, and the American Dream (New York University Press, 2008). While at MIT, May will teach two undergraduate courses: "Urban Cultures," and "Sport and Culture."   •  
May webpage

Isaac Mbiti, MLK Visiting Assistant Professor in Economics

An assistant professor in the department of economics at Southern Methodist University, Mbiti received his PhD from Brown University. He specializes in development economics, and is the recipient of grants from the International Impact Evaluation Initiative, the International Growth Center, and Southern Methodist University, fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, Hewlett Foundation Compton Foundation, and the Chancellors Award from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Working in the School's Department of Economics, Mbiti will be affiliated with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), where he will give guest lectures and conduct research on randomized evaluations of interventions in Kenya. He will focus on two projects: Experimental Evidence on the Returns to Vocational Education in Kenya, and The Impact of Monitoring Technology on the impact of remittances in Kenya. •  
Mbiti website

Donal Fox, MLK Visiting Artist in Music and Theater Arts

Following a year of inspiring teaching at MIT and acclaimed performances, composer-pianist Donal Fox will continue for a second year as an MLK Visiting Artist. As visiting scholar, Fox will again teach Musical Improvisation in the Music and Theater Arts Section.

Students, selected through auditions, study improvisation techniques in solo and ensemble contexts, and examine relationships between improvisation, composition, and performance from a score. Topics, with occasional guest lectures, may include jazz, non-western music, and improvisation in western concert music. The course will culminate with one or more public performances.

Fox has received many honors and awards, including the American Academy of Arts and Letters Academy Award in Music, a Guggenheim fellowship, and a fellowship from the Bogliasco Foundation. Of Fox, critic Gary Giddens has written, “Donal is one of a small handful of musicians who embody the promise of jazz's future."

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Fox website

 
More information 

MLK Visiting Scholars and Artists Program