Biography

Timothy Y. Loh is a Singaporean PhD candidate in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society (HASTS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA, and a 2022-24 Social Science Research Council (Singapore) Graduate Research Fellow at the Singapore University of Technology and Design. Drawing upon the tools of medical anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and science and technology studies, his ethnographic research investigates sociality, language, and religion in deaf and signing worlds in Jordan, Singapore, and the United States. He is currently conducting dissertation fieldwork in Amman on assistive technologies for deaf people, including medical-rehabilitative devices like cochlear implants and non-medical tech “solutions” like sign language mobile applications.

Education

• PhD in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (in progress)
• MA in Arab Studies, Georgetown University (2016)
• BS in Foreign Service (Culture and Politics), Georgetown University (2015)

Selected Publications

• 2022 “Language in Medical Worlds: Hearing Technology for Deaf Jordanian Children.” Medical Anthropology 41 (1): 107-119. doi:10.1080/01459740.2021.2015346.
• 2021. “Not ‘Just Tools’: The Framework of Equivalence and Cochlear Implants in Jordan.” Somatosphere. June 15, 2021.
• 2016. “Digitizing Refugees: The Effect of Technology on Forced Displacement.” gnovis: A Journal of Communication, Culture & Technology 16 (2): 49-58.