Roads Less Traveled in Middle East Anthropology—And New Paths in Gender Ethnography

Marcia C. Inhorn is the recipient of the 2013 Middle East Distinguished Scholar Award, given by the Middle East Section (MES) of the American Anthropological Association. This biennial award was established in 2006 to recognize the efforts of “a senior scholar in Middle Eastern anthropology who is an outstanding academic in terms of scholarly publications and service to Middle Eastern anthropology.” The MES Award Committee wrote to Inhorn: “Our committee greatly values your efforts as a scholar, a mentor, and a leader who has been deeply invested in the anthropology of the Middle East. We very much value your impressive pioneering and important work on medical anthropology, science and reproductive technologies, the anthropology of gender, and religion in the Middle East. Your thick ethnographic accounts of the lives of men and women who struggle with infertility and how they appropriate different discourses and technologies in their quest for conception as well as your engagement with broader theories and concerns in anthropology have been very valuable contributions to our field. We also greatly value your service to the anthropology of the Middle East and leading role in making our discipline more visible in different institutions and organizations, including MESA as well as your committed work with the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies. In addition, we deeply appreciate your mentoring of students and junior faculty. As was communicated by one of your students, you are renowned among graduate students and recent PhDs ‘as one of the best mentors in the field’ for your ‘support, enthusiasm, and warmth.’ On behalf of the MES Distinguished Scholar Award Committee, I would like to offer our heartfelt congratulations and warmly invite you to give our Distinguished Lecture at the MES Business Meeting during the AAA’s 2013 Annual Meetings, and we look forward to celebrating your work and contributions to our field.” Inhorn’s Distinguished Lecture reflects on the state of Middle East anthropology, including ten directions for the future. New paths in Middle East gender ethnography are highlighted.