Dorothy Roberts Named 2024 MacArthur Fellow
Dorothy Roberts, George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology, was named a 2024 MacArthur Fellow, an honor bestowed by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The MacArthur Fellowship is a five-year grant to individuals who show exceptional originality in and dedication to their creative pursuits. Roberts was one of 22 named this year.
“The transformative scholarship of Dorothy Roberts focuses on some of the most pressing issues facing our society, addressing issues of inequality, social justice, and race,” says Interim President J. Larry Jameson. “As a scholar, award-winning author, and now MacArthur Fellow, she exemplifies Penn’s commitment to impactful, interdisciplinary, creative pursuits.”
“Through her groundbreaking work, Dorothy has been a consistent champion of marginalized communities, seeking to understand and change the systems that perpetuate inequalities,” says Steven J. Fluharty, Dean and Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Professor of Psychology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience. “She epitomizes the kind of thinking that propels society forward, and we’re proud that she is a member of the School of Arts & Sciences faculty.”
For decades, Roberts, who has appointments in the Departments of Sociology and Africana Studies, has worked as a legal scholar and public policy researcher focused on exposing racial inequities embedded within health and social service systems. Her work encompasses reproductive health, bioethics, and child welfare. She sheds light on systemic inequities, amplifies the voices of those directly affected, and boldly calls for a wholesale transformation of existing systems.
“I am extremely honored to receive a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship,” says Roberts. “It is my hope this award will shine a light on Black women’s visions and struggles for reproductive and family justice.”
Roberts’ major books include Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty (Pantheon, 1997); Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare (Basic Books, 2001); Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-First Century (The New Press, 2011); and Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families—and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World (Basic Books, 2022), as well as more than 100 scholarly articles and essays in books and journals, including Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, and The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story.
Read more about Roberts and the rest of this year’s MacArthur Fellows at https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2024/dorothy-roberts.
(Image: Courtesy of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation)
