Timothy Y. Loh, PhD

| 罗宇乐 | تيموثي لوه |

I am a sociocultural anthropologist and a Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellow in the Princeton Society of Fellows. At Princeton, I am also a Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology and the Humanities Council, and a Faculty Fellow at Yeh College. My research draws upon medical anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and science and technology studies to study deaf and signing communities in Jordan and the broader Arabic-speaking Middle East. My current book project, "Assistive Modernity: Deafness and Technology in Contemporary Jordan," builds on my dissertation research to examine how assistive technologies that have emerged in Jordan in recent decades—specifically, the cochlear implant and a sign language mobile application—have shaped and continue to shape disability’s contours and manifestations in the region today. I earned my PhD in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Society (HASTS) at MIT, where I was advised by Stefan Helmreich, and was a Graduate Fellow with the Language and Technology Lab, co-founded by Graham Jones and Beth Semel. As a hearing researcher of deaf communities and a non-Middle Eastern scholar of the Arab world, I am committed to reflexivity in my methodological and theoretical approach.

My broader research program ethnographically examines the politics of deafness and disability across multiple national contexts; to that end, I have conducted some research on signed languages and deaf communities in the US and Singapore as well. I maintain interests in the history and anthropology of Arab Christianity in historic Palestine, in addition to refugee and migrant movements in the Middle East, both of which I imagine researching one day. I am a 2025-27 Social Science Research Council (Singapore) Graduate Research Fellow in Linguistics and Multilingual Studies (School of Humanities) at Nanyang Technological University, as well as the Student Representative (2022-25) for the Middle East Section and the contributing editor for the section column in Anthropology News. My research has been supported by the Social Science Research Council (United States), the Royal Anthropological Institute, the National Academy of Education and Spencer Foundation, the MIT Center for International Studies, the American Center of Research (ACOR) Jordan, the Social Science Research Council (Singapore), and the National University of Singapore Development Grant, among others.

In 2025, "'Mother Tongue' or 'Broken Arabic': Competing Discourses about Jordanian Sign Language (LIU) in Amman" was published in the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, a revised version of a paper that co-won the 2023 John Gumperz Graduate Student Essay Prize from the Society for Linguistic Anthropology. "Sign Language as 'Mother Tongue Orphan': A Challenge to Raciolinguistic Multiculturalism in Singapore" was also published in American Anthropologist the same year; earlier versions of the article co-won the 2024 David M. Schneider Award from the American Anthropological Association and received the Honorable Mention for the 2021 Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Prize from the Society for East Asian Anthropology. In 2024, my paper, "An Expanded istifada: Cochlear Implants and Regulating Communication for Deaf Jordanians," won the David Hakken Graduate Student Paper Prize from the Committee for the Anthropology of Science, Technology & Computing, the Suad Joseph Student Paper Award from the Association for Middle East Anthropology, and the Charles Hughes Graduate Student Paper Prize from the Society for Medical Anthropology. In 2022, "Language in Medical Worlds: Hearing Technology for Deaf Children in Jordan" was published in Medical Anthropology, a revised version of a paper that won the 2020 Graduate Student Paper Prize from the Middle East Studies Association and received the Honorable Mention for the 2020 Student Paper Award from the Middle East Section.

Upcoming and ongoing

September 25-28: Participating in "Global Health in a Turbulent Middle East and North Africa: Anthropological Perspectives" at Yale University
November 25: Co-organizing roundtable "Science and Technology Studies in the Middle East and North Africa" at Middle East Studies Association 59th Annual Meeting, Washington, DC

In addition to a Master of Science in HASTS from MIT, earned along-the-way, I hold a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (Culture & Politics) and a Master of Arts in Arab Studies, earned in an accelerated degree program at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. At the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown, I studied with Rochelle Davis, Fida Adely, and Sylvia Önder, and took classes at Gallaudet University in sociolinguistics and deaf studies through the Consortium. I was also a Kathryn Davis Fellow for Peace (Arabic) in the summer of 2016.

Before returning to academia, I worked for Collateral Repair Project through the (now defunct) MENAR Fellowship, taught Middle Eastern history and introductory Chinese at King’s Academy, and coordinated Project SHINE for the LEAP Program. In my free time (hah!), I sing with Boston Found in the Massachusetts area and with Mosaica Singers in Amman, and I am an occasional sign language interpreter. I was born and raised in Singapore, which I still call home. I am proficient in Levantine Arabic, American Sign Language (ASL), and Mandarin Chinese, conversational in Jordanian Sign Language (LIU), and have a passive understanding of spoken and written French.

he/him/his

Writing

Academic

Loh, Timothy Y. 2025. “Sign Language as ‘Mother Tongue Orphan’: A Challenge to Raciolinguistic Multiculturalism in Singapore.” Mother Tongue as Global Politics, American Anthropologist 1-12. doi:10.1111/aman.28088.
Loh, Timothy Y. 2025. "'Mother Tongue' or 'Broken Arabic': Competing Discourses about Jordanian Sign Language (LIU) in Amman." Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 35 (1): 1-21. doi:10.1111/jola.70003.
Loh, Timothy Y. 2025. Review of Disability Worlds, by Faye Ginsburg and Rayna Rapp. American Ethnologist 52 (1): 125-126. doi:10.1111/amet.13372.
Loh, Timothy Y. 2023. “The ‘Right’ Way to Sign: Sign Language, Inclusion and the Deaf Community in Singapore.” In Not Without Us: Perspectives on Disability and Inclusion in Singapore, edited by Kuansong Victor Zhuang, Meng Ee Wong, and Dan Goodley, 69–89. Singapore: Ethos Books.
- Winner of Best Non-Fiction Title, Singapore Book Awards 2024
Loh, Timothy Y. 2022. “Language in Medical Worlds: Hearing Technology for Deaf Jordanian Children.” Medical Anthropology 41 (1): 107-119. doi:10.1080/01459740.2021.2015346.
- Accepted manuscript available on DSpace@MIT
Loh, Timothy Y. 2021. Review of Precarious Hope: Migration and The Limits of Belonging in Turkey, by Ayşe Parla. Arab Studies Journal 29 (2): 184-188.
- Version of Record available on DSpace@MIT
Loh, Timothy Y. 2021. “Not ‘Just Tools’: The Framework of Equivalence and Cochlear Implants in Jordan.” Somatosphere. June 15, 2021.
Loh, Timothy Y. 2018. “‘Maybe Jesus Knows Sign’: Resistance Through Identity Formation.” Journal of Belonging, Identity, Language, and Diversity (J-BILD) 2 (1): 25-37.
Loh, Timothy Y. 2016. “Freedom Through Art: Cartoons in Gaza’s Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children.” Pardee Periodical Journal of Global Affairs 1: 69-87.
Loh, Timothy Y. 2016. “Digitizing Refugees: The Effect of Technology on Forced Displacement.” gnovis: A Journal of Communication, Culture & Technology 16 (2): 49-58.

Interview with Mara Green on Making Sense, CaMP Anthropology blog, February 2025
Gaza's Deaf Community in the Face of Genocide, SAPIENS Anthropology Magazine, September 2024
- Translated into Spanish, French, and Portuguese on SAPIENS, September 2024
- Translated into Chinese on 结绳志 Tying Knots, March 2025
Tim Loh takes the page 99 test, CaMP Anthropology blog, July 2024
For This Christian, Christmas Services This Year Left a Taste of Bitterness, Red Letter Christians, January 2024
Interview with Michele Friedner on Sensory Futures, CaMP Anthropology blog, March 2023
Emslie Horniman Award Dissertation Fieldwork Report, Royal Anthropological Institute, January 2023
(with Rachel Kolb) How Deaf and Hearing Friends Co-Navigate the World, SAPIENS Anthropology Magazine, August 2022
- Translated into Chinese on 结绳志 Tying Knots, September 2022
- Translated into Spanish on SAPIENS, March 2023
These stories are not just FYI, MENAR Fellowship Blog, October 2016
Digitizing Refugees, CCAS Newsmagazine Spring/Summer 2016
Blogposts for the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, November 2014 - October 2015

Speaking

Discussant, Visualizing Settler Colonialism: Films & Dialogue with Rehab Nazzal, Georgetown Faculty & Staff for Justice in Palestine, January 2025
Reader, AQA-MES Graduate Student Mentoring Workshop, November 2024 (recording available upon request)
Invited Presenter, "Not modern enough: lexical anxieties over Jordanian Sign Language" at STS Circle, Harvard Kennedy School, April 2024 (recording available upon request)
Presenter, "'Lacking' STEM vocabulary in Jordanian Sign Language (LIU) and the problem of infrastructure," Global Year of STEM Sign Language Summit, Gallaudet University, March 2024 (recording at link, in ASL with English interpretation)
Panelist, "Languages of Singapore: The Deaf World in Singapore," National Library Board, Singapore, September 2022 (recording at link, with SgSL interpretation)
Graduate Student Presenter, "Maintenance and the Social Life of Cochlear Implants," MIT List Visual Arts Center, June 2022 (recording, with closed captions)
Speaker, "التكنولوجيات المساعدة للأردنيين الصم" (Assistive Technologies for Deaf Jordanians, presented in Arabic), Arabic Circle, University of Chicago, May 2022
Presenter, "Mother Tongue Orphan: Sign Language and Multiculturalism in Singapore," AcademiaSG Singapore Studies Junior Scholars Seminar, April 2022 (recording at link, with closed captions and transcript)
Invited Presenter, Digital Forays in Middle Eastern Studies: Lightning Talks from Junior Scholars, NYU Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, April 2021 (cancelled due to graduate student strike)
Panelist for Well-being and Living Well: Ethnographic Approaches to Health and Disability in Contemporary Jordan, American Center of Research (ACOR) Jordan, March 2021
Panelist for COVID-19’s Impact on Displaced Communities, Singapore University of Social Sciences, June 2020

Teaching

Fall 2025

Instructor, ANT 261/HUM 262 Differences: The Anthropology of Disability, Princeton University (upcoming)

Summer 2025

Guest speaker for Jacob Bessen, ANT 100Y1Y Introduction to Anthropology, University of Toronto (upcoming)

Spring 2025

Guest speaker for Catherine Clune-Taylor, GSS 326/AMS 426 Disability and the Politics of Life, Princeton University
Guest speaker for İrem Az, ANTHRO 1713 Disability and the Body, Harvard University
Instructor, ANT 313/HUM 303 Language, Disability, and Science, Princeton University

Fall 2024

Guest lecturer for Noah Buchholz, LIN 215/AMS 214/GHP 315 American Deaf Culture, Princeton University (taught in American Sign Language)
Instructor, ANT 261/HUM 262 Differences: The Anthropology of Disability, Princeton University

Summer 2024

Guest speaker for Amahl Bishara, ANTH 0027 Human Rights and Justice in Cultural Context, Tufts University

More...

Spring 2024

Guest speaker for Claire Cooley, FMS 94-8/ARB 91-1 The Sonic Middle East, Tufts University
Guest speaker for Amy Moran-Thomas, 21A.311 The Social Lives of Medical Objects, MIT
Guest speaker for Beth Semel, ANT 352/LIN 352 How We Talk: Linguistic Anthropology Methods and Theories, Princeton University
Guest speaker for Ryann Craig and Yahya Hendi, THEO 2993 Faith at the Crossroads: Religious Encounter in Jordan, Georgetown University

Spring 2023

Guest speaker for Beth Semel, ANT 352/LIN 352 How We Talk: Linguistic Anthropology Methods and Theories, Princeton University
Teaching Assistant to Graham Jones and Manduhai Buyandelger, 21A.157 The Meaning of Life, MIT

Fall 2022

Workshop Facilitator (Qualitative Research Methods) for Norwegian Refugee Council, Jordan (reference on LinkedIn)
Guest speaker for Canay Özden-Schilling, SC 3211 Science, Technology & Society, National University of Singapore

Spring 2022

Guest speaker for Lan Li, HIST 353 Histories of Sensation, Rice University
Guest speaker for Beth Semel, 21A.151 Language, Communication, and Culture, MIT
Instructor, ANTH 310/MENA 310 "The Science of the Human": An Introduction to MENA Anthropology, jointly offered by Sijal Institute and Amideast Jordan (syllabus available upon request)

Fall 2021

Guest speaker for Canay Özden-Schilling, SC 3211 Science, Technology & Society, National University of Singapore

Summer 2021

Graduate Teaching Fellow, 24.133 Experiential Ethics, MIT

Spring 2021

Guest lecturer for Amahl Bishara, ANTH 0027 Human Rights and Justice in Cultural Context, Tufts University
Guest speaker for Anny Gaul, ARAB 499D Gender and Difference in the Arab World, University of Maryland College Park
Guest speaker for Steve Monroe, YSS 3231 Methods in the Social Sciences, Yale-NUS College
Guest lecturer for Beth Semel, 21A.151 Language, Communication, and Culture, MIT

Fall 2020

Teaching Assistant to Lauren Bonilla, 21A.00 Introduction to Anthropology, MIT

Spring 2020

Guest speaker for Lan Li, HIST 353 Histories of Sensation, Rice University
Guest lecturer for Beth Semel, 21A.151 Language, Communication, and Culture, MIT
Teaching Assistant to Amah Edoh, 21A.501J/STS.074J Art, Craft, Science, MIT

Fall 2019

Teaching Assistant to Franco Rossi, 21A.500J/STS.075J Technology and Culture, MIT

2017-18

Teaching Fellow, The Middle East in a Global Context, King's Academy (Jordan)

2015-16

Apprenticeship in Teaching (AT) Program, Georgetown University

Media

Through the SAPIENS Public Scholars Training Fellowship, I reported for SAPIENS Podcast S7 E4 "Moving Through Deaf Worlds," a story about deaf migration that features the journey of a deaf Jordanian friend who moved to Japan where he now lives with his wife. The episode is in spoken English and includes a transcript as well as an ASL summary on the episode webpage.

Thanks to Chris Walley and Chris Boebel's class, DV Lab: Documenting Science through Video and New Media, I have also dabbled in ethnographic film. A Different Medium was made in spring 2019, and focuses on hearing students of American Sign Language and how they negotiate their position as ethical learners of the language and their relationship and responsibilities to the Deaf community.

Features

Baldwin Circles bring University community together to explore James Baldwin’s lasting impact, Princeton University News, May 2025
Reading James Baldwin Through the Lens of Black Deaf and Disability Studies, Anthropology@Princeton News, May 2025
Timothy Loh awarded an Innovation and Collaboration grant, Princeton Society of Fellows News, April 2025
Council Awards 2025-26 Grants for Humanities Innovation and Collaboration, Princeton University Humanities Council News, April 2025
Frank-Vitale and Loh Awarded Humanities Magic Grants, Anthropology@Princeton News, March 2025
Director Showcases Intersection of War, Disability in Films, The Hoya, January 2025
Loh wins the 2024 Suad Joseph Student Paper Award, Anthropology@Princeton News, November 2024
Timothy Loh receives the David M. Schneider Award, Princeton Society of Fellows News and Anthropology@Princeton News, November 2024
AAA Announces 2024 Award Recipients, American Anthropological Association News, November 2024
Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts welcomes new scholars, Princeton University News, October 2024
Aaron Su (G6) and Timothy Loh (SoF) honored by paper prizes, Anthropology@Princeton News, October 2024
Timothy Loh receives David Hakken graduate student paper prize, Princeton Society of Fellows News, October 2024
Council Welcomes New Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Directors for AY24-25, Princeton Humanities Council News, September 2024
MIT Scholars Present at 2023 AHRC International Conference, MIT Career Advising & Professional Development, September 2023
Q&A: Steven Gonzalez on Indigenous futurist science fiction, MIT News, August 2023
NYUAD Graduate Student Research Workshop | Timothy Y. Loh (video, with closed captions), NYU Abu Dhabi Humanities Research Fellowships for the Study of the Arab World, June 2023
Timothy Loh, doctoral student in HASTS, awarded dissertation fellowship from the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation, MIT SHASS News, May 2023
"I first fell in love with Arabic, then became a choir singer" (video, in spoken Arabic with English subtitles), Sijal Institute for Arabic Language and Culture, May 2023
Toward a more accessible, inclusive Georgetown, Georgetown Today, April 2023
The Chancellor's Innovation Fund: Learning to become a Medical Interpreter, MindHandHeart blog, April 2023
‘People think that a deaf household is quiet, but it’s not’: Foxborough native uses TikTok to share his experiences as a CODA, Boston Globe, June 2022
8th Annual International Conference on Social Sciences: Integrating Social Science and Healthcare in Africa and the Middle East, Al Akhawayn News, May 2022
2022 Graduate Student Research Workshop (video, with closed captions), NYU Abu Dhabi Humanities Research Fellowships for the Study of the Arab World, April 2022
Wellbeing and Living Well: Ethnographic Approaches to Health and Disability, ACOR Jordan Insights, June 2021
Graduate Fellow Timothy Loh awarded fieldwork grants, Language and Technology Lab News, June 2021
MAAS on the Move, CCAS Newsmagazine, Spring/Summer 2021
Moving Our Events and Community Online, CCAS Newsmagazine, Spring 2020
Profile: Meet Timothy Loh, doctoral student in MIT HASTS, MIT SHASS News, November 2019
- Republished as Uncovering the role of technology and medicine in deaf and signing worlds, MIT News, December 2019
Q&A with Timothy Loh (MAAS ’16), CCAS Alumni Spotlight, conducted July 2018, published November 2019
Sign Language Co-Curricular: King’s Academy Students Open Their Ears to the Deaf, The Rexonian, February 2018
#TogetherForHope Campaign (video, with closed captions), Lush Singapore, June 2017
Timothy Loh Explores Research on Deaf Education in Middle East, SFS News, April 2017
MAAS Student Timothy Loh Named Davis Fellow for Peace, CCAS News, April 2016

Curriculum Vitae

Loh Academic CV

Contact and Resources

You can reach me via email at timloh at princeton dot edu or contact at timothyyloh dot com. You can also use the form below.

Want to learn more about getting a PhD in anthropology (especially at HASTS)? I gave a talk about applying to graduate school (in spoken English, with captions) in 2021, which includes a few tips and suggestions as well as some of my own personal journey—which I also discuss at length here. In addition, I recommend reading the following to learn more about graduate school:

If you're interested specifically in HASTS, please know that the department holds a Prospective Student Visit Day every year, typically in October. I offer some tips for writing the Statement of Objectives in this short clip (in spoken English, with captions) from the 2023 Visit Day, and check out this blogpost (Dec 2021) from stellar alum Crystal Lee as well. If you have questions that are not answered in these resources, please feel free to reach out, especially if you are BIPOC, international, first-gen, or from an otherwise disadvantaged minority group.

If you're interested in the Princeton Society of Fellows, please note that what I can tell you about the selection process is extremely limited, as current fellows are not involved. I am not sharing my own application materials at this time, nor am I available to review any materials. I wrote my materials following Karen Kelsky's The Professor Is In (which one should read, albeit with at least a tablespoon of salt) and got feedback on them from friends and colleagues, and I also found Matthew Wolf-Meyer's advice on cover letters useful. If you would still like to reach out, please only contact me with specific questions about the fellowship, rather than questions about general fit, for example.

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