Anthropologist Deborah Thomas Awarded 2020 Gender Equity Award

Deborah Thomas, R. Jean Brownlee Term Professor, has been named the recipient of the 2020 Gender Equity Award from the American Anthropological Association. In addition to honoring scholars who work against discrimination against women in anthropology, this award celebrates feminist scholars working to raise awareness of discrimination in anthropology on the grounds of gender presentation of any kind.

Thomas, an educator, author, filmmaker, and artist, also holds appointments in the Department of Africana Studies, the Graduate School of Education, and the School of Social Policy and Practice. She is a core faculty member of the Alice Paul Center for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Her research interests include transnationalism and diaspora, race and gender, performance and popular culture, culture and political economy, and more.

Founded in 1902, the American Anthropological Association is the world’s largest scholarly and professional organization of anthropologists. The Association is dedicated to advancing human understanding and applying this understanding to the world’s most pressing problems.

Learn more about Thomas' career in our OMNIA print and multimedia features.