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Héctor Beltrán

 Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Biography

Héctor Beltrán is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at MIT. He is a sociocultural anthropologist who draws upon his background in computer science to understand how the technical aspects of computing intersect with issues of identity, race, ethnicity, class, and nation.

Scholarly beginnings

A research idea

Envisioning possible futures in the field of communication and media studies

Learn more about Prof. Beltrán’s journey

Selected readings

2020 “Code Work: Thinking with the System in México.” American Anthropologist 122(3): pp. 487-500.

2020 “The First Latina Hackathon: Re-coding Infrastructures from México.» Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, and Technoscience 6(2).

•  2021 “Cybraceros: The Promise and Perils of Border Hacking.” Hack_Curio, September 7. https://hackcur.io/cybraceros-the-promise-and-perils-of-border-hacking/

2019 Interview with Data and Society Research Institute for #unsettle: Strategies for Decolonizing Tech Research post, December 9, 2019. https://points.datasociety.net/unsettle-border-thinking-4d0fad788060

Watch Prof. Beltrán present on “Making Latinx Makers” at the Center for Latinx Digital Media

Listen to Prof. Beltrán’s insights about his professional journey in El Café Latinx podcast