Dr. Tanya Luhrmann has been selected to receive AAA’s Anthropology in Media Award (AIME) for 2021. This honor is reserved for persons who have “raised public awareness of anthropology and have had a broad and sustained public impact at local, national, and international level.”
From the early stages of her career, Dr. Luhrmann has written for public audiences as well as academic ones. Using mixed methods, her work sheds light on the “phenomenology of the unreal, or at least differently real,” which is integral to understanding spirituality, psychosis, and humanity at its core. As one of the most sought-after experts in her field, Dr. Luhrmann has enhanced the visibility of anthropology in the media through her columns for the New York Times. She has also written articles and OpEds for Huffington Post, CNN, Psychology Today, Harper’s, American Scholar, and other venues. Her body of work has successfully communicated the importance of anthropology to the larger public and brought much-needed visibility to the field.