Logan Nonfiction Alum Reuben Jonathan Miller Awarded MacArthur Fellowship
Reuben Jonathan Miller, Logan class of 2020, has been awarded a 2022 MacArthur Fellowship.
Reuben, a renowned sociologist who studies mass incarceration and how it shapes people’s lives, is an associate professor at the Crown Family School, University of Chicago, and holds affiliate positions in the University of Chicago’s Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity, Department of Sociology, and Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture. He is also a research professor at the American Bar Foundation. His research examines life at the intersections of race, poverty, crime control and social welfare policy.
Articles by Reuben have appeared in such publications as “Theoretical Criminology, Punishment & Society” and “Social Service Review,” among other publications. During his Logan Nonfiction fellowship, Reuben worked on his book, “Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration,” an in-depth examination of the American justice system and the long-term effects of incarceration on formerly imprisoned citizens. “Halfway Home” was a 2022 finalist for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Literary Award for Nonfiction.
Reuben’s next project will investigate the “moral worlds” of people who society deems violent. He is currently conducting hundreds of interviews with individuals convicted of violent crimes or identified as at risk of violent behavior. Reuben is modeling a way to write about his subjects that refuses to reduce them to their hardships, and he is illuminating how the American carceral system reshapes individuals’ lives and relationships long after their time has been served.
Awarded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the prestigious fellowship recognizes individuals from across disciplines who “show exceptional creativity in their work.” As one of this year’s 25 MacArthur fellows, Reuben will receive a no-strings-attached grant of $800,000 over five years to support creative pursuits.