WILLIAM THOMSON
Curriculum Vitae
(Fall 2020)
Education
New York University
2015 Ph.D. Socio-Cultural Anthropology
2010 M.Phil. Socio-Cultural Anthropology
2008 M.A. Socio-Cultural Anthropology
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
1999 B.A. Asian Languages and Literature, cum laude
1999 B.A. Journalism, cum laude
Academic Appointments
Newcastle University, UK
2021 – (Current) Research Associate, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2020 – 2021 Research Affiliate, Department of Anthropology
Atonal Studio LLC
2019-20 Design Research Director and Principal
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2017 -19 Lecturer in Architecture, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning
2017 -19 Research Fellow, Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies
2017 -18 Lecturer in Anthropology, College of Literature, the Arts and Science
2016 -17 Postdoctoral Fellow, Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies
Grants
Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan
2018 -19 Equity Innovation Grant (PI) – “Architecture Collaborative in Chinese Theory”
Social Science Research Council
2011-12 Dissertation Research Fellowship (IDRF)
National Science Foundation
2010-11 Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDIG),
Wenner-Gren Foundation
2010-11 Doctoral Dissertation Fieldwork Grant
Papers and Publications
Journal Articles and Essays
2017 Thomson, William, “Masculinity at Its Margins: Migrant Construction Work in China” WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly 45: 3 & 4 (Fall/Winter 2017), Precarious Work Issue, 306-320
(In Press).
2014 Thomson, William, “Mr. December,” CLOG Architecture Quarterly, Volume “Rem,” 81-82
2010 Thomson, William, “A Conversation with Director James Cameron” (Interview), Anthropology Now, Vol. 2, No. 3: 61-64
2009 Thomson, William, “Human Terrain: Hearts and Minds, Bullets and Bodies,” (Graphic Essay), Anthropology Now, Vol. 1, No. 1: 54-55
Workshop, Invited Talks, and Conference Paper Presentations
2017 “Scrapbooking: Praxis and Poetics,” Making Sensory Ethnography (MSE), Anthropology Department, University of Michigan
2017 “Anthropological Methods: Fieldwork Research Introduction,” Opening Lecture in the International Joint Workshop: “China Urbanization Research: Urban Re-Patching,”
University of Miami / Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture
2016 “Working Drawings: The Changing Face of Chinese Urban Labor,” Conference Paper,
Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association
2016 “Building on Dreams: Chinese Construction Workers, Rural-Urban Development, and the Making of Masculinity,” Noon Lecture Series, Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2016 “China Builds: Technological Mediations, Design and Labor, and Emerging Chinese Architecture,” Technology in Modern East Asia Workshop, Needham Research Institute, Cambridge, UK
2016 “Migrant Zones – Economic Growth, Urbanization, and Spaces of Identity in China,”
Invited Presentation, Rural‐Urban Dynamics and Emergent Forms of Labor in India and China Workshop, CeMEAS Centre for Modern East Asian Studies, University of Göttingen, Germany
2016 Spatial Politics of Work Group. Invited Workshop, The India China Institute at the New School for Social Research, New York
2014 “Modou: Enchanted Objects of Architecture,” Invited Workshop Presentation, New Horizons in the History of Modern East Asian Science and Technology Workshop, Harvard University, Department of the History of Science
2014 “Transformational Zones: Continuities and Discontinuities in Chinese Economic Zones” Invited Workshop Presentation, Zonal Logics of Modernity Workshop, The New School and New York University
2013 “Spaces for Building Workers: On the Boundary of the Labor Process and Commodity Architecture in Urban China,” Conference Paper, Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association
2011 “Sacrifice to Build the Future: Personal and National Contributions in Construction”
Invited Workshop Presentation, Urban Ambitions Summer Institute, Shanghai, The Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity and Shanghai University
2011 “China’s Construction Middlemen: Mediating Global Capital and Rural Labor to Make New Urban Space,” Conference Paper, Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association
2010 “Rewriting the City: Private Space Through Words of the State,” Conference Paper, Panel: The Privatization of Public Space, American Association of Geographers
2010 “Building Rural-Urban Difference,” Presentation Paper, The Agrarian Question and Modernization Workshop, NYU East Asian Studies Departmental Conference
2009 “Designing China: Seminar in Experimental Critical Theory,” Invited Participant, UC Humanities Research Institute and Parsons School of Design, Shanghai, China
Awards
2006-12 MacCracken Doctoral Fellowship,
New York University, Graduate School of Arts and Science
2011 Critical Languages Scholarship Alumni Development Award,
U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
2008 Critical Languages Scholarship, Advanced Mandarin,
U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
2008 Sustainability Taskforce Green Grant for Individual Initiatives,
New York University
2000 Phi Beta Kappa,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
1999 Kappa Tau Alpha – Journalism Honors,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
1999 Commonwealth Honors,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
1996 Stonewall LGBT Community Service Award,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Editorial Positions
2007-10 Online Editor and Editorial Assistant
Anthropology Now, Paradigm Press
2006-07 Technical and Editorial Assistant, Material World Blog
New York University and University College London
Service and Administration
2017-18 Chinese Studies Interdisciplinary Workshop – Faculty Convener. Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2017 Invited Speaker, World History and Literature Initiative, “Resistance.” Title VI Educational Program for Teachers. Talk title: “Building Resistance – Chinese Construction and Forms of Protest,”
University of Michigan
2017 Invited Speaker, UPR-UM Symposium, San Juan, PR. Title VI Educational Program for Teachers. Talk title: “Peripheral Citizens – Domestic Migration in China and the US.”
University of Puerto Rico
2013 Global Idea Exchange Fellow, NYU Global Programs,
New York University-Shanghai
2013 Member of the Sustainability Taskforce, Social/Cultural Working Group,
New York University
2008 Graduate Teaching Certificate,
NYU Center for Teaching Excellence
2004 Organizer and Co-Leader, International Journalist Training Program,
Dubrovnik Training Institute Workshop, WBUR Public Radio / U.S. Department of State
Courses Taught
2017 Encountering China in Architecture, as Site, Theory and Method (Arch 509)
Taubman School of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2017 Honors Thesis Research Seminar and Writing Workshop (Anthrcul 497)
Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2017 Design and Power (Anthrcul 458, Arch 509)
Department of Anthropology, and Department of Architecture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2015 Human Society and Culture,
Undergraduate introductory class,
Department of Anthropology, New York University
2012 Design and Anthropological Ethnography,
Graduate seminar, bilingual instruction, Co-Instructor, Elective Seminar, with Prof. Zhao Pei, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology
2011 Introduction to Euro-American Anthropological Theory,
Elective Graduate Seminar, Fall Semester, Shaanxi Normal University, Northwest Ethnology Center, Xian, China
Professional Employment
Journalism and Media
2000-05 Online News Producer and Editor,
WBUR 90.9 Public Radio, Boston, Massachusetts
1999-00 Senior Multimedia Producer,
Digital Lava Video, Marina del Rey, California
Digital Media Projects
Vote by Issue, Civic Journalism Online Elections Platform (lead),
– Licensing: PBS The News Hour, 2004; WBUR Public Radio, Boston-2004, 2006, 2008; KQED Public Radio, San Francisco-2004; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 2005; Yahoo!-UK-2005
– #US 20040167882 A1, Patent Application, Thomson, William B; Smith, William, “System and method for determining a user preference for a candidate,” Boston University
– Honorable mention, Batten Award for Innovation in Journalism, Poynter Institute, Cyberjournalist, and J-Lab. (2004)
CookingFire, Food Culture Blog, Mention: About.com “Ten Best Food Blogs” (2005)
Legal Translator, WBUR, Legal Text Digital Reading Platform (2003)