J. Lorand Matory is an American academic and Lawrence Richardson Professor of Cultural Anthropology and African and African American Studies at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

. Matory grew up in Washington, D.C. and attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from

the University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the be ...

in 1991, and currently he is Chair of the African and African American Studies department at

. He is the author of ''Sex and the Empire That Is No More: Gender and the Politics of Metaphor in Oyo Yoruba Religion'' (Minneapolis,

University of Minnesota Press The University of Minnesota Press is a university press that is part of the University of Minnesota. It had annual revenues of just over $8 million in fiscal year 2018. Founded in 1925, the University of Minnesota Press is best known for its book ...

1994; Second, Revised Edition, New York and London: Berghahn Books, 2005); and ''Black Atlantic Religion: Tradition, Transnationalism and Matriarchy in the Afro-Brazilian Candomblé'' (Princeton; Princeton University Press, 2005). Matory supports

disinvestment from Israel Disinvestment from Israel is a campaign conducted by religious and political entities which aims to use disinvestment to pressure the government of Israel to put "an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories captured during the 1967 ...

and criticized the President of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Larry Summers Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist who served as the 71st United States secretary of the treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010. He also served as pres ...

who called efforts by Matory and others to divest from Israel "

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

in effect, if not intent." According to Matory, "the knee jerk accusation that targeted criticism of Israel singles out Israel is as absurd as stating that the anti-apartheid movement was singling out South Africa."Summers Says British Boycott of Israeli Academics Is Intentionally 'Anti-Semitic'
/ref> In the summer of 2005 Matory was one of the leaders of a group calling for a faculty

vote of no-confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

in University President

. Although Matory had tenure at Harvard, he complained about issues regarding his compensation and diversity at the faculty, and when he received the offer to come to Duke in 2008, Harvard made no effort to provide a counter-proposal before he accepted it and left in the fall to take up his new position.

References

Harvard College alumni University of Chicago alumni Living people Duke University faculty Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-academic-bio-stub