Dr. Sarah Fessenden
BA (Biola), MA (CSULB), PhD (UBC)
Sarah Fessenden is a sociocultural anthropologist whose current research looks at the social and cultural construction of hunger in Canada and whose theoretical research has focused primarily on radical social movement organizing. Sarah graduated with her PhD Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of British Columbia and her MA Cultural Anthropology from California State University, Long Beach where she worked with activists in some of the most economically depressed neighbourhoods in the U.S., Spain, and Canada. A UBC Public Scholar, Sarah has written and published on counterculture, refusal, radical organizing and activism, urban space, and food-waste.
Inspired by her research, Sarah has taught courses ranging from Eating Culture to Protest and Power. Drawing on years of experience as a teacher and counselor, Sarah challenges students to learn and grow personally and professionally while inspiring them with enthusiasm, engaging stories, and invitations to experientially participate in anthropological inquiry. She currently serves as the Coordinator for KPU's NGO and Nonprofit Studies Certificate Program, www.kpu.ca/arts/ngo, collaborating with community partners and engaging students in service learning.
Courses taught
- ANTH 1100: Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology
- ANTH 2162: Eating Culture: Anthropology of Food
- ANTH 2190: NGOs in Context
- ANTH 3100: History of Anthropological Thought
- ANTH 3190: NGOs in Practice
- ANTH 4101: Contemporary Readings in Anthropology: Protest and Power
- ANTH 4501: Selected Problems in Anthropology: Humanitarianism
- ANTH 4501: Selected Problems in Anthropology: Hunger
- ARTS 1101: Social Change
Areas of Interest
- Hunger, food(-waste), urban ethnography, autonomous social movements, political-economy of ‘charity,’ radical politics, informal economies, politics of public space, public and applied anthropology
- Canada, Spain, United States
Scholarly Work
- 2022. “A sidewalk soup kitchen: Punk anarchism, ephemerality, and authentic space-making in Vancouver.” In Emergent Spaces: Change and Innovation in Small Urban Spaces. Petra Kuppinger, ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- 2021. Book review: The Slow Boil: Street food, rights, and public space in Mumbai. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2016. Anjaria, Jonathan Shapiro. City and Society.
- 2020. “Drawing the contours of ethnography: Ethnographic refusal and anarchistic consent in fieldwork and writing.” Collaborative Anthropologies 11(2): 92-109.
- 2018. “How Sugar Taxes Punish the Poor.” Macleans, April 11.
- 2017. “We just wanna warm some bellies”: Food Not Bombs, anarchism, and recycling wasted food for protest. PhD Dissertation. Department of Anthropology, University of British Columbia.
- 2015. The Voice of the Voiceless: Limitations of ‘Empowerment’ and the Potential for Engaged, Insider Research Methodologies with Anarcho-Punk Youth. In Youth ‘At the Margins’: Critical Perspectives and Experiences of Engaging Youth in Research Worldwide. Edited by Sheri Bastien and Halla B. Holmarsdottir, 103-121. Rotterdam, Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
- 2012. “Militant Ethnography” and Its Complications among Anarchists. Telling Stories: Analysis, Interpretation, and Narrative. Proceedings of the Southwest Anthropological Association, Volume 6. Edited by Barbra Erickson. Fullerton: California State University Fullerton.