PhD Candidate Sociocultural Anthropology

Matriculated September 2021

Research Interests

East Africa, transnational evangelical Christianity, political culture, popular culture, neoliberalism, urban youth

About

Sarah is broadly interested in political anthropology and the anthropology of religion. Her work examines the political effects of transnational evangelical Christianity in Uganda, focusing on how urban youth translate, mediate, and localize discourses that emanate from the transnational evangelical movement, and how their involvement in evangelical Pentecostalism shapes their political subjectivities (and vice versa). Her research asks: what does it mean for young people to be listening to the same sermons, praying in the same ways, yet reaching entirely different conclusions about how politics and religion should articulate with each other?   

Prior to starting her PhD at Boston University, Sarah worked as the Knowledge Management Specialist for Pathfinder International, where she managed institutional knowledge repositories and provided research for global sexual and reproductive health projects. Sarah holds an M.A. in Anthropology from Brandeis University and an M.A. in International Educational Development with a concentration in African Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She also has a B.A. with High Honors in Africana Studies from Oberlin College.

Awards & Grants

  • Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Summer Fellowship in Luganda. (2023).
  • Short-Term Graduate Research Abroad Fellowship (GRAF). (2023).
  • Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Summer Fellowship in Kiswahili. (2022).
  • Dean’s Fellowship, Boston University. (Fall 2021, Spring 2022).
  • Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Merit Scholarship, Brandeis University. (2020).

Publications

  • Lewinger, Sarah. “Educating Ideal Neoliberal Citizens: Discourses of Agency and Responsibility in Comprehensive Sexuality Education.” Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters 31, no. 1 (2023): http://doi.org/10.1080/26410397.2023.2267203.
  • Namatende-Sakwa, Lydia, Sarah Lewinger, and Catherine Langsford. (2023). “COVID-19 and Education in Africa: Challenges, Possibilities, and Opportunities,” Abington and New York: Routledge (Perspectives on Education in Africa Book Series).
  • Fasehun, Luther-King, Sarah Lewinger, Oyinlola Fasehun, & Mohamad Brooks. “Barriers and Facilitators to Acceptability of the Female Condom in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review.” Annals of Global Health 88, no. 1 (2022). http://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.3612 .
  • Russell, S. Garnett, Lydia Namatende-Sakwa, & Sarah Lewinger. “Gender Representation in East African History Textbooks: The Cases of Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda.” Feminist Formations 33, no. 2 (2021): 233–261. 10.1353/ff.2021.0033.
  • Erhardt-Ohren, Blake, & Sarah Lewinger. “Refugee and Internally Displaced Women’s Abortion Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices: Addressing the Lack of Research in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.” International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 46, no. Supplement 1 (2020): 77–81. 10.1363/46e1120. 
  • Lewinger, Sarah, & S. Garnett Russell. “Embodied Experiences of Abstinence-Only Education: A Case Study of Women in Uganda.” Gender and Education 33, no. 7 (2019): 898–913. 10.1080/09540253.2019.1632421.

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