Sarah E. Wagner

Sarah E. Wagner is a Professor of Anthropology at George Washington University, specializing in the anthropology of war, memory, and forensic science. Her research focuses on loss and remembrance in contexts of prolonged conflict, including studies of missing persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the U.S. military’s MIA recovery efforts, and the social impacts of the Vietnam War. She also investigates contemporary issues like COVID-19 death memorialization.

Wagner holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Harvard University (2006), an M.A.L.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (2002), and a B.A. from Dartmouth College (1994). She teaches courses such as 'Anthropology of Science and Technology' and 'War and Memory.'

Her research projects include a comparative study of war dead recovery (funded by the NSF), co-editing the Cambridge Handbook of the Anthropology of Death, and digital archival work on pandemic memorials like In America: Remember. She has received prestigious awards including the Guggenheim Fellowship (2017) and the Victor Turner Prize (2020).

Wagner collaborates with institutions like NIOD/University of Amsterdam and leads a team of GW students on NSF-funded projects. Her work bridges forensic science, memory politics, and post-conflict repair, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches to unresolved loss and societal healing.