Sarah Fouts

Sarah Fouts is an Associate Professor in the Department of American Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), where she also serves as co-director of the Public Humanities program and affiliate professor in the Language, Literacy, and Culture doctoral program. Currently on sabbatical until January 2026, Fouts has established herself as a leading scholar at the intersection of food, migration, and labor studies through her ethnographic work in New Orleans and Honduras.

Fouts holds a PhD in Latin American Studies from Tulane University, an MS in Urban Studies from the University of New Orleans, and a BA in History and Spanish from Centre College. Her academic journey reflects her deep engagement with the communities she studies, particularly in the Gulf South region.

Fouts's research focuses on food studies, labor studies, New Orleans, Honduras, ethnography, disasters, and community engagement. Her work examines how immigrant communities navigate criminalization and labor exploitation while building multiracial solidarities and grassroots movements that shape urban politics and culture. She employs transnational, historical, and ethnographic approaches to understand how people are fed during crises and how food becomes a vehicle for cultural preservation and resistance.

Her publications reveal a consistent focus on immigrant labor, food sovereignty, and community organizing. Fouts's work shows a progression from examining specific food vendors and labor conditions to broader analyses of transnational connections between New Orleans and Honduras, with increasing emphasis on ethical research practices and collaborative knowledge production with community partners.

• Whiting Public Engagement Fellow (2022-2024) for "Project Neutral Grounds: At the Intersection of People, Food, and the Hustle"
• Principal Investigator for ACLS Sustaining Public Engagement funded project "Baltimore Field School 2.0: Undoing and Doing Anew in Public Humanities" (2022-2023)
• Recipient of A Studio in the Woods Artist Residency (2025-2026)
• Honorable Mention Award for Public Humanities Leadership in Practice and Community (2024)
• Gulf South Research Fellowship awardee (2021)

Fouts has secured significant grant funding for collaborative public humanities projects, particularly the Baltimore Field School which creates infrastructure for ethical university-community partnerships. She has directed multiple film projects including documentary shorts for the American Folklife Center's Homegrown Foodways Series. Her work with community organizations like Mera Kitchen Collective, the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice, and the Southern Food and Beverage Museum demonstrates her commitment to collaborative, community-driven research that challenges traditional university-community power dynamics.

Fouts leads the Orser Center for Public Humanities and has developed numerous collaborative projects that bridge academic research with community needs, including the "Sabor de Highlandtown" storytelling project, the "Five-Minute History: Baltimore Album Quilts" initiative, and the "New Orleans Black Workers Organize" labor history timeline.