S.E. Freeman

S.E. Freeman is a Research Fellow at Wesleyan University's Center for the Humanities (Fall 2024) and a PhD Candidate (ABD) in Geography at UC Berkeley with a Designated Emphasis in Science and Technology Studies. Their research explores categorization practices in humanitarian contexts, particularly how displacement is quantified through biometrics and geospatial technologies in South Sudan. This work interrogates the epistemological hierarchies shaping humanitarian interventions in an era of digital mobility.

Education includes an M.A. in Anthropology from The New School for Social Research and a B.A. in Sociology and International Studies from Northwestern University. Freeman has held extensive fellowships, including the 2024 Charlotte W. Newcombe Fellowship and 2022 Social Science Research Council International Dissertation Research Fellowship.

Research interests span political economies, racial geographies, and critical environments, with a focus on quantification, surveillance, and colonial legacies. Their work integrates queer and feminist STS frameworks to critique humanitarian data practices.

Teaching experience includes roles as a Graduate Student Instructor in Geography courses at UC Berkeley (2020). Awards also include the 2021 Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award and multiple pre-dissertation fellowships from UC Berkeley's Center for African Studies.

Awards highlight recognition for interdisciplinary scholarship, including the 2021 Wenner-Gren Dissertation Grant and 2018 Regents Fellowship. Their research bridges critical geography, science studies, and postcolonial theory to examine how technologies of measurement shape lives deemed 'worthy of saving' in global humanitarianism.