معرفی
Sara B. Franklin is a part-time faculty member at New York University's Gallatin School for Individualized Study, teaching courses on food, oral history, embodied culture, and non-fiction writing. Her interdisciplinary work bridges academic scholarship with practical food systems engagement.
Her educational background includes a B.A. in Community Health from Tufts University (2008) and a Ph.D. in Food Studies from New York University (2016).
Dr. Franklin's research examines food and agriculture through lenses of memory, oral history, narrative studies, and embodied knowledge, exploring connections to gender performance, care work, and cultural identity. She employs diverse storytelling methodologies including biography, memoir, and autoethnography to contextualize food within historical and contemporary frameworks.
Her publications reveal a trajectory from culinary history to cultural biography, with recent works analyzing publishing's role in shaping American food culture. The national bestseller The Editor exemplifies her focus on narrative power in food media, while her edited anthology on Edna Lewis highlights African American culinary heritage.
Her notable recognitions include:
- National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholars Grant (2020)
- James Beard Award finalist status for The Phoenicia Diner Cookbook (2020)
- The Editor named Best Book of 2024 by The Economist and Shelf Awareness
- The Editor awarded Best Food History Book by KCRW/Omnivore Books (2024)
Supported by significant grants including the NEH Public Scholars award, her writing appears in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Nation. While mentoring students through courses like Oral History Theory & Method, she integrates field experience from farming and global food activism into her pedagogy.
With hands-on experience in Massachusetts and New York farms plus collaborations with agricultural activists in South Africa and Brazil, Dr. Franklin connects academic work to real-world food systems through projects like the American Museum of Natural History's Our Global Kitchens exhibition.
