Sara Carpenter

Sara Carpenter is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Alberta, Faculty of Education. Her work focuses on critical education theory, Marxist feminist analysis, and institutional ethnography. She holds a PhD from the University of Toronto (2011) and an MA from the University of Minnesota (2005).

Her research explores the intersections of capitalism, migration, and education, with key projects including analyses of youth precarity, not-for-profit sector dynamics, and anti-racist pedagogical frameworks. Current research initiatives include SSHRC-funded projects on postsecondary access for adult learners and migration-related educational challenges.

Teaching specialties include critical pedagogy, qualitative research methodologies, and sociological perspectives on education. She supervises graduate students engaged in critical theoretical orientations such as feminist institutional analysis and migration justice work.

Her publications include seminal works like Marxism and Migration (2022), Youth as/in Crisis (2017), and Educating from Marx (2011), which establish her as a leading voice in critical Marxist feminist scholarship in education.