Sarah Benharrech

Sarah Benharrech is an Associate Professor in the Department of French & Italian at the University of Maryland, College Park, and an affiliate of the Classics department. She holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University. Her research focuses on Enlightenment Studies, Gender Studies, Plant Studies, and Ecocriticism, with particular attention to intersections between literature and science. She is the author of Marivaux et la science du caractère (2013) and co-editor of critical editions including Tiphaigne de La Roche’s Questions sur l’agriculture (2019). Her work uncovers marginalized figures such as botanist Mme Dugage de Pommereul and pioneers studies on women in 18th- and 19th-century science. She has held leadership roles in the Society for Eighteenth-Century French Studies (SECSFS) and is a Chesapeake Project Faculty Fellow. Recent publications explore vegetal agency in Enlightenment treatises, women’s contributions to botanical sciences, and the cultural history of trees.

Her research highlights gendered exclusion in scientific archives and examines how botanical knowledge was culturally mediated in early modern cosmologies. Current projects include The Dreams of Plants, analyzing 18th-century French fiction’s engagement with plant knowledge. She has collaborated on translations of underrepresented botanical texts like Clémence Lortet’s Promenades Botaniques and Malesherbes’ early Linnaean manuscripts. Her work bridges literary analysis with environmental humanities, interrogating anthropocentric views of nature in Enlightenment thought.

Recent articles (2024) address sap agency debates in gardening treatises, Martin Buber’s arboreal philosophy, and women’s engagement with cryptogams. She actively participates in conferences organizing panels on agricultural knowledge, herbaria, and non-human agency in the long 18th century. Her interdisciplinary approach spans history of science, gender studies, and environmental criticism, fostering dialogue between literary analysis and scientific discourse.