Sarah K Lischer

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I am a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford Centre for Life Writing , while maintaining my permanent appointment as an associate professor in the Department of Politics and International Affairs at Wake Forest University in North Carolina . I earned my undergraduate degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, a Master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and my PhD in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard Belfer Center.

I published my first book, Dangerous Sanctuaries: Refugee Camps, Civil War, and the Dilemmas of Humanitarian Aid with the Security Studies Series at Cornell University Press (2005). In the past fifteen years, I’ve published a variety of articles ranging from op-eds to academic journals to first-person narratives based on my field research in traumatized societies.

Examples of my narrative writing include:
• “Hypotheses on Agony: Field Research in a Genocidal Context.” PS: Political Science and Politics, 54 (2) Apr. 2021: 276-280. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1049096520001778
• “Narrating Atrocity: Genocide Memorials, Dark Tourism, and the Politics of Memory.” Review of International Studies 45, no. 5 (Dec. 2019): 805-827. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210519000226
• “Congo Stories: The Search for an Inclusive Narrative of Violence and Displacement.” The Cairo Review of Global Affairs (Spring 2013): 87-95.
• “Letter from Srebrenica: The Scars of Genocide.” The American Scholar (Autumn 2012).
• “A Tale Told in Srebrenica.” Op-ed in Los Angeles Times, July 11, 2012.
• “Letter from Rwanda: Our Big Mistake.” The American Scholar (Winter 2010).

I am an accomplished and experienced public speaker, having presented my research and writing in dozens of venues around the world, including: the United Nations, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the U.S. Department of State, the Peace Research Institute Oslo, Harvard University, University of Oxford, University of Chicago, Yale University, Princeton University, Peking University, University College London, and University of Geneva, as well as many community and advocacy groups.

My research has been funded by the Harvard University Belfer Center, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the Berghof Foundation, the Academic Council on the UN System, the Research Council of Norway, and the Institute for the Study of World Politics.

Experience

  • –present
    Visiting Scholar, University of Oxford Centre for Life Writing and Associate Professor, Wake Forest University Dept of Politics and International Affairs, Wake Forest University

Education

  • 2003 
    MIT, PhD Political Science
  • 1997 
    Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, MPP
  • 1992 
    Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, BSFS

Publications

  • 2021
    “Hypotheses on Agony: Field Research in a Genocidal Context.” PS: Political Science and Politics, 54 (2) April 2021: 276-280. Link to article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1049096520001778 ,
  • 2019
    “Narrating Atrocity: Genocide Memorials, Dark Tourism, and the Politics of Memory.” Review of International Studies 45, no. 5 (Dec. 2019): 805-827. Link at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210519000226,
  • 2017
    “The Global Refugee Crisis: Regional Destabilization and Humanitarian Protection.” Daedalus 146, no. 4 (Fall 2017):85-97.,
  • 2014
    “Conflict and Crisis-Induced Displacement.” In The Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, edited by Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Gil Loescher, Katy Long, and Nando Sigona, 317-329. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. ,
  • 2013
    “Congo Stories: The Search for an Inclusive Narrative of Violence and Displacement.” The Cairo Review of Global Affairs (Spring 2013): 87-95.,
  • 2013
    With Kristian Berg Harpviken. “Refugee Militancy in Exile and upon Return in Afghanistan and Rwanda.” In Transnational Mechanisms of Civil War, edited by Jeff Checkel, 89-119. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.,
  • 2011
    “Civil War, Genocide, and Political Order in Rwanda: Security Implications of Refugee Return.” Conflict, Security & Development 11, no. 3 (July 2011): 261-284.,
  • 2011
    “Letter from Srebrenica: The Scars of Genocide.” The American Scholar (Autumn 2012): 6-9.,
  • 2010
    “Letter from Rwanda: Our Big Mistake.” The American Scholar (Winter 2010): 8-12.,
  • 2010
    “War, Displacement, and the Recruitment of Child Soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.” In Child Soldiers in the Age of Fractured States, edited by Scott Gates and Simon Reich, 143-159. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2010.,
  • 2008
    “Security and Displacement in Iraq: Responding to the Forced Migration Crisis.” International Security 33, no. 2 (Fall 2008): 95-119.,
  • 2007
    “Causes and Consequences of Conflict-Induced Displacement.” Civil Wars 9, no. 2 (June 2007): 142-155. ,
  • 2007
    “Military Intervention and the Humanitarian ‘Force Multiplier.’” Global Governance 13, no. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 2007): 99-118. ,
  • 2005
    Dangerous Sanctuaries: Refugee Camps, Civil War, and the Dilemmas of Humanitarian Aid. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005.,
  • 2003
    “Collateral Damage: Humanitarian Assistance as a Cause of Conflict.” International Security 28, no. 1 (Summer 2003): 79-109. ,

Contact Sarah for

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  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision
  • Location: Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S.
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