Staff

Saarah Jappie

Senior Program Officer

About

Saarah Jappie is Senior Program Officer for the Mellon Mays Graduate Initiative Program (MMGIP) and the Transregional Collaboratory on the Indian Ocean. Trained formally in history, her research interests lie in interdisciplinary approaches to histories of the Indian Ocean world with a focus on cultural mobilities across Southeast Asia and Southern Africa. Saarah has studied and worked in Australia, South Africa, the United States, Indonesia, and Jordan. She holds an MA and PhD in history from Princeton University, an MA in historical studies from the University of Cape Town, and a Bachelor of International Studies (Languages) from the University of New South Wales. Her publications include the co-authored book Ocean as Method: Thinking with the Maritime (Routledge, 2022), among other texts. Saarah is an associate member of the Oceanic Humanities for the Global South Initiative, a research associate of the Visual Identities in Art and Design research centre (VIAD) at the University of Johannesburg, and a research scholar in Africana Studies at Barnard College (2022-23). Prior to joining the Council, she lectured in histories of the Global South at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

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