Sarah Edwards

Expertise and Activities

Sarah’s research focuses on social media industries and digital labor. Her dissertation examines shifting expectations around work in the influencer industry and a growing trend of collective action and resistance to prevailing forms of platformized precarity.

Education

• M.A. Cultural Anthropology, NC State University, 2019
• B.A. Sociology and Anthropology, Warren Wilson College, 2016

Research Positions

• Sociotechnical Systems PhD Intern, Social Media Collective, Microsoft Research-New England, Summer 2023

Publications

• Forthcoming, 2024. “Creator Economies and Labor Precarity.” In The Handbook of Technology, Media, and Democracy, edited by Robyn Caplan, Philip Napoli, and Ken Rogerson.
• 2022. “Branded Dreams, Boss Babes: Influencer Retreats and the Cultural Logics of the Influencer Para-Industry.” Social Media+Society, https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221116846.
• 2018. With Ben Feinberg. “Are We (Still) the World? Service Learning and the Weird Slot in Student Narratives of Study Abroad.” In Cosmopolitanism and Tourism: Rethinking Theory and Practice, edited by Robert Shepherd.

Courses

• CA 100–Introduction to Speech Composition
• CA 250–Survey of Contemporary Media
• CA 346–Critical Internet Studies
• CA 359–Sports Media (Grader)

Service

• Founding Member, Content Creator Scholars Network
• George Foster Peabody Awards Screening Committee, Radio and Podcasting Category, 2024
• The Velvet Light Trap
  • Managing Editor, 2023-24 (Volume 94, Creative Labor and Precarity)
  • University of Texas Press Liaison, 2020-21 (Volume 88, Nonfiction Media)
  • Editorial Board Member, 2019-Present
• Media and Cultural Studies Representative, Graduate Student Organization, 2021-22

Links

• seedwards.com/