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Sarah White

Southeast Asia & Himalaya Instructor

Ph.D. Anthropology and Social Change, California Institute of Integral Studies (Candidate)
M.A. Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management, SIT Graduate Institute
M.Res. Social Anthropology, University of St. Andrews
B.A. Global Studies: Performing Arts & Social Justice, Global College

Inspired by the creativity of autonomous zones around the world, Sarah has led students in liberatory education programs in over 20 countries, and lived or researched in 45, all with the goal of becoming more human. One of her favorite roles was as Academic Director of The Traveling School, an all-girls high school that moves across 8 countries per year. She has also worked as educator for gap year and college study abroad organizations such as Thinking Beyond Borders and International Honors Program.

Raised in the Bay Area by a community of ex-Panthers, LGBTQ martial artists of color, and yogis, Sarah grew up dancing with the Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company – a diverse group that addresses violence and alienation through dance, theater, and spoken word. She experienced the life of the rich and famous while starring in an internationally touring rock-opera after high school until she found a college that encouraged self-directed study. Curious to understand the social realities of one of the most despised populations, Sarah earned her BA by living and dancing with Roma Gypsy clans in India, Egypt, Turkey, and Romania.

Continuing to move between disenfranchised communities and institutions of power, Sarah worked as faculty for the U.S. Department of State, UC Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, and Northwestern, teaching on conflict transformation, sustainable development, and social justice, receiving grants from National Geographic to document the transformative practices of marginalized groups.

Sarah is a certified Wilderness First Responder and PADI diver, speaking Spanish, conversational Hindi, and basic Turkish, Marwari, Shona, Afrikaans, Romanes, and Sapera. In her free time, Sarah enjoys training in over 25 different dance forms, running away with the circus, becoming a better anarchist, and reading dystopian teen fiction. When home, she can be found rappelling down buildings and cliffs performing with the vertical dance company Project Bandaloop.