Who am I?
I am a social anthropologist currently pursuing my PhD at the University of Bergen. My interests sit at the intersection of academic research and visual storytelling. My work is situated within economic and political anthropology exploring topics such as national identity, the relationship with the state, infrastructure and violence in Mexico, specifically in Chiapas and Oaxaca. I am deeply committed to using collaborative visual methodologies to engage with the world and share anthropological knowledge with a broader audience.
You are welcome to explore some of the work that I have done here on my page.
Some of my main interests revolve around larger questions such as:
How do political and economic processes materialise in human lives?
How do material things (such as amber and infrastructures) produce and highlight social relations, belonging, and inequalities?
And how can visual methods be used not only to disseminate anthropological knowledge but also to shape our ways of knowing?
Visual Methodologies
A central part of my work is the integration of collaborative visual methods, including documentary filmmaking, photography, and audio storytelling, not simply as tools for communicating research, but as active ethnographic methods. I use visual collaborations to create spaces where interlocutors actively shape the research process, generating forms of knowledge that are often difficult to access through interviews alone. As part of a commitment to decolonising data collection, I also find it crucial to make anthropological research accessible to wider audiences outside of academia.
Academic Publications
Christensen, S. A. M. (Under review). “Correspondences with Deep Time among Amber Artisans in Chiapas: Making, Markets, and Morality.”
Christensen, S. A. M. (2024). Después de la Tormenta Viene el Ámbar [After the Storm Comes the Amber]: Navigation, Inventiveness, and Hopes of Amber Artisans amidst Structural Inequalities, Organised Criminality, and Gender-Based Violence. MA Thesis, University of Oslo.
Creative Publications
Christensen, S. A. M. (2026). Amber Worlds. Podcast series.
- Christensen, S. A. M. (2026). A Journey with Amber. Documentary film.
Christensen, S. A. M. (In production). Un Viaje de Ámbar. Documentary film.
Academic and Professional Highlights
- PhD Research Fellow, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen (2026–Present)
- Research Assistant, Amber Worlds: A Geological Anthropology for the Anthropocene, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo (2025-2026)
- MA in Social Anthropology, University of Oslo (2022-2025)
- Research Assistant, EuroWARCHILD, Center for Gender Research, University of Oslo (2023-2024)
- BA in Social Anthropology, University of Oslo (2017-2020)
Research Grants
2025. UiO Energy and Environment Seed Funding for Research and Research Collaboration (via Prof. Alessandro Rippa).
2024. International Mobility and Collaboration, University of Oslo (Grant received for the producing of documentary in Chiapas, Mexico).
2023. SAI Financial support for fieldwork, University of Oslo.
2023. Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowships Fund (Fieldwork Grant).
Get in touch!
sarah.christensen@live.dk