Sarah Osterhoudt is a cultural anthropologist with expertise in the relationships between people and the environment in Madagascar. She has worked with vanilla and clove farmers in northeastern Madagascar for more than twenty years, first as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer and later to continue her anthropological field research. She is the author of the book, Vanilla Landscapes: Meaning, Memory, and the Cultivation of Place, published by the New York Botanical Garden Press, as well as dozens of articles on the culture, history, and environment of Madagascar. In addition to her research, Sarah has advised conservation and sustainable development organizations working in Madagascar, including UNICEF, the World Bank, USAID, and GTZ, and has partnered with Malagasy communities to establish local libraries and community centers. Her work has been supported by organizations including the National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the Yale Program in Agrarian Studies, and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Sarah earned a PhD in environmental anthropology from Yale University and a B.S. in biology from Wesleyan University. Currently, she is an associate professor of anthropology at Indiana University Bloomington (IU). Her courses focus on environmental conservation, sustainability, and ideas of nature across the world. In addition to her academic work, Sarah has taught classes at IU’s program for Lifelong Learning, as well as for Master Naturalist certification programs in Indiana, and has been interviewed by media outlets including NPR and The New York Times. She lives in the Indianapolis region with her husband; two children; small dog; and many, many plants.