Sarah Schwartzman Ramsey studies 20thÌýcentury and contemporary American literature, with emphases on Jewish Studies, American religion, gender and sexuality studies, and narrative ethics. Spotlighting Jewish American women’s novels of the last 30 years, Sarah argues that this contemporary literature is an underexamined site for Jewish religious thought and praxis.ÌýHer dissertation examines ritualized memory work, sacred ancestral relationships, and the relationship between polyvocal narrative forms and feminist ethics.ÌýKey authors include Nicole Krauss, Rachel Kadish, Elizabeth Graver, Tova Mirvis, Allegra Goodman, Grace Paley, and Lore Segal, and well as several authors of young adult fiction.
Prior to doctoral study, Sarah earned an MA in Religious Studies at University of California, Riverside and served in various positions related to interdisciplinary humanities and curricular programming, college teaching, and faculty professional development. More recently, Sarah has presented work at the American Academy of Religion (AAR), the Association for Jewish Studies (AJS), and the Society for Jewish Ethics (SJE), and she received the 2023 NRJE Wechsler Award for Emerging Scholars. Her most recent published work can be found inÌýStudies in American Jewish Literature.