Meet Our New SAPIENS Public Fellow: Eshe Lewis

Wenner-Gren is proud to introduce Eshe Lewis, the Foundation’s first recipient of our newly launched SAPIENS Public Fellowship.

Eshe Lewis holds a BA in Latin American Studies from the University of Toronto, and an MA in Latin American Studies and a Ph.D in Anthropology from the University of Florida.  As a Black Canadian of Trinidadian descent, Eshe took an early interest in the African diaspora in the Americas and has spent the past ten years working in Latin America with Afro-descendant populations.  She has conducted numerous ethnographic research projects in Peru on Afro-Peruvian activism, identity and inequality, and women’s issues.  Eshe’s dissertation research was the first study of Afro-descendant women in Peru who reported cases of Intimate Partner Violence in Women’s Emergency Centers in the Lima.  Her research was carried out over 22 months and is being reviewed by government ministries as interest in social inclusion for minority populations increases.  Eshe is dedicated to conducting feminist, anti-racist and interdisciplinary research that can help improve policy.   She is a founding member of Mujeres Afroperuanas: Presencia y Palabra, an Afro-descendant Black Feminist women’s collective based in Lima.  Since graduating, she has conducted more research in Peru through a private research institute, and has taught courses on Afro-descendants and on women in Latin America.  Eshe is excited to join and learn from the SAPIENS team as the first Public Fellow in 2020.