Sascha Goluboff Participates in the Sancho Panza Literary Society Summer Workshop The professor of cultural anthropology and director of the Community-Based Learning Program experienced a 10-day residency at Trinity College in Dublin.

By Brian Laubscher
June 6, 2025

Sascha Goluboff, professor of cultural anthropology and director of Community-Based Learning at Washington and Lee University, participated in the Sancho Panza Literary Society (SPLS) Summer Workshop hosted by Trinity College in Dublin from May 23 through June 1.

The 10-day residency comprised of a writers’ workshop and literary debate and was augmented by trips to Howth and the Irish Sea, plays at the Abbey and Smock Alley theaters and visits to the Dublin Writers Museum and The National Gallery of Ireland.

“I was excited to be selected, as I was looking forward to discussing the literary process where so many Irish writers learned their craft,” said Goluboff. “In the mornings, we would gather in an academic building at Trinity to workshop the participants’ fiction and nonfiction pieces, and then later in the day, we visited local museums and attended several plays.”

According to Goluboff, the real value of the experience was the ability to submit personal works and receive feedback from the group, as well as the opportunity to read and review the pieces submitted by fellow workshop participants.

“It is a rarity to have so many writers read your work and spend quality time conversing about it,” she said. “I also learned much about the craft from comments on the wide variety of submitted pieces. Joseph Reynolds, SPLS founder, said that he created the workshop so that participants would leave inspired to continue their writing journey, knowing that they belong to a community of writers who care and support each other. I am honored to now be a part of it.”

Goluboff’s residency with the SPLS was supported by the Harrison J. Pemberton Fund for International Education at W&L.

Goluboff has been a member of the faculty at W&L since 1999, serving as chair of the Sociology and Anthropology Department and interim chair of the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program during her tenure. She also served as the interim executive director of the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium.

Goluboff holds bachelor’s degrees in sociology and anthropology and Russian studies from Colgate University, master’s and doctorate degrees in anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Fine Arts in fiction writing from Pacific University.

The SPLS was founded as an independent society of ideas — a forum for unmitigated artistic expression and vigorous debate, in residence each summer at the historic Trinity College Dublin.

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