“Pedagogy must insist that everyone’s presence is acknowledged. That insistence cannot be simply stated. It has to be demonstrated."
- bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress
Teaching Philosophy
Teaching to me is an attempt at what disability justice advocate Mia Mingus calls "access intimacy...that elusive, hard to describe feeling" when someone "gets" your needs. It involves not only the dissemination of content, but also the creation of a classroom space where students feel seen, heard, and, as hooks describes, acknowledged. In simple words, teaching is about meeting students where they are at.
Whether teaching disability studies, South Asian and transnational history, or postcolonial, feminist, queer, and crip theory, I strive to create classroom communities where the material is communicated to my students in multiple ways that suit their learning styles, make myself available for additional support, and highlight the radical potential of history and theory not as abstractions but as concepts and skills they can use in their lives. This involves transparency of learning outcomes, dynamic syllabi that can change in response to student feedback, creative yet challenging assignments, care-work collaboration as part of classroom design, and open office hours and spaces for 1 on 1 contact.
For examples of my teaching philosophy, student feedback, or for syllabi, please feel free to contact me.
Teaching Experience and Course Offerings
I have taught courses in global history, U.S. history, oral history, and gender and sexuality studies, as either assistant or lead instructor, in Princeton, in the New Jersey Department of Corrections, at Al Quds University, Ibadan University, and Central European University. I have also mentored students in independent research projects on disability, caste, and women's history at Princeton, and tutored both undergraduates and graduates on their writing. Curriculum-building and anti-colonial pedagogy were my entrance points into academia, and I have continued this work by writing diversified oral history curricula and working with a team to create course modules on the global history of social change. I can provide more details in my CV, which is available upon request. I also love collaborative teaching and would be thrilled to develop syllabi with those interested in social justice spaces, think-tanks, and non-profits.