COURSES
Montclair State University (since 2018)
Essentials of Political Thought
20th Century Civilization: Utopias and Intentional Communities
Introduction to Politics
The Politics of Memory
Essentials of Political Thought
20th Century Civilization: Utopias and Intentional Communities
Introduction to Politics
The Politics of Memory
California State University San Marcos (2014-2017)
European Politics: Immigration, Diversity, and Accommodation
World Political Systems
Senior Seminar: Transitional Justice
The Politics of Memory
European Politics: Immigration, Diversity, and Accommodation
World Political Systems
Senior Seminar: Transitional Justice
The Politics of Memory
University of San Diego (Spring 2016)
Comparative Politics of Memory in Europe (Graduate Seminar)
Comparative Politics of Memory in Europe (Graduate Seminar)
Stern College, Yeshiva University (2011-2013)
The Politics of Memory
The Politics of Identity in Europe
Ethnic Conflict and Genocide
Great Political Thinkers
Introduction to Comparative Politics
The Politics of Memory
The Politics of Identity in Europe
Ethnic Conflict and Genocide
Great Political Thinkers
Introduction to Comparative Politics
The New School (2011-2013)
Present Pasts: The Rise of Global Memory Politics
Power and the State
Reframing the Political
Present Pasts: The Rise of Global Memory Politics
Power and the State
Reframing the Political
Kingsborough Community College (2011-2012)
American Government
American Government
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
Teaching politics does not simply mean introducing students to specific debates and concepts in the different subfields of the tradition or making students into more careful observers of political phenomena. Beyond these important tasks, my responsibility as an instructor is to foster a culture of and a skill set for critical analysis that will serve students not just in the context of political inquiry, but also in other academic and non-academic endeavors. In a classroom setting, my first step in fostering critical analysis is to create an understanding that critical thinking is in many ways a dialogical endeavor. This requires a classroom culture that is both playful and serious so as to enable students to “entertain a thought without accepting it” (Aristotle). For this to happen, the classroom needs to be a space in which students feel safe to experiment and “try-on” unfamiliar perspectives, although with an earnest curiosity rather than a reckless detachment from the implications of an argument. The task of fostering critical thinking demands a classroom culture in which students of varying backgrounds and dispositions, including different comfort levels of expressing themselves, are able to contribute. I strive to provide diverse outlets for a range of learning styles, as well as a space for all students to experiment with ideas.
I engage students with the course material through examples that matter to them. Making arguments tangible, even in classes with a theoretical focus, can take on many forms. In a class on resistance, I introduced a student pamphlet concerning the university’s leadership to discuss the assumptions it contained about power and political action. In a class on the state and race, we filled out former census forms together in order to better understand the conceptions of race and ethnicity underlying the seemingly apolitical process of census taking. For my courses on the politics of memory, we visited the September 11th memorial and the African Burial Ground in New York, and we critically assessed the different choices made in the designs of the two memorial sites. For a similar class in San Marcos, CA, I invited the two sculptors of the Cesar E. Chavez statue on our campus. My class on transitional justice at the New School included guest speakers from NGOs and a former secretary of a truth commission who shed light on the limits that some of the theories of transitional justice face in specific political constellations on the ground. In all these cases, political theory became alive in ways that created an appreciation for theoretical reflection as well as for the complex interplay between theory and political phenomena.
My work as a researcher has greatly informed my teaching. Because my research on questions of collective memory draws upon literature from various disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities, my courses often exhibit a similar interdisciplinary outlook when appropriate to the content. This has encouraged students to address political questions from a range of perspectives and to challenge overly neat boundaries between different modes of inquiry. In one of my courses on the politics of memory, a student majoring in fine arts decided to make a memorial for her local community after it suffered a traumatic event, and she presented her work to our class, which had spent the semester studying different ways of dealing with political trauma. She not only applied to another setting the skills she had developed in the course, but she also entrusted the intellectual community we had built together with a first and honest evaluation of her work. My own academic work, which I also introduce to my classes, receives similar productive scrutiny, which helps me greatly appreciate the dynamic and fruitful interaction between teaching and research.
I engage students with the course material through examples that matter to them. Making arguments tangible, even in classes with a theoretical focus, can take on many forms. In a class on resistance, I introduced a student pamphlet concerning the university’s leadership to discuss the assumptions it contained about power and political action. In a class on the state and race, we filled out former census forms together in order to better understand the conceptions of race and ethnicity underlying the seemingly apolitical process of census taking. For my courses on the politics of memory, we visited the September 11th memorial and the African Burial Ground in New York, and we critically assessed the different choices made in the designs of the two memorial sites. For a similar class in San Marcos, CA, I invited the two sculptors of the Cesar E. Chavez statue on our campus. My class on transitional justice at the New School included guest speakers from NGOs and a former secretary of a truth commission who shed light on the limits that some of the theories of transitional justice face in specific political constellations on the ground. In all these cases, political theory became alive in ways that created an appreciation for theoretical reflection as well as for the complex interplay between theory and political phenomena.
My work as a researcher has greatly informed my teaching. Because my research on questions of collective memory draws upon literature from various disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities, my courses often exhibit a similar interdisciplinary outlook when appropriate to the content. This has encouraged students to address political questions from a range of perspectives and to challenge overly neat boundaries between different modes of inquiry. In one of my courses on the politics of memory, a student majoring in fine arts decided to make a memorial for her local community after it suffered a traumatic event, and she presented her work to our class, which had spent the semester studying different ways of dealing with political trauma. She not only applied to another setting the skills she had developed in the course, but she also entrusted the intellectual community we had built together with a first and honest evaluation of her work. My own academic work, which I also introduce to my classes, receives similar productive scrutiny, which helps me greatly appreciate the dynamic and fruitful interaction between teaching and research.