My primary objective in the classroom is to challenge students to think critically about their own positionality as political and economic actors within a profoundly complex world. Understanding that political science majors often see themselves as headed for positions in government, business, law, and the non-profit sector, my goal in the classroom is to help students develop the skills to better understand the fundamental and intractable complexity defining the world in which we live. By helping students \u201cproblematize the world\u201d I encourage them to arrive at a deeper understanding of the fierce contestations that exist over how political actors frame the problems (and possible solutions) defining our collective social, political, and economic life.<\/p>\n
For example, my seminar \u201cPolitics and Theories of African Decolonization\u201d is premised on the fact that writers from African anticolonial struggles constitute a body of work essential to understanding the colonial present. The class therefore devotes an entire semester to studying a body of intellectual work that, within the Western academy, is often marginalized as only relevant to “African politics.” We instead read these texts\u2014many fairly epistemically strange and politically challenging to Trinity students\u2014as texts indispensable for understanding contemporary world politics. In doing so, students develop a deeper understanding both of how little they know about the world, but also about the richness of its many engagements.<\/p>\n
I combine these efforts to disorient students within a complex and multi-perspectival world with courses that demand that the immediately present also receive critical and scholarly attention. In my \u201cWorld Economy of Higher Education\u201d class, for example, I introduce students to the Watkinson Archives to examine Trinity College handbooks spanning nearly two hundred years. Students then conduct their own archival work in which they examine Trinity College as itself a complicated institution, in which the past still very much shapes our many presents, and possible futures.<\/p>\n
Below are a list of classes I teach\/have taught. Syllabi and teaching materials available upon request.<\/p>\n
Assignment Grades<\/a><\/p>\n Late Paper Policy<\/a><\/p>\n Class Participation<\/a><\/p>\n Deviant Capitalisms <\/em>(2019), first-year seminar The Worlds of Globalization<\/em> (2013), upper-level seminar Theorizing Globalization from the Third World<\/em> (2010), upper-level seminar<\/p>\n The Politics of Africa<\/em> (2008 & 2009), upper-level seminar<\/p>\n International Relations<\/em> (2008), upper-level lecture CTL Fellow<\/a> 2017-18, Center for Teaching and Learning, Trinity College (Project report) My primary objective in the classroom is to challenge students to think critically about their own positionality as political and economic actors within a profoundly complex world. Understanding that political science majors often see themselves as headed for positions in government, business, law, and the non-profit sector, my goal in the classroom is to help … Continue reading Trinity College<\/b><\/h3>\n
\nInternational Relations<\/em> (2013), introductory lecture
\nInternational Political Economy<\/em> (2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019), upper-level
\nThe Politics of Africa<\/em> (2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021), upper-level
\nSlavery, Property, Piracy<\/em> (2014, 2015), first-year seminar
\nTheories of International Political Economy<\/em> (2014, 2016, 2018, 2020), sophomore\/junior seminar
\nTheory and Politics of African Decolonization<\/em> (2015, 2017, 2019, 2021), sophomore\/junior seminar
\nUnderstanding Conflict in Africa<\/em> (2017, 2018, 2019), introductory\/thematic lecture
\nThe World Economy of Higher Education<\/em> (2016, 2017, 2019), upper-level<\/p>\nJohns Hopkins University <\/b><\/h3>\n
\nAfrica and American Foreign Policy<\/em> (2012), upper-level seminar
\nIntroduction to International Political Economy<\/em> (2012), introductory
\nTheories of International Political Economy<\/em> (2011 & 2012), upper-level
\nTheorists of African National Liberation<\/em> (2011), upper-level seminar<\/p>\nWesleyan University <\/b><\/h3>\n
Macalester College <\/b><\/h3>\n
\u00a0University of Minnesota<\/b><\/h3>\n
\nInternational Conflict and Security<\/em> (2007), upper-level lecture
\nGlobal Politics<\/em> (2007), introductory lecture<\/p>\nPedagogical Training
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\n<\/a>Writing Fellow<\/a> 2017-18, Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric Trinity College<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"