Teaching Philosophy

A big part of my understanding of the world comes from my relationship to the senses, and how they help us better understand our surroundings. My teaching philosophy focuses not only on what is close to our senses, but that which they cannot grasp: the invisible, the silence, the ephemeral. While reckoning with the privilege of being seen, I guide my teaching and scholarship by whose voices are being heard as an overarching principle, from counter-histories, and the haunting narratives that surround them.

In the classroom, I try to find points of intersection among themes and common threads, where my work overlaps with what I care about and what I care for. I recognize the need of encouraging attentive participation, critical dialogue, and enthusiastic engagement with assigned readings. In the most recent class I designed, Material Culture and Communication, I explored the seminars and assignments with the intention of creating a collaborative, inclusive, and intellectually rich space for both students and myself.

While constructing the course syllabus, these are my guiding questions:

1. Which voices am I privileging? 
2. How will my assignments bring students in conversation with these voices? 
3. What will this course provide in order to contribute to students’ critical toolbox? 

I also try to assign canonical and theoretical readings in tandem with non-academic intellectuals or media artists, aside from asking for student engagement through/against the readings. I also try to minimize the importance of closed-book exams, and try to encourage project experiments that eschew the standard paper format. I am particularly sensitive to constructs which prohibit a range of learning styles and abilities. In the end, I do want to cultivate different ways that knowledge is acquired and always open to reevaluating and adapting to students’ needs and passions.