I teach in sociology and gender studies with specializations in race and ethnicity, political sociology, sexualities, Islam, and the Middle East and North Africa.

Overall, I seek social justice outcomes through interdisciplinary social scientific and feminist approaches; I hope to promote transferable anti-oppressive tools that are effective both within and outside of the classroom.

Dialogue & Reciprocity

My classes encourage dialogue and reciprocity. When designing a course, I ask myself questions like the following: who is challenging the discipline and why? Who is currently left of out of the discipline? Which students will feel excluded from my syllabus?

During course execution, I collaborate with students and centralize their inputs. I believe that becoming a better instructor is heavily dependent on learning from students. Today’s students are smart and vibrant and have much to offer to the classroom.

Accessibility & difference

In my classrooms, I am committed to cultivating difference. Understanding the social construction of race, gender, and sexuality is equally as important as understanding its material consequences. The power struggle that exists across such constructions of difference—and the resulting empowerment that emerges from reclaiming difference—should not be ignored. In this sense, diversity must acknowledge and welcome the expression of difference. I treat my classrooms as safe spaces for marginalized groups to talk about their experiences through both pride and rage. As a woman of colour, I can attest to the power of vocalizing lived experience.

At the same time, addressing privilege is central to my pedagogy. I encourage students to (1) recognize and name their privilege and (2) think about the ways that it materializes in their daily lives. Accordingly, as teachers, we should not only openly address and discuss our various positions of privilege with students, but should be aware of the positions of power we occupy as a result of them. Teaching privilege also means being comfortable with addressing uncomfortable realities like white fragility and colourblind racism. Failure to recognize these problems will obscure our path to social change.

Finally, I take accessibility seriously. I incorporate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in both research and teaching. In my classrooms, I use UDL to promote the uniqueness of each student’s learning abilities. Acknowledging that we all learn differently resists ableist education models and removes barriers to learning that are imposed through singular or rigid approaches.

Unlearning & critical thought

In my classes, I teach students that the first step to critical thinking is unlearning. Through critical engagement with deconstructive texts, students unlearn normalized assumptions about gender, sexuality, and race.

I also encourage deconstruction through the critique rather than the censorship of homophobic, heterosexist, or racist texts. Students must be able to confront such texts and respond to them critically.

I believe that texts ought to be applied to the contemporary world. It is unproductive to theoretically talk about the function of systemic racism without addressing the mass incarceration of black and Indigenous populations in the United States and Canada. Similarly, it is not enough to learn about the social construction of masculinity without addressing sexual assault on college campuses.