TEACHING

As an instructor, I work to cultivate within students an understanding of the weight their voices carry within society. I aim to help students see that, although they may approach (social) structures differently, their perspective merits just as much attention as does the “status quo.” I understand that I will never be able to reach everyone, especially in one semester. However, my goal is not to change people; as an instructor, I want to inspire people to change for themselves.

In addition to a range of literature courses, I have extensive experience teaching composition. In both my literature and composition courses, I stress the importance of critical thinking as a way to improve both reading and writing skills. I am a firm believer that, once you become able to critically think about life, one's place in the world, and one's actions, you can begin to direct that attention to your writing projects.

Below are the courses I have taught.

Literature Courses

CONTEMPORARY MASCULINITIES This course analyzes how decisions like the selection of Jaden Smith as the face of Louis Vuitton’s womenswear collection reflects and/or challenges how masculinity has come to be conceptualize in the twentieth- and twenty-first-centuries. It interrogates what we expect from others and from ourselves as a way of understanding some of the anxieties felt from demands to “properly” fit into society's ideas of gender.	AMERICAN FICTION, AFTER 1945 This course focuses on the genre of fiction itself, taking the fiction produced in America after 1945 as its object of study. It pays attention to particular components of fiction (e.g., point of view, narrative, and setting) to ask: 1.) what it takes to make fiction; and 2.) what specific choices authors make when constructing their fiction.
INTRO TO LGBTQ+ LITERATURE This course serves as an introduction to the literature of LGBTQ identified peoples. So as to provide a richer experience, the readings include lesser known works alongside more canonical ones, and discusses LGBTQ histories as they have come to bear on these narratives. In addition, the readings explore LGBTQ literatures from around the world.	MODERN AFRICAN LITERATURE This course offers an introduction to the literature that has come to be defined as African literature. With a particular interest in how the literature produced between 1940 and 1980 has helped (re)establish and/or (re)position images of Africa, the course analyzes the works of a few of the writers who paved the way for contemporary African writers like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Teju Cole, Taiye Selasi, and A. Igoni Barrett.
AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE This course outlines the various subjects of African American Literature through the historical, literary, aural, and oral texts that reflect the culture of Black folk in the United States.	INTRO TO QUEER THEORY This course serves as an introduction to some of the key arguments within the field of Queer Theory. It brings together concerns of sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, erotic pleasure, etc., and explores how the field of queer theory analyzes and challenges them, so as to better understand the world in which we live.
NARRATING BLACKNESS: FILM & FICTION This course explores the relationship between narrative and blackness in our contemporary world. Focusing on black film and fiction from the late-twentieth-century to the present, the course pays particular attention to issues of gender and sexuality within the framework of black experiences, and incorporate discussions of media representations of blackness, alongside academic and popular thought on these experiences as they are variously manifested.	NARRATING FILM Through close analyses of contemporary imaginative films, documentaries, and short films, this course examines the narrative qualities of films. As we look for answers to the questions, “How do films narrate, and what do they narrate?,” we will also work towards an understanding of the medium’s relation to more traditional narrative forms. By the end of the course, we will be better positioned to address how transitions between media might help us better understand our current society.
POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURE AND THEORY Topic: Identity Focusing on the topic of identity, this course approaches a variety of texts from a variety of nations in order to rethink static representations of the "Third World." Our aim is not to establish definitive answers for how postcolonial writers handle questions of identity, but to gain an understanding of the various responses postcolonial authors have to the effects of colonization on their identities.	SINS OF THE FATHER What happens when one is forced to pay for someone else’s actions? How does one adjust to circumstances and, or situations set in motion by factors beyond their control? What are the personal consequences of inheriting an unwanted conflict? These are a few of the questions this course seeks to address. In short, this course is an examination of social responsibility. Reading a diverse range of texts, we will work towards a better understanding of the complexities that come with living socially.
AMERICAN LITERATURE TOPIC: "THE PRICE(S) OF SUCCESS" This course concentrates on works of American literature with focus on how cultural, geographic, and political issues shape and reflect literature in a particular culture. Our focus will center on notions of “success” and how these notions play out in society. With an emphasis on critical thinking, reading, and writing, we will examine the poetry, short stories, and drama of about fifteen or so “American” authors.	MINORITY QUEERS Through a mix of texts, this course examines how black, brown, and yellow gays and lesbians experience their sexualities (with)in and apart from mainstream images of LGBTQI peoples, and attempts to better understand what it means to be minority and queer.
WORLD LITERATURE ONLINE Students will read/watch, discuss, and write about significant works of world literature (poems, short stories, films, and novels) of the 20th and 21st centuries from various national and cultural traditions with emphasis on ideas and the ways in which they reflect cultural and aesthetic values and engage cross-cultural issues.	AMERICAN LITERATURE ONLINE Concentration on works of American literature with focus on how cultural, geographic, and political issues shape and reflect literature in a particular culture. Examines at least three genres and six authors, with an emphasis on critical thinking, reading, and writing.