My work as a teacher is consonant with my research agenda, as all of my courses—from literature surveys to graduate seminars on race and aesthetics—approach the study of literature, art, and culture as an examination of the cultural and social practices through which we live our everyday lives.
Above all, the diversity of my student directs my pedagogy, course design, and commitment to higher education. Through my experience teaching diverse student populations at traditional and non-traditional settings, including public research universities, art schools, regional majority-minority institutions, and life-long learning and community institutions, I have learned how important it is for the classroom space to bridge the gap between the everyday lives of students and the academy. Therefore my courses provide ample opportunities for students to think carefully about their identities and histories as political resources that shake up traditional ways of understanding higher education. My teaching positions the study of literature and art as intellectual work that trains us to be unafraid to ask questions and to be productive members of their community and citizens of the world.
Thus my courses encourage students to see the study of culture and cultural production as a critical thinking as well as skill-building practice. I have designed and taught dozens of original courses in critical theory, race and ethnic studies, and 19th, 20th, and 21st century print and visual cultures. While the content of my classes varies, my courses are shaped primarily through explicitly interdisciplinary methods and materials; such a pedagogical orientation provides ample opportunities to challenge and expand the meanings of literature, art, culture, production, and audience. My reading- and writing-intensive curricula allow students to build the skills necessary for such critical thinking. My students learn that their reading and writing marks their entrance into the academic community, that we write to know what we think, and that we write to know what others have thought. My courses are structured by this stance on the reciprocity of reading and writing: it models for students what it means to participate in the academic and intellectual community.
The following list of courses reflects my teaching experience in the fields of American Literature & Culture, Theory, Film, Visual Culture, and Composition/Research Methods.
Literature, Print, & Visual Culture
"Art in Theory: Black & Women of Color Feminist Aesthetics"
Emily Carr University of Art+ Design
Critical + Cultural Studies, Art History 320, Fall 2023
"Art in the Flesh"
Emily Carr University of Art+ Design
Critical + Cultural Studies, Art History 420, Spring 2023
"Diasporic Aesthetics in Racial Capitalism"
Emily Carr University of Art+ Design
Critical + Cultural Studies, English 350, Spring 2023
"Introduction to Women of Color Feminist Politics and Aesthetics"
Emily Carr University of Art+ Design
Critical + Cultural Studies, Art History 320, Fall 2022
"Abolition and Aesthetics"
Emily Carr University of Art+ Design
Critical + Cultural Studies, Art History 420, Spring 2022
"Diaspora in Racial Capitalism"
Emily Carr University of Art+ Design
Critical + Cultural Studies, English 350, Spring 2022
"Women of Color Feminisms: Philosophy, Politics, Aesthetics"
Emily Carr University of Art+ Design
Critical + Cultural Studies, Art History 420, Spring 2021
"Asian Diasporic Literatures: Dislocation, Migration, and Racial Capitalism"
Emily Carr University of Art+ Design
Critical + Cultural Studies, English 350, Spring 2021
"Black Feminist Thought and Cultural Production"
Emily Carr University of Art+ Design
Critical + Cultural Studies, Art History 320, Fall 2020
"Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Science Fiction"
University of Southern Maine
Race and Ethnic Studies Program, Race and Ethnic Studies 199, cross-listed with English 145, Spring 2019
"Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Science Fiction"
New Mexico State University
Undergraduate Program, English 328, Spring 2018
"Introduction to Critical Theory: Undisciplining Literary Studies"
New Mexico State University
Undergraduate Program, English 302, Fall 2017
"The Critical Race Theory of Science Fiction"
New Mexico State University
Undergraduate Program, English 328, Fall 2017
"The Afterlives of Slavery in American Literature and Visual Culture"
New Mexico State University
Graduate Program, English 5/469, Spring 2017
"Literature in the Anglophone World: Nation, Empire, and Racial Capitalism"
New Mexico State University
Undergraduate Program, English 244, Spring 2017
“Introduction to African American Literature”
University of Washington
Expository Writing Program, English 111, Spring 2013
“Introduction to Asian American Literature”
University of Washington
Expository Writing Program, English 111, Winter 2013
“Nation and Citizenship”
University of Washington
Expository Writing Program, English 111, Fall 2012
“Introduction to American Literature: Problematizing America”
University of Washington
Undergraduate Programs, English 250, Fall 2011
“19th-Century American Literature”
University of Washington
Expository Writing Program, English 111, Fall 2010
Theory & Philosophy
"Critical Race Theory and Practice"
Emily Carr University of Art+ Design
Critical + Cultural Studies, Art History 333, cross-listed with Writing 311, Spring 2020
"Women of Color Feminisms"
University of Southern Maine
Race and Ethnic Studies Program, Race and Ethnic Studies 399, Spring 2019
"Introduction to Critical Race Theory"
University of Southern Maine
Race and Ethnic Studies Program, Race and Ethnic Studies 299, Spring 2019
"Introduction to Race," co-taught with Dr. Lance Gibbs
University of Southern Maine
Early Year Experience Program, EYE 199, Fall 2019
"Aesthetic Theory: Immanuel Kant, Walter Benjamin, and Their Legacies"
New Mexico State University
Graduate Program, English 5/417 cross-listed with Art 300, Spring 2018
"Film Studies and The Apocalypse"
New Mexico State University
Undergraduate Program, English 116, Spring 2018
"Black and Chicana Feminisms: Philosophy, Politics, Aesthetics"
New Mexico State University
Graduate Program, English 5/417 cross-listed with Gender & Sexuality Studies 5/450, Fall 2017
"Introduction to Critical Theory: Undisciplining Literary Studies"
New Mexico State University
Undergraduate Program, English 302, Fall 2017
"The Critical Race Theory of Science Fiction"
New Mexico State University
Undergraduate Program, English 328, Fall 2017
"The Afterlives of Slavery in American Literature and Visual Culture"
New Mexico State University
Graduate Program, English 5/469, Spring 2017
"Introduction to Film Studies"
New Mexico State University
Undergraduate Program, English 116, Spring 2017
“Nationalism, Citizenship, and Election 2016"
New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury and Manhattan
Interdisciplinary Studies Program, Interdisciplinary Studies 101, Fall 2016
"Race and Media: Image, Text, Sound"
University of Washington
Undergraduate Programs, English 200, Spring 2016
“Race and Media Aesthetics”
University of Washington
Expository Writing Program, English 111, Spring 2016
“Race in 20th & 21st Century Literature & Culture”
University of Washington
Undergraduate Programs, English 200, Spring 2012
“Race and Visual Culture”
University of Washington, Expository Writing Program, English 111, Spring 2011
“Race and (Re)production”
University of Washington
Expository Writing Program, English 111, Spring 2010
“The Films of Spike Lee”
University of Washington
Expository Writing Program, English 111, Winter 2010; Fall 2009
Composition & Research Methods
"Writing and Power"
Emily Carr University of Art + Design
Critical + Cultural Studies, Writing 411, Fall 2022; Fall 2023
"Writing and Activism"
Emily Carr University of Art + Design
Critical + Cultural Studies, Writing 411, Fall 2020
Graduate Research Seminar
Emily Carr University of Art + Design
MFA Program, Fall 2019
"Introduction to Critical Theory: Undisciplining Literary Studies"
New Mexico State University
Undergraduate Program, English 302, Fall 2017
"Writing in the English Major"
University of Washington
Interdisciplinary Writing Program, English 297, Fall 2015; Winter 2010
“Inquiry and Research”
Antioch University
Writing Program, Writing 406, Academic Years 2015-2016, 2014-2015, and 2013-2014
“Writing and the University”
University of Washington
Expository Writing Program, English 131, Summer 2013
“Language and Power”
University of Washington
Expository Writing Program, English 131, Academic Year 2008-2009