TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
More about my pedagogy, at ethnofictions
Whether behind the camera, in the classroom, or along communities of artists and activists, my approach to knowledge production and dissemination privileges inclusivity. From crafting inter- disciplinary syllabi that focus on works produced by underrepresented scholars and media makers (women, people of colour, indigenous, queer), to demystifying the filmmaking process to communities lacking access to resources that support it, to feminist collaborative filmmaking, I am always working to foreground equity, social justice, and inclusion. As a mentor, I acknowledge the hidden life experiences of my students which makes me well prepared to offer support to young scholars of all walks of life and backgrounds, including those who come from the margins. I am keenly sensitive to what it means to be a knowledge maker, educator, and mentor while remaining aware of uneven power-relations. As an educator, I understand access to knowledge, knowledge-making, and knowledge-dissemination to be deeply political projects in which oftentimes citizenship, race, and class matter.
SELECT COURSES
This Multimedia Production Lab, explores contemporary feminist and Indigenous activisms on contested, yet invisiblized, global borderlands. Although “crossing” through the US/Mexico, Iran/Turkey/Syria, India/Burma/China, Haiti/DR, Israel/Palestine, Ethiopia/Eritrea, “border checkpoints,” the course expands the notion of borderlands, beyond its fixed geographical and political registers. We will explore the imaginary, symbolic, and psychological boundaries diasporas, refugees, and civil societies transgress as they struggle for— political, religious, disability, labor, LGBTQIA+, and Indigenous and women’s— rights. We will co-curate a public scholarship project for which you will produce multimedia work: an auto-ethnographic zine about their own border “transgressions;” and a 10-minute activist audio documentary expanding on a theme from the course.
This Multimedia Production Lab, explores contemporary feminist and Indigenous activisms on contested, yet invisiblized, global borderlands. Although “crossing” through the US/Mexico, Iran/Turkey/Syria, India/Burma/China, Haiti/DR, Israel/Palestine, Ethiopia/Eritrea, “border checkpoints,” the course expands the notion of borderlands, beyond its fixed geographical and political registers. We will explore the imaginary, symbolic, and psychological boundaries diasporas, refugees, and civil societies transgress as they struggle for— political, religious, disability, labor, LGBTQIA+, and Indigenous and women’s— rights. We will co-curate a public scholarship project for which you will produce multimedia work: an auto-ethnographic zine about their own border “transgressions;” and a 10-minute activist audio documentary expanding on a theme from the course.
E-zine co-curated by students in TRR#R course at Georgetown University (Spring 2023) and Multimodal Artists from the Offsite Multimodal Archival project