Teaching

In 2009 I received an Excellence in Teaching Award from Johns Hopkins University. I’ve taught an array of courses in American Politics and Africana Studies. My recent offerings include: Urban Politics and Public Policy, Urban Politics, Black Politics, Racial Politics (undergraduate and graduate), Public Opinion, Black Political Thought (graduate and undergraduate), Race in the City (graduate), Black Power Fantasies, and Introduction to Race and Ethnicity. Given my interest in photography, in 2010 I applied for (and was awarded) an Arts Innovation Grant to fund a course that combined Black Politics and Documentary Photography. In Spring 2011, I co-taught (with Phyllis Berger) a course entitled Black Visual Politics, as well as a graduate level course on Race and the Neoliberal Turn.

In my courses I do three things: I bring my love of learning and the life of the mind into the classroom; I make politics and the various ways we can and SHOULD think about politics real to students; and finally, I work hard at giving students the capacity to change the world they live in. Of course part of this involves teaching critical thinking skills, and the literature itself. But it also involves giving students a sense of their own power. I recently gave a flash talk on neoliberalism. It gives a good quick look at my teaching style: