Teaching

I currently work as an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on unceded and unsurrendered Mi’kmaq territory. I teach in the same areas that I conduct research in: social movements, social change, and social justice.

I have long been convinced that teaching is as much a privilege as it is a responsibility and that a good teacher approaches every class with this conviction foremost in mind. The core premise that animates my teaching is that education is not a thing, it is a critical, collaborative, and ongoing process of inquiring into our world. People learn best – and education matters most – when they participate in a learning process that encourages them to engage the world around them as active subjects who are responsible to that world and those with whom they share it. I  believe in reinforcing mutual commitments between instructors and students, leveling unjust and unnecessary hierarchies in the classroom, and developing relationships based on respect, trust, and an obligation to know about and then act meaningfully in the world. Education cannot be merely instrumental, it is neither job training nor credentialing. It is a crucial social and political act that builds our capacity to rigorously and critically understand and explore the world in order to change it for the better.

For a list of my teaching and supervisory duties and my contributions to program development please see my CV.